L’Italia ha un grado di coinvolgimento nei social network superiore alla media degli altri paesi sviluppati. Lo dice Digital Life, progetto di ricerca su comportamenti e attività digitali, svolto da TNS su utenti di 46 paesi.

Misurando l’engagement, cioè il coinvolgimento dell’utente nel sito che sta visitando, la ricerca dimostra la crescita dei paesi in via di sviluppo: Egitto 56% e Cina 54% a fronte di Giappone 20%, Danimarca 25%, o Finlandia 26%.

E l’Italia? Il nostro paese registra un 47%, evidenziando alti livelli di coinvolgimento, così come grande interesse nei confronti della dimensione social: il 60% degli utenti italiani ha un blog o scrive su forum, a fronte di un 32% degli USA, 88% Cina e 51% in Brasile. Insomma, se il nostro paese – come afferma TNS Italia – non ha ancora una consolidata diffusione della Rete, presenta comunque livelli di engagement sui social media più alti della media dei paesi sviluppati.

Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine ROI for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasn’t necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didn’t yet exist. And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue.

The debate over ROI inspired certain brands to cannonball into popular social networks to join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards and established authorities, unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.

But that was then and this is now.

In 2010, we enter in to a new era of social media marketing, one based on information, rationalization, and resolve.

Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics.

Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernize business practices, improve products and services, and effectively compete for the future.

ROI: The Return on Ignorance

Where the “I” in ROI represents return on investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement.

Adaptations included:

Return on engagement – the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.

Return on participation – the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.

Return on involvement – similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.

Return on attention – In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.

Return on trust – A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.

But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution.

For many businesses, the case for new metrics cannot arise until we have an intrinsic understanding of how social media engagement affects us at every level. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance.

ROI: Return on Investment

Sometimes we simply need ROI to signify a meaningful return on investment.

In 2010, Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. Where that money goes and from where it’s borrowed varies by department and by company usually tied to where champions reside internally today.

In many cases however, new programs are introduced without an integrated strategy. Money is allocated from existing programs, and if we’re going to take away from something, we should therefore determine whether or not we’re justified in doing so.

According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84 percent of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI.

Source: eMarketer

In 2010, executives are demanding scrutiny, evaluation, and interpretation. Even though new media is transforming organizations from the inside out, what is constant nevertheless, is the need to apply performance indicators to our work.

The Business of Social Media

The CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation, regardless of the allure and seduction of social media.

MarketingProfs recently published a study performed by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club that revealed the true expectation of chief marketing officers. Bottom line, they want measurable results from social media.

Elusiveness continues to prevail however. The study found that the exact impact of social media tactics evade the grasp of CMOs.

- 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter

-50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn or industry blogs

More specifically however, roughly 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook.

I believe this is the direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the ability to know what it is we want to measure before we engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our goals and objectives.

We first answer,

What is it we want to change, improve, accomplish, incite, etc.?

Doing so will allow us to establish goals and objectives that specifically tie activity to:

- Sales

- Registrations

- Referrals

- Links (the currency of the social web)

- Votes

- Reduction in costs and processes

- Decrease in customer issues

- Lead generation

- Conversion

- Reduced sale cycles

- Inbound activity

Customer Insight

Among the responses received from CMOs, customer ratings and reviews rose to the top of marketing activities that deliver tangible ROI insight. In 2009, 80% of respondents reported that customer stories and product suggestions shape products and services. As a result, brands earn the trust and loyalty of their customers for listening and responding – as long as they are made aware of their role and rewarded for it.

In 2010, CMOs will review opportunities for user-generated content sources to involve customers and advocates with many reporting…

- a 400% increase in use of Twitter comments to inform decisions about products and services

- a 59% increase in the use of customer ratings and reviews

- A 24% increase in use of social media for pre-sales Q&A

The Socialization of Monetization

Social media metrics will increasingly tie to revenue in 2010. To what extent seems to vary according to CMOs.

- 80% predict upwards of 5%

- 15% optimistically hope for 5-10%

In 2009, those companies that aligned social media investments with revenue estimate:

- 5% or less revenue tied to social in 2009 foresee an increase of an additional 5% in 2010

- 6-10% of revenue stemming from social is expected to increase more than 10%

- Those with greater revenues resulting from social engagement expect an escalation of revenue derived from social at 20%

Companies such as Dell are not only tracking the impact of Social Media on revenue, but expanding lessons learned across the entire organization. According to Dell’s Lionel Menchaca:

Our @DellOutlet is now close to 1.5 million followers on Twitter, and back in June we indicated that @DellOutlet earned $3 million in revenue from Twitter. Today it’s not just Dell Outlet having success connecting with customers on Twitter. In total, Dell’s global reach on Twitter has resulted in more than $6.5 million in revenue. In fact our Brazilian and Canadian accounts are growing rapidly too – and it was Canadian tweeters who asked to make sure Dell Canada came online to Twitter. Dell Canada responded because the team heard our customers. In less than a year, @DellnoBrasil has already generated nearly $800,000 in product revenues. Similarly, @DellHomeSalesCA has surpassed $150,000 and is increasing at notable pace.

The Forecast for Metrics in 2010

Earlier we mentioned generic forms of Social Media metrics. The survey revealed that indeed, many CMOs, 89%, tracked the impact of social media by traffic, pageviews, and the size of their social graph or communities. However, 2010 is the year that social media graduates from experimentation to strategic implementation with direct ties to specific measurable performance indicators.

