Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured?
By Molly Galler
June 25th, 2010
Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about social media and its return on investment (ROI). As social media continues to become a larger focal point in public relations and marketing campaigns, it’s critical to understand how to articulate it’s value to clients.
Last night’s event centered around a panel discussion with three social media experts: Larry Weber, Chairman of Racepoint Group, Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and Mike Volpe, VP of Inbound Marketing for HubSpot.
After Larry Weber’s opening remarks, Qualman shared how he first dipped his toe into the digital space by sending a company-wide email instead of the standard hard copy memo. View his story here:
Volpe was up next and shared with the group the origins of his marketing career and the way tracking and reporting on ROI is evolving. Watch him provide tips here:
The evening was full of tremendous ideas and recommendations. The five big takeaways from the panel were:
1) Social media is not about technology. It’s about human interaction. It’s about sharing information and making connections. People who are intimidated by the technology aspect of engaging in social media should not view the applications as a hurdle. It’s simply the current mechanism to maintain relationships and reach out to new people.
2) When it comes to tracking social media, its important to focus not only on the quantitative (number of followers, number of re-postings) but also the qualitative. We need to take into account engagement and tone. Qualman said, “If social media is so trackable, we should just have robots running things. The human element is necessary here.”
3) Everyone and anyone can be a content creator, a publisher, a media property. As we shift away from traditional print and broadcast media, both we and our clients have the opportunity to get innovative and create and distribute our own content. Additionally, content creation should not be isolated to the PR and marketing staff. Volpe shared that, “50% of HubSpot employees have written posts for the HubSpot blog.”
4) Although much of PR and marketing is based in the written word, we need to start thinking more visually. We need to tell stories through pictures and videos. We need to make our content more authentic and dynamic.
5) On a personal level, Volpe stated, “The new resume is what comes up in Google when I type in your name.” As digital and social media continue to play an increasingly vital role in our PR and marketing efforts, we too have a digital and social persona, and that is now what employers are most interested in.
Thank you to Erik Qualman and Mike Volpe for joining us at Racepoint Group last night and providing such pragmatic, realistic, useful and inspiring guidance on the social media ROI frontier. Be sure to follow @equalman and @mvolpe on Twitter for real time updates on their social media adventures. You can also view all the live commentary during the event with the #smroi hashtag here.
Entry Filed under: Blogging,Branding & Advertising,Digital Media Relations,Facebook,Influencers,Mainstream Media,Marketing,Mobile,Multimedia,Newspapers,Online Video,Public relations,SEO,Social Commerce,Social Media,Social Networks,Twitter,Video,YouTube
44 Comments Add your own
1. Dinah Susan Alobeid | June 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
2. Caddy Marketing | June 25th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
3. Alex Lopez | June 25th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
4. Joseph Davis | June 25th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Love when this SM topic comes up=> Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? http://tinyurl.com/3x35jjr
5. Roger Romance | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/9kLfPB
6. Roger Romance | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about social media and its return on investment (ROI). As social media … http://bit.ly/9kLfPB
7. beverly red | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
8. jane brickmann | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
9. jeremy snipes | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
10. jesse sommers | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
11. Richard 410.984.9388 | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bdseIW
12. hillary scott | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
13. zsazsa wales | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
14. chelsea wang | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
15. sugar houston | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
16. mish florence | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/bx82Ut
17. Susan Clark | June 25th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
interesting read! Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted … http://bit.ly/dxkdtt
18. Lindsay Sutton | June 25th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
RT @RaceTalk: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? http://bit.ly/csFXux // scroll down, 5 good bullets.
19. glennsnews | June 25th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://bit.ly/92OItt
20. Sammy | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
21. Chad Booker | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Social Media Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://ow.ly/17T3Ra
22. Chad Booker | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Social Media Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://ow.ly/17T3Ri
23. Chad Booker | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Social Media Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://ow.ly/17T3Rm
24. Stacy | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Social Media Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://ow.ly/17T3Rk
25. Katie | June 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Social Media Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://ow.ly/17T3Rj
26. Rozaidi | June 25th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://bit.ly/cKzJV9
27. Tasha Leggett | June 25th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
RT @MakeMoneyStore: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com http://bit.ly/cKzJV9
28. Healthcare_3.0 | June 26th, 2010 at 12:54 am
RT @mvolpe: RT @racepointgroup: Great recap by @mollygaller of last night's #SMROI event http://tinyurl.com/3x35jjr
29. Dan Carter | June 26th, 2010 at 12:54 am
RT @mvolpe: RT @racepointgroup: Great recap by @mollygaller of last night's #SMROI event http://tinyurl.com/3x35jjr
30. Web Feet Integrated Marke&hellip | June 26th, 2010 at 4:41 am
[...] RaceTalkBlog: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? [...]
31. Erik Qualaman | June 26th, 2010 at 8:42 am
I had a blast! Thanks for having me to be alongside Social Media Ninjas Weber and Volpe!
Best, @equalman
32. Skovoroda | June 26th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
This is good blog message, I will keep this in mind. If you add more video and pictures because it helps understanding
33. Geert Smet | June 27th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
RT @bloggerkhan: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? | racetalkblog.com: Last night Racepoint Group hosted an event about soc… http://bit.ly/cNBuaY
34. Ken Mears | June 28th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
RT @RaceTalk: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? http://bit.ly/csFXux
35. SiteLab Interactive | June 29th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Often forgotten principle of SM: Social media is not about technology. It’s about human interaction. http://ow.ly/23Qwo
36. John Altes | July 1st, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured?- http://ow.ly/24VzJ
37. Tom at Mint Factory | July 1st, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Reading "Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured?" – http://is.gd/dbnRv
38. Nick Gallicchio | July 1st, 2010 at 2:22 pm
RT @fondalo: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured?- http://ow.ly/24VzJ
39. Jason Newberg | July 1st, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured? Read Racepoint's Molly Galler's blog post on RaceTalkBlog http://tinyurl.com/3x35jjr
40. Thubten Comerford | July 1st, 2010 at 11:40 pm
A really great article! – RT @fondalo: Social Media: Can the Impact be Measured?- http://ow.ly/24VzJ
41. KatyAskew | July 2nd, 2010 at 9:59 am
Can the Impact of social media be Measured? http://bit.ly/csFXux
42. David Tebbutt | July 2nd, 2010 at 10:40 am
Via @KatyAskew Can the Impact of social media be Measured? http://bit.ly/csFXux – the second movie suggests 'not all'. Interesting stuff.
43. SocialMediaTools | July 9th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Can Social Media impact be measured?http://bit.ly/cVlYTz Contact us to see a sample of our monthly metrics report. http://bit.ly/j9q77
44. Paradigm Productions | July 10th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Can Social Media impact be measured?http://bit.ly/afOPNp z . Yes it can – and are you doing it effectively?
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