Thursday, February 4, 2010

Social Media Grows Up & Delivers R.O.I.

When it comes to advertising, I have always been a much bigger fan of programs that drive business results than those that win awards for creativity. I guess this is timely being that everyone gets so geared up about creative TV ads during the Super Bowl. Today's big trend in advertising and marketing is social media. It's so hot these days that Pepsi even made big news by ditching their normal Super Bowl ad spend in order to fund The Pepsi Refresh Project, their 2010 social media initiative.

I've been fortunate enough to work in the social media industry for many years at companies like BOSSdev and Powered. It's been enjoyable watching social media evolve from a little something that innovative clients would fund as a proof of concept into what is today an important component of most marketing plans.

One marketing professional I follow and admire who is very versed and steadfastly focused on the R.O.I. of social media is Olivier Blanchard aka The Brand Builder. Olivier has a nice style about his presentations. They are engaging, relevant and entertaining. But do not mistake his style, for lack of substance. He delivers plenty of substance and advice on how to track the business results of your social media efforts (hint: it's about more than tracking media). Here's a great presentation by Olivier on the basics of social media R.O.I.