The Bottom Line, The Social Way
How successful is social media’s impact on a socially responsible company’s bottom line?
This is the leading question framing a Social Media Week panel I’ll be speaking at this Thursday.
We know that social media has had a tremendous impact on society, but to what extent does it translate into real dollars? There are many metrics we can use to track engagement: number of followers, number of people writing about us, number of visitors, etc. However, it is still difficult to correlate the impact of social media on a company’s bottom line; it’s often an ecosystem of small, unordered interactions that lead to a click, a purchase, a donation.
However, for some organizations, the correlation is much clearer. There are many companies that would not exist without social media: Mashable, Kickstarter, Pinterest, Groupon. These platforms are social media, thus their entire business models are predicated upon it.
While not all companies can exist as social media, what we can learn from these startups is that social media has a greater impact on a company’s bottom line when it is treated as an integrated part of a company’s brand strategy, rather than just a marketing afterthought.
Social media should be less about platforms, more about people and purpose.
Being “social” means creating a brand of listening. It means creating a brand that engages in in dialogues rather than monologues, a brand that empowers people to do more. It means creating a brand that is driven by purpose rather than just the latest trends.
Your brand purpose, based upon the intersection between what people need and what’s special about you, should shape how and where you engage with your audience. Your purpose should be a unifying force that drives your entire business – from social media to business model to operations.
When social media is contextualized within the big picture, your brand presence on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms seems more authentic, human and individualized. When it is viewed as another tool for driving impact and profit, the correlation between a tweet and a new business prospect is much clearer. When social media becomes an embedded part of your company’s DNA, it becomes an even more powerful – and sustainable – force for good.
Here are a few guiding questions we ask our clients to ask themselves:
Given our brand purpose, what are the most appropriate channels for engaging with our audience?
How can we empower our customers to do more?
If we are trying to translate social media into real dollars, how can we connect the dots between action and impact?
Image via Thereza Rowe
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As part of Social Media Week, on February 16, WONY strategist Melissa Andrada (@themelissard) will join a panel on “Doing Well by Doing Good,” hosted by SCENEPR in association with Design for Social Innovation (DSI) at SVA. With Brian Reich, SVP/Global Editor at Edelman, and others from Purpose, Roadmonkey Adventure Philanthropy, and Mark & Phil, the panel will explore how purposeful businesses can use social media for both impact and profit. Sign up to attend here: http://dogoodsmw.eventbrite.com/
