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Show Us the Money: How Social Media Engagement is Paying Off

By: Marijean Jaggers | 07/23/2009

After more than four years of pushing the envelope of social media with clients, it's quite gratifying to report that a new study backs up what we at Standing have been saying all along. The study, conducted by wiki resource Wetpaint and Altimeter Group, makes a direct correrelation between deep social media engagement and financial success.

In a post about the study, Sarah Perez on Read Write Web writes that "Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%."

In short, companies that have heavily and deeply engaged in social media to support their brands, products and services have made money where others are seeing revenues slip. The key, according to the study, is to engage actively in a few tools or networks. At Standing, we recommend a strategic, integrated plan that focuses on using four tools: a dynamic Web site, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Just having a presence in these spaces is not enough, of course. It's what you do with them that's important. Frequent updates with valuable, interