Altimeter Report: The Social Media ROI Cookbook

Hot on the heels of last week’s Altimeter Open Research Report on Converged Media, today, analyst Susan Etlinger, Researcher Andrew Jones, (I served as editor) have published a report answering the absolute top asked question in the social space: “How do companies measure ROI of social?”

In this definitive report, Altimeter found that there are half a dozen methods being deployed, each with flaws and strengths. It’s key that the business knows which method to deploy, when, and then line up the right process, teams, software, and partners to help. Despite a thorough look into leading case samples and speaking with dozens of members of the ecosystem, we found there is no single solution that is fool proof.

In this Open Research report, you will find:
A through set of industry findings with 16 brands, 38 vendors, 3 agencies and 4 ecosystem contributors, and surveyed 71 social media and analytics practitioners. Breakdown of the 6 use cases of Social Media ROI, with analysis, case examples, and insights for each, and pragmatic recommendations to business leaders on how to deploy.

Key Finding: There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. The four most important criteria for determining the measurement mix are:

  • Business: the nature and structure of the business
  • Product: the nature and type of products or services offered
  • Media: type of media being used
  • Customer: the nature and type of customer(s)


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Above: Six Ways of Measuring Revenue Impact of Social Media

Related Links
Altimeter will cross-link to the discussion around this report, we’re open to the discussion –even if you’ve other points of view.