ROI: New Book Gives a New Look at New Media

As the old saying goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. So how do we know if our social media activities are successful? Mark W. Schaefer guides us with his book, Return on Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring and Influence Marketing (McGraw-Hill), which comes at a most opportune time. As our mobile connections grow, most of us have unprecedented reach in our communications. (As Schaefer was wrote the book, 84 percent of American adults and 80 percent of teenagers had cell phones, more than half of adults with laptops have mobile ties, and 11 percent have tablet computers.) But how influential are we, really?

Schaefer sees many benefits to being a “citizen influencer” — the new breed of online communicators who can become a rock star in that world. He describes personal influence as “the marketer’s Holy Grail.” He notes how such influencers get the opportunity to test-drive new cars, receive the latest technological toys and more. His advice, essentially, is to become an influencer in a particular area to become a celebrity. “Bloggers may not have the societal authority of a physician,” Schaefer writes, “yet there are certainly many badges and symbols on the Internet that can reliably trigger our compliance in the absence of the genuine substance of authority.”

However, he also warns readers to be authentic on the Web, lest they undermine their own credibility. (One particularly telling anecdote concerns a man who makes a comfortable living by creating false Twitter accounts preloaded with thousands of followers, which he then sells on eBay.) According to Schaefer, the three best ways to increase your Klout scores are to build a relevant network, provide compelling content, and systematically build a network of fellow influencers who will distribute your content virally. Most important is to create content that is RITE: relevant, interesting, timely and entertaining.

Schaefer advises organizations that use social media to become content publishers, rather than just republishers of others’ information. He reminds social media practitioners to think about the content they publish in terms of its relevance to its audience.  “If you create great content, the social Web will do the work for you,” he says. He also reminds readers that the social media are two-way. Therefore, we should do our best to interact with the audience, letting them set the tone for a conversation. (Schaefer points out that social media have replaced the old “letters of compliant” from customers.)

To provide “social proof” (Schaefer’s term) of reach and influence, he teaches us of the various measurement tools, such as Klout and Peerindex. These have become so legitimate that many communicators are listing their scores on their resumes and in other documentation.  

I found a welcome bonus at the end of the book: Schaefer lists many of the current influencers in social media, along with contact information, so readers can follow these folks and stay up-to-date with latest philosophies and practices.

I recommend ROI as a critical resource for beginning and journeymen social media practitioners. George Santayana once said, "Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality." The book makes clear that online activities can be meaningless without measurement, turning it into a narcissistic experience. The principles in ROI serve not only us as readers but also our audiences.