In 2010, CMOs will seek to establish a connection between social media and P&L business goals. The study documents the adoption of three metrics:

- 333% surge in tracking revenue

- 174% escalation in monitoring conversion

- 150% increase in measuring average order value

A Call To Action

Among the most effective forms of any marketing initiative is the integration of a call to action. It is how I define influence as it gives us the ability to inspire activity and measure it – as designed. As stated earlier, revenue is only one form of metrics we can introduce, but defining the “R” in ROI is where we need to focus as it relates to our business goals and performance indicators specifically. Even though much of social media is free, we do know the cost of engagement as it relates to employees, time, equipment, and opportunity cost (what they’re not focusing on or accomplishing while engaging in social media). Tying those costs to the results will reveal a formula for assessing the “I” as investment.

When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future.

via http://www.briansolis.com/

Quattro motivi per cui i Social Media sono essenziali al proprio Business ed i 5 Places da cui iniziare!

Sicuramente avrete sentito parlare di Social Media, avrete letto “Follow us on Twitter” da qualche parte e probabilmente sarete iscritti a Facebook… Proprio nel caso in cui non foste ancora convinti dell’enorme cambiamento attualmente in corso nel mondo del Marketing e della Comunicazione, investite un paio di minuti per vedere il video nell’head di questo sito ;) – Social Media Revolution di Socialnomics, autore Erik Parrot – e poi tornate a leggere questo post.

By the way, the video, only a few months old, as great as it is, already has some outdated stats. If Facebook were a country, for instance, it would now be the 3^rd largest in the world, not the 4^th as the video suggests. So now, you know how big social media is, but what can social media do for your business? Does it really matter to your bottom line that so many people are using social networks to connect and share? Here are 4 reasons it does matter:

1) Your customers and prospects are there already, waiting to talk to you. You can either join the conversation, or let them talk about you and your competitors, the good, bad and ugly, without responding. If you don’t believe me, go to http://search.twitter.com and search your name, your company’s name, and your competitor’s names. Or search for keywords describing what you do. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

2) It’s low-cost marketing. No, not free, as some mistakenly believe, but low-cost – compared to traditional vehicles such as tv, radio, print, direct mail, and outdoor advertising. Most of what you pay for is time- your staff’s time or a company such as our firm’s time. But the time and money you invest now can directly correlate to future success – as long as you use social media to engage people, not spam them.

3) It’s way more than just marketing. Social media can help virtually all aspects of your company – obviously marketing and pr, but also sales and business development, customer service, operations and human resources.

4) Done well, social media marketing is word of mouth, on steroids. Word of mouth is the oldest and purest form of marketing. I like to joke that it’s been in fashion since Eve said to Adam, “You’ve got to try this apple.” Surely your business has grown thanks to referrals and positive word of mouth. Now imagine your happiest client sharing how much they loved working with you with 100 Facebook friends, Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections.

Once you make the decision to invest your time and your company’s time and money in social media, it can still be a daunting process. With thousands of social networking sites and tools available to businesses and people, where do you start? Here are my 5 recommendations and why:

1)      Facebook: The world’s largest social media site boasts 400 million+ users and a growth rate of nearly 1 million users per day. More important, its users are your customers and prospects. Don’t believe me? There are over 6 million people in the United States alone on Facebook – that are age 60+. Facebook features individual profiles, groups and fan pages. You’ll want to set up a Fan Page for your business and/or customers. Then, share engaging content on a daily basis. Here are a few more tips for your Fan Page. You may want to consider Facebook ads to help populate your page. Because Facebook has data on 350 million people, the targeting options render the Facebook ads system as the best ad targeting mechanism in history. For example, a business attorney can target accountants in Great Neck, or an architect can target real estate developers in the Hamptons. Last Valentine’s Day, I took out a Facebook ad targeting 33 year old married employees of theKbuzz in New York. The ad copy read, “I love you Carrie” and the ad was seen by only my wife.

2)      Twitter:  The world’s fastest growing social media site may only have 50 million users, but your ability to tap into what your customers and prospects are saying right now on Twitter is unparalleled. Once you begin, you’ll want to follow thought leaders in your industry and people tweeting about you or what you do. As with Facebook, and really all social networks, you’ll want to share lots of great content – not necessarily your own, but articles and links your customers would want to read and would find helpful. Twitter will take a lot of time, but most of our clients on Twitter not only find it to be rewarding for their business, but actually personally rewarding as well.

3)      LinkedIn: The world’s largest professional social network has 55 million users and is still seen as the safer choice by some professionals and high level executives. As an individual, you should make sure your profile is complete and use LI to network, learn and share. As a company, you should make sure you have a dynamic company profile, and use LinkedIn to showcase great content and  find new employees and partners.

4)      YouTube: The world’s largest video-sharing site and 2^nd largest search engine, YouTube should be the host of any video content you can create, or better yet, have customers create. I’m NOT talking about slick tv spots – a flip cam is usually enough to film a 60 second How-To video,  or an interview with an executive, customer or partner. Don’t expect to produce the next “viral video sensation” – as long as you create and share great content, it will find an audience.

5)      Blog: While most corporate blogs are unread, if you can use a blog to consistently create and share valuable content, it can search as the lynchpin to your social media strategy. You don’t have to give away the farm – but do create enough value to showcase yourself as the expert – and make people want to share your content. Great blogging software options include WordPress, Posterous, and Tumblr.

via http://blog.thekbuzz.com