Realize the ROI of Social Media
Mark Wallace
Vice President, Social Media
Environmental Data Resources
@mwallcomm
June 30, 2009
Sponsored by:
Confidential Property of EDR

Agenda
ge da
• Traditional Marketing ROI vs. Social Media ROI
• EDR & commonground
• 5 ROI & Reporting Tips
• R
Recap/Summary
/S

Traditional Marketing
ROI vs. Social Media ROI
vs
Confidential Property of EDR

“Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and
Marketing ROI are defined as the optimization of
marketing spend for the short and long term in
support of the brand strategy by building a market
model using valid objective marketing metrics
valid, metrics.
Improving ROMI leads to improved marketing
effectiveness, increased revenue, profit and market
share for the same amount of marketing spend.”
Wikipedia’s definition

ROI: What We Are Used To
O at e e o
• Conversion
– cost per conversion
– conversion rate
• Engagement
– throughout the buy cycle
– compelling content
• Awareness
– company recognition
– product recognition

“ROI, or as we call it at EDR, Return on Initiative,
is defined as the ability to quantify and report the
y q y p
results of our social networking efforts to all key
stakeholders. We analyze traditional marketing,
social or influence marketing, and search
effectiveness, to name a few.
It is not an exact science ”
science.
Mark Wallace

The ROI Rules Have C a ged
e O u es a e Changed
• Social Networks
– reach
– influence
– presence
• Customer Satisfaction
– references
– lifetime value of a customer
• Participation:
– basics
– advanced
Web.media.MIT.edu

EDR and commonground
Confidential Property of EDR

Environmental Data Resources (
o e ta ata esou ces (EDR) )
• EDR provides unique information services to reduce environmental
risk associated with property
i k i t d ith t
• #1 provider of environmental reports for Commercial Real Estate
• At one point, one of FedEx’s largest customers in New England
• Portfolio company for the Daily Mail & General Trust in London
• C t d commonground j t over a year ago – th social network f
Created d just the i l t k for
environmental and property due diligence professionals (B2B)

Ou St ateg c Soc a ed a Goals
Our Strategic Social Media Goa s
• Evolve the EDR & The Daily Mail & General Trust brands and culture
y
• Solidify EDR’s relationships with customers and help them grow
• Improve EDR’s marketing and web effectiveness
• Generate new sources of recurring revenue

5 ROI & Reporting Tips
Confidential Property of EDR

Tip # Agree o Your Business Drivers
p #1: g ee on ou us ess es
For commonground, they are:
• Evolve and elevate brand
• Increase customer loyalty
• Maximize marketing effectiveness
• Generate sales

Tip # Report The Basics at Least Bi-Weekly
p #2: epo t e as cs east ee y
For commonground, here are a few examples:
• 3,500 Members from 1,600+ unique companies
• 18% are owners CEOs, principals, and leaders of their companies
owners, CEOs principals
• 67 countries
• 11% participation rate
• 18 bloggers and over 560 blogs

Tip #3 Report Key Findings Ad Hoc
p #3: epo t ey d gs d oc
• Since 9/08, Alexa rankings have gone up 420,000 points
• Si
Since 10/08 EDR webgrade h gone f
10/08, b d has from a 66 t a 91
to
• Since 10/08, commonground webgrade has gone from a 74 to an 88
• I the last month, our Google indexed pages h
In th l t th G l i d d have i
increased 30 !
d 30x!

Tip #4: Make Time to Co
p# a e e Communicate
u cate
• Regular in person communication to CEO, Sr. Staff, and Board
• Share successes frequently with members, coworkers, Advisory Panel
• Use blended approach to highlight milestones
• R
Regularly thank all membership and i di id l members
l l h k ll b hi d individual b
• Educate continuously

Tip #5 Research How to Improve Data Qua ty
p #5: esea c o p o e ata Quality
• Market is evolving – new technology out there every day
• Executives and investors want real data
• Make it loud and clear that your social networking efforts are strategic

Return on ou co
etu o our commonground S Initiative
o g ou d SM t at e
• Featured as a top 10 initiative in the DMGT ‘09 annual report
• R f
Referred t as now as an “
d to “asset” vs. an “initiative”
t” “i iti ti ”
• Customers are telling us they are receiving real value answers, jobs, and business
• Significant search engine optimization improvements
• E i
Environmental B i
t l Business J
Journal A
l Award i F b
d in February
• Member referrals are picking up considerably (viral kicking in)
• Our first monetization effort exceeded expectations

Summary/Recap
Confidential Property of EDR

5 Steps To Realizing Soc a Media ROI
o ea g Social ed a O
1. Alignment – 100% agreement on your business drivers
2. Gather and share intelligence, user data, and trends
3. Report advanced findings ad hoc – the more the merrier
4. Make time to communicate with all stakeholders (…and thank them)
5. Do your homework – as your community evolves, so won’t your needs. Be
prepared.

Q&A
Contact information
Mark Wallace
VP,
VP Social Media
Environmental Data Resources (EDR)
Twitter: @mwallcomm
Twitter: commonground @edrcommonground
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwallace6161
Questions via twitter #CommROI
Special thanks to: