Shel Israel, author of Twitterville and social media advisor to brands is proposing to write a new book.
One of the things he hopes to tackle in the new book is the question of social media ROI, which is a bruised and bloody topic today.
I am not absolutely certain that I will show a direct correlation between social media and the bottom line.
But I have a decent amount of evidence that shows big companies like IBM, Intuit and SAP are making money because of social media. If there is no clear bottom line equation, there is a great deal of evidence that big businesses are making money at the top line through the conversational technologies.
The business value case has become irrefutable, or so it seems to me.
Naturally, the proof is forever in the pudding. Sadly, very few people have demonstrated that any form of advertising is cost effective. Lots of campaign factors like click throughs and open rates are measured, but the only measure a Chief Marketing Officer, brand manager or business owner truly cares about is sales.
Does social media marketing help drive people to purchase? That’s the question that needs to be answered, convincingly, over and over again.