Social Media Marketing and the Expected ROI

Photo by Pipe What is “social media”? The phrase, which appears in Wikipedia is the umbrella term that defines activities integrating technology, social interaction and the construction of words,  images and other rich media.

Although I believe this definition is somewhat fair, “Social Media” uses consensus swarming to generate content and link information in a collaborative manner as collective intelligence.

What we understand as Social Media, we are shown in different ways as Forums, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Online Communities, Social Networks, Photos, Videos, etc..

The point is, that the rise of the term emerges from naturally derived concepts such as Social Media Optimization (SMO) which is the process of optimizing individuals or companies to distribute content quickly and successfully through the sites for social participation. The acceptance or otherwise of such content, with the content generated by users themselves form Online Reputation.

The other concept is derived from Social Media Marketing (SMM) that must be understood as a form of marketing that seeks its objectives through participation in social participation sites through unique content, attractive and useful, but not necessarily shocking. Such content items may be from a blog, even a simple video on youtube. We must not confuse it with viral marketing campaigns, but both come very close and look at very similar goals.

The issue is that the term Social Media, we use every day and is now in full effect as we see in the chart Google Trends does not yet have a definitive translation into ROI until recently.

There are lots of proposals for Social Media Campaigns, Media Collaborative Marketing, Online Media and Social Participation, but little is heard which clearly defines what the customer wants to see for return on investment and can be measured until now.

Overdrive Interactive has created a social media dashboard, tracking SEO, PPC and Social Media using a proprietary process clearly defining actions and reactions down to the lead level. On the dashboard clients are able to learn what programs and initiatives work and costs per customer acquisition associated with those processes. Download the social media map.

Lead development and online lead generation are no longer a guessing game, fraught with false promises and expectations. Using Overdrive Interactive’s tools and services customers both B2C and B2B are now able to track online marketing programs ROI successfully.

2009 Best Use of Social Media
Project: Harley-Davidson 2010 Motorcycles Mosaic
Agency/Creator: Overdrive Interactive for Harley-Davidson

Tags: marketing roi, paid inclusion, Paid Search, pay per click, PPC, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, social media, social media marketing, social media marketing roi