I get that blogging is part of an integrated social media & web marketing strategy and that it takes time and patience to see results. and that it’s difficult to compare to how PR or paid advertising is valuated. However, I’m curious to know if there is any measurement that represents the value of blog posting for a company’s product/service on relevant industry blogs? Like it on not, we live in an ROI-driven business world and some business folks simply need a measurement. Perhaps they’re not a good fit for social media?

ROI is always a hot topic when you’re pitching social media to businesses, especially if the business in question is used to dealing in traditional media marketing with traditional, measurable results. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that social media isn’t a good avenue for that business to take. Any business can benefit from social media interaction, if it’s done correctly. The hardest part is often selling the idea to the people at the top of the company heirarchy.

So, how can your ROI be measured when you’re dealing with social media? The first and most important step is to outline what your goals are. This gives you a benchmark against which you can measure your success.

If you want quantitative results, the best way to measure the impact of a social media campaign is through analytics. Some things you can look at:

• How many unique visitors does your blog have? How many comments? How about subscribers?
• How many times have your posts been submitted to Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and other social news sites?
• How big is your Twitter following?
• How many fans are there on your Facebook page?

You get the idea.

By analyzing these numbers, and by tracking the number of folks who click through to your site by way of your social networks, you can start to get some hard data to deliver to the bosses to prove that your social media efforts are paying off.

Along with your quantitative results, you’ll also want to be able to demonstrate the quality of your social media activities. Some things to consider:

• Is it easier to connect with existing and potential customers or business associates?
• Are you participating in conversations you couldn’t take part in before?
• Are the conversations surrounding your business and your products positive?
• Have these conversations been valuable to you in evaluating the way you do business?
• Are you better able to manage your online reputation?
• Is your social media presence helping you with branding?

Answers to these questions, along with the hard data from your quantitative measurements, should help you get a clearer idea of how your social media campaign is impacting the success of your business or organization.

Highlight Midwest will showcase entrepreneurs and early adopters of new media technologies, who will present their stories and provide other businesses and organizations with information on how to get started utilizing the same strategies to produce success. Presenters from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa will be sharing their valuable insight at the Focused Highlights conference during the day, and there will also be an evening presentation called “Highlight Midwest: New Heights for Flyover States,” which will highlight some of the best new media success stories from our region.

Focused Highlights is being held from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM at the Record Bar in Kansas City’s historic Westport district. Lunch will be provided, and many speakers are already slated to talk.

I will be giving a presentation called Messages, Membership, and Money: Growing Your Non-Profit Organization with Social Media. We’ve noticed through talking with people about our business that there is a growing interest in social media throughout the non-profit community, and we’re putting together a really great talk on how these organizations can harness the power of Web 2.0 to spread their message, increase membership, and raise money for their important causes. The schedule isn’t quite firmed up yet, so I’m not sure when I’m speaking or for how long, but I’ll be sure to update as soon as I find out.

We have also been invited to do some guest posting over at the Highlight Midwest blog, so watch there for contributions from The Social Lites, and check out the other posts and presentations while you’re there.

Registration for both the daytime and evening events is FREE, so go sign up and be part of this very exciting event.

We’ll see you there!

According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Survey, a whopping 93% of customers say that they want businesses on social media sites.

“Americans are eager to deepen their brand relationships through social media,” says Mike Hollywood, Cone’s director of new media. “It isn’t an intrusion into their lives, but rather a welcome channel for discussion.”

As we’ve mentioned, being involved in social media gives your company a human face and gives a sense of transparency to the people who are using your products and services. Just being a face on social media platforms isn’t enough, however: 85% of those surveyed agreed that businesses should also utilize these new methods to interact with their customers. They cited customer service, solicitation of feedback on new products and services, brand interaction, and direct marketing as the areas businesses should explore in their social media endeavors.

This doesn’t mean you should be forcing your product down their throats all over the blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, however. Customers want the capability and the option to interact on their terms, initiating the conversations themselves and having their conversations listened to with earnest.

One of the best ways to develop new marketing strategies is to listen to what your customers want and cater to their needs, and from the sounds of it, what they want is your participation in the social media revolution.

I think that speaks for itself.