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Measuring ROI: How To Analyze Data Effectively
Christopher Parks
MKT-455
Professor Melinda Fulton
30 May 2015

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Christopher Parks
MKT-455
Professor Melinda Fulton
30 May 2015
Measuring ROI: How To Analyze Data Effectively
ROI is quite simply, Return On Investment. ROI in any business sense can be measured
in a multitude of ways. In traditional marketing, it was measured by “dollars spent” versus
“dollars earned”. ROI seems like a fairly easy concept to grasp, but the formula required to
determine an acceptable ROI can sometimes be difficult to come by. Since the inception of social
media--and the surge of marketers that soon followed--a calculation was needed to help aid these
marketers in proving social media’s worth in the marketplace. It was a tall order considering that
even to this day, there is no concrete method for determining ROI. The reason is because ROI
can be calculated in a number of ways. For most company CEO’s and executives, they naturally
want a cash value attached to their social media expenditures. If a social media marketer were to
walk through the doors of the President of Coca-Cola and say, “Ma’am, we can’t calculate how
much money we’ve generated from our social media efforts, but we certainly are creating quite a
buzz on Instagram,” then they would probably be escorted directly back out by the cantankerous
secretary and probably rightfully so. Marketers in any field need to understand the true value of
social media and effectively communicate its value to their superiors. In our case study, Steve
Fowler, vice president of strategy at Ayzenberg, decided to use Meteor Solutions for his latest
advertising campaign. He used Meteor Solutions Tracker and Ignite programs to follow the
progress of his Resident Evil video game campaign and see exactly what kind of impact his

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word-of-mouth strategy was having. Long story short, the campaign was very successful and was
shared over multiple social media platforms, but Fowler was unable to fully justify the use of
Meteor Solutions Tracker system for future campaigns. He had data showing exactly how his
campaign succeeded, but he lacked certain metrics to make his campaign more successful. In
Fowler’s case, “there was an important distinction between having the data and using it”
(Jeffery).
What I found especially helpful in determining ROI was the article, Ways To Measure
Social Media Marketing ROI by Chris Street. Street contends that ROI cannot simply be
determined by cash value alone and there are other factors to consider, such as: Prospect
Engagement ROI, Search Ranking ROI, Brand Reputation ROI, Thought Leadership ROI, and
Competitive Edge ROI. This article helped me realize that ROI is not just about the money and
there are many other ROI’s to consider. Like Street stated in his concluding paragraph, “The
financial ROI will come in time”. What businesses need to consider when investing in social
media marketing is that financial ROI is only one piece of the puzzle. There are several
important aspects to social media marketing that can really build a brand’s identity and establish
a company as a leader in their particular market.

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Works Cited
Jeffery, Mark. "Meteor Solutions: Measuring the Value of Social Media Marketing." Case Study.
Northwestern University, n.d.
Street, Chris. Ways to Measure Social Media Marketing ROI. 1 May 2013. 30 May 2015
<http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/ways-measure-social-media-marketing-roi>.