5 Steps to Making the Business Case for Social Media

We started three years ago by deploying social media-based programs as try-and-learn projects with our clients. Many clients especially on the consumer marketing side and the tech side (B2B) had an intuitive desire to get involved with social media.

Two years ago, we saw a shift and developed a very solid measurment model to report performance to marketers and ourselves. We are marketers. We know the importance of measurement. Experiments will only go so far (and only justify so much in terms of budget). We had to make the business case for programs that leverage social media. We had to do that for ourselves first and foremost. As much as I believe in the dynamics of conversation-based marketing and word of mouth, if it doesn't make business sense then I cannot recommend them to clients.

It got me thinking about how we ourselves have analyzed the value of social media as a "discipline." Then I read Jeremiah's How To: Effectively Talk To Execs....About Social Media.
He makes a case for the right orientation overall - not just the right justification (Needs assesment + value statement) but also how to be a sensitive communicator.

Here are 5 steps to making the business case for using social media.

1. Confirm the business objective and communication goals
Are we selling more product and services? Launching a new product? Are you trying to raise awareness? Educate customers about a product or service? Build long term loyalty? It amazes me how many programs are not tied back to what we are trying to accomplish. If you can clearly state the business objective and the communication goal(s), you are much more likely to come up with a program that is relevant to the business owner. The attached diagram is a variation on an Ogilvy chestnut known as the Funnel. I have used it here to demonstrate some hypothetical alignment of social media tactics and communication goals.

2. Create a short, simple yet relevant strategy
Some clients don't want to hear strategy. My hypothesis is that they do actually want it but want the strategy to take up only 6-8% of our time, energy and budget. They want action and results. They suspect that agencies spend too much time on strategy as if prone to navel-gazing. Not so. Since strategy is the thread between communication goals and tactics, it is important to have in place to justify our choices and recommendations. We just do it very efficiently these days. Whenever we are compelled to skip strategy, it always, and I mean always, comes back to haunt us. I will assume that knowledge and hopefully, insight into the digital lives of our people (audience, target audience, users, customers, consumers, mom - choose one) will be built into the strategy.

3. Create a vision of success and...
Our programs are highly creative. We mean "creative" in a new way, not in the old-school ad agency model of the cult of "Creative."  We actually get excited about what can happen for a client if they engage their customers in new ways. It's not just the novelty of new technique. Generally, it's the promise of creating a stronger bond with between brand and people. Anyhow, we need to share that vision and share our excitement. We have to paint an easy-to-see image of success - e.g. "What if we created an idea-center for customers where they post their own thoughts on how to make the service better? We get more loyal customers by increasing their "ownership" in the service, and they tell their friends....."  But vision without numbers is dead, so....

4. ...finish the image with measurement
What are we measuring and what will it tell us? Social media promises more than 'reach.' It offers "engagement", which remains an ill-defined concept. Still, we measure and report metrics that are indicative of a deeper level of engagement. Deeper than ad impressions. Deeper that simply 'time-spent.'

My suggestion? Start with conversion and work your way backwards. It is not always easy to connect the dots between social media-based programs and sales or sign-ups (or other conversion points). But try. And then demonstrate the growth of third party mentions and recommendations. Show how you will improve search engine results with new content from advocates. Apply the Net Promoter Score if your client subscribes to that model. While there is no industry standard on measurement, there are many ways to demonstrate how to measure social media programs both for optimization purposes and final judgement.

5. Tell 2 relevant stories to answer "why now?"
How did a competitor use social media? As long as it is is relevant and not a story of failure, this will help the executive you are talking with to see the competitive pressure to move ahead now. And tell one more story of how a business used a similar strategy to achieve a goal. Too many stories and you will inundate them with data. You want to demonstrate that you understand the executive's situation by being able to reference relevant stories.

Perhaps this is all common sense. Still, I am struck by how quickly people jump into tactics only to become alienated later in the process by irrelevant or unmeasuremable results. Chances are that most marketing and communication executives will insist on these 5 steps before "greenlighting" anything.  I know we do. Sometimes our own standards are more rigorous than our clients. I am guessing that ultimately that is okay....

How do you make the business case?   

Comments

[Gauravonomics]

Great post! This is one of the most clearly thought through posts on how to pitch social media to brand managers that I have ever seen. I'm a brand manager myself and wish that my agencies used this approach when talking about social media.

[John Bell]

Thanks for the positive feedback. Sometimes I hesitate to post stuff like this cause it seems self evident but maybe not...

[Shachin]

As the co-founder of a social media organization, i think this post does a fantastic job in breaking down, in a very systematic way, on doing a social media 101 to those that want to participate, but still need help understanding the benefits of it.

I still wonder though, after taking through a newbie through this exercise, how many people would nod along and at the end still say "Ok, so what are doing on Facebook?"

[myspace design]

Awesome post. Very informative and insightful. Great job!