• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:MEASURING SOCIAL MEDIA RETURN ON INVESTMENT

See the case study on pages 189 to 195 of our textbook

SYNOPSIS

In August 2011, Harry Dresden, a digital strategist at Online Advertisers, a small digital media company specialized in web development, affiliate marketing, and social media management, was faced with a situation where he had to finalize a value proposition for a new social media marketing division, Online Advertisers Social. Online Advertisers was a very creativity-driven company. Data and analytic competences were generally not the reason why clients had worked with Online Advertisers. Online Advertisers had attracted clients by being young, trendy, energetic, and creative. However, clients (especially larger clients) wanted analytics and metrics that could be used to objectively quantify return on social media investment. Apart from attracting analytics-focused clients, Dresden saw an opportunity to position Online Advertisers Social as a social media company that would offer smaller businesses insights into their target markets that they would not otherwise have access due to budget constraints. Dresden needed to create an value proposition that would balance an analytics focus with Online Advertisers' creative marketing and design. The company was too small to offer a large-scale competitive analytical package, and had over relied on intuition in the past to create an competitive data-based social media package. Dresden went through the nuances of social media management, including campaign management and community management, and the issue of offering services related to the measurement of social media ROI in a rapidly growing and maturing industry.

The major learning objectives of this case study are as follows:

• To enable you to appreciate the complexity of social media management and measurement, as well as the necessity for measurement.
• To expose you to the power and different components involved in social media marketing (e.g., community building and campaign management).
• To provide you with the opportunity to determine a value proposition for a company with human capital and resource constraints, competing against larger and seemingly more sophisticated competitors.

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

As Harry Dresden, would you target relatively small or large companies? Based on this targeting, craft an appropriate value proposition. Consider if your value proposition should reflect a heavy focus on analytics and metrics, or if you should try to leverage Online Advertisers' creative team. Ensure that you have also considered competitive offerings and general target preferences in your response.