There are 100 opinions on what percentage of social media should be in your 2011 marketing mix, but across every industry there\u2019s one unified call for quantifiable ROI.<\/p>\n
We marketers know that Return on Investment and Return on Information depend on a company\u2019s goals. While it may be difficult to measure the short-term effectiveness of a Twitter campaign in profitability terms (ROI), it\u2019s no excuse not to pursue an initiative or forego measurements.<\/p>\n
Do you know the ROI of the ad on the bus bench? Or four hours on the golf course with a CEO, or the in-flight magazine ad?<\/p>\n
One of the most valuable ROIs for me in social media is knowledge\u2014first-person, firsthand, first to apply.<\/p>\n
Access to a primary source of information, which is in turn applied to a social media initiative, is a business advantage. And it\u2019s one of the most valuable benefits of attending a social media conference like Ragan\u2019s 4th<\/sup> Annual Social Media for PR & Corporate Communications in Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n During three days of social media on steroids, 400 colleagues and I learned from frontline practitioners who are opening up media frontiers for business. Shel Holtz (@ShelHoltz<\/a>), Pete Codella (@Codella<\/a>), David Pogue (@Pogue<\/a>), Col. Doug Wheelock from NASA (@Astro_Wheels<\/a>), \u00a0Lt. Colonel Andrew Morton (@MyArmyReserve<\/a>), Paolo Tosolini (@tosolini<\/a>), and Mark Ragan (@MarkRaganCEO<\/a>) were just a few of the leaders.<\/p>\n Teaching an advanced social media strategies session, David B. Thomas (@DavidBThomas<\/a>), author of The Executive\u2019s Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy<\/em><\/a>, and executive director of New Marketing Labs, shared practical advice on social media and measurement.<\/p>\n I caught up with David after his Ragan session and asked him, \u201cHow do you see social media changing the marketing mix?\u201d His insight may be the tipping point to make 2011 the year to shift some marketing dollars from traditional to new media.<\/p>\n