Understanding the ROI of Social Media

It’s the question that social media evangelists, speakers, consultants and practitioners begrudgingly have to answer. Sometimes, they have to or their jobs are in jeopardy. What is the ROI of social media. While I have my own perspective on that, there are many ideas and opinions on the issue. Part of what we plan to provide with our Explore events this year is a better understanding of the ROI question for all who attend.

Nichole Kelly, who not only writes for us here at SME but is so passionate about return-on-investment she named her company Full Frontal ROI, will be tackling the topic of ROI from a no fluff (read: no bullshit) perspective in Dallas on Feb. 17 at our first Explore event of the year. Kelly has a strong brand-side background and specializes in translating social media analytics and metrics to executive teams and C-level folks so they “get” what we’re doing. Her talk is going to be of great value to all who are in Dallas.

I caught up with Nichole recently to ask some questions about why companies struggle with the ROI issue and what they can do about it.

Be sure to check out Nichole over at her blog and assortment of writers at Full Frontal ROI.

You won’t want to miss the business insights Nichole has to give at Explore Dallas-Fort Worth. She’ll be speaking there, along with an all-star lineup that includes Copyblogger’s Brian Clark, Zena Weist of Edelman Digital, Tom Webster from Edison Research, Chris Baccus from AT&T, Adrian Parker of Radio Shack, DJ Waldow from Waldow Social and more. The event will also feature a number of excellent software providers and companies to help you navigate the waters of digital marketing. They’ll bring their knowledge to share as well as their products. This is a must-attend event, so register now!

The first 100 registrants spots are filling up quickly! Register now and get the full day’s content, breakfast, lunch (by Wolfgang Puck Catering) and a cocktail reception for just $250! After the first 100 seats are gone, the price of the event is $400, so save $150 now and reserve your spot.

Explore is a five-city conference event series from Social Media Explorer and presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools. Learn more and sign up for email updates for the city nearest you at socialmediaexp.wpengine.com/product/events.