the press release is dead

One of the most frequently asked questions of marketers looking to engage with "social media" tools is:  what's my return on investment (ROI)?

The number of blogs (and even books) that have been written on this topic is seemingly endless.  

I think we should stop looking for the "ROI" and instead start talking about "Benefits of Engagement" (BOE).

Here's why ...

Too many folks begin their social media odyssey with an eye on how they can turn a quick buck.  That leads to the all-too-common "tweetbot" syndrome that causes people to fill your Twitter accounts with spam, online coupons and other junk.

Looking at your engagement with online tools with an eye first on profits leads to impatience, attempts to cut corners in order to make fast cash, and hurts the long term effort of your communications program.

It also can lead you to utilize online tools as a one-way communication device, focusing on eyeballs and clicks — rather than truly engaging in conversation, networking and providing real value.

For someone like me, who works with many advocacy and political clients, focusing on "ROI" is simply a drawback.  These clients especially want to focus on how they can utilize online tools as an ATM machine.  They see a handful of candidates like Barack Obama raising huge sums of money, and want to do the same (ignoring the fact that the Obama campaign spent almost a year engaging in conversation and creating a narrative before they ever asked for even a dollar donation from their network.)

We also work with think tank clients, where looking at "ROI" simply isn't a good measure.

That's why I like the term "Benefit of Engagement."  It puts the focus where it should be (on engagement) and takes note that the benefits your organization receives may not simply be financial — but measured in a host of other ways.

In the end, it's all just semantics.  But these types of semantics are important when trying to get newbie organizations into the right mindset on how to engage effectively online.

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From the feedback I've been receiving lately from small business owners, it's readily apparent that their challenges in starting strategic online media programs isn't lack of tools — it's too many tools.

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I've been seeing the above ad a lot this week (all on the Google Ad network) for the Nissan Leaf.  Notice the inclusion of social media icons. The "click thru" model has long been dead, and I'm a big fan of engagement instead of eyeballs.  Would be very interested to see Nissan's stats on the engagement rates with these social media icons.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting on "new communications tools" to a capacity crowd of business leaders at the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

These weren't the CEO's of large corporations — they were the owners, operators and managers of small, local community businesses.

The size of the crowd took many by surprise, and numerous folks had to be turned away at the door due to fire code.

The crowd wasn't gathered there because I was the speaker — they were gathered because they are hungry for guidance on how to communicate online.

Many of the people in the room were those who, perhaps just a few weeks or months ago, were pooh-poohing "social media" as merely a fad, or a playground for college students and teens.

But now they realize that they can't afford not to be using these new communications tools.

Unfortunately, much of the information out there (social media guides, online publications) is geared toward tech geeks, social media insiders, or larger companies.  That's why many small businesses owners feel left out.

There's a big learning curve here — and a large communications gap in providing the right, credible advice to this vital audience.

In the coming months, my firm is going to focus on helping demystify and explain social media tools to these folks — keeping in mind that they're not tech-heads or Web geeks ... but ordinary people just trying to keep their businesses afloat.

For the communications revolution to truly be, well ... revolutionary ... we need to make sure it doesn't pass by the small business owners who create two-thirds of the new jobs in our American economy.

They're hungry for guidance.  Let's make sure to provide them the sustenance they require.

Oh, and by the way, here is the PowerPoint I presented to the Hilton Head Chamber Expo last week:

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In the Q&A portion of my presentation last week to the Hilton Head Chamber Business Expo, one small business owner (a local investment broker who ran a francise of a national brokerage) asked me for my recommendations on how to participate in a social networking effort given the restrictions placed on him by the Securities and Exchange Commission and his national employers.

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