As social media and social media platforms increasingly become promising targets for marketing professionals, the question of return on investment (ROI) of social media campaigns is gaining in prominence, specifically in comparison with the returns generated by alternative marketing initiatives and tactics that can be employed.

The case for ROI

Social media is obviously a relatively new phenomenon, and therefore social media measurement models are still undeveloped, but a number of individuals in the social media arena have made attempts to address existing confusion and lay down some basic ground rules. While many in the field have compiled lists of key performance indicators (KPIs) by which the success of social media initiatives can potentially be measured, Olivier Blanchard and Jacob Morgan, among others, quite correctly emphasize that ROI is by definition a financial equation that specifies the correlation between an investment and its financial return. more »

It’s every aspiring (or, more likely these days, unemployed) actor’s dream gig: to be a seat filler at star-studded events like the Academy Awards. And why not? Even I, a non-thespian with the stage presence of a baked potato, meet the qualifications: well-dressed and heeled, ability to appear engaged in a monotonous ceremony, and the ability to sit still for four hours straight. (Okay, maybe not so much the latter, but you get the point.) more »

“My Administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

U.S. President Barack Obama felt compelled to speak these words to the leading U.S. bank CEOs at a White House gathering to which they had been summoned on April 9, 2009. Driven by the public’s anger at the financial crisis, the President employed a metaphor invoking 19th-century images of “peasants with pitchforks” and scythes rising up to demand better treatment from their overlords. That such revolutions regularly occurred from 1776 until 1917 in Europe, North America and South America added a modicum of historical weight to the implied threat. more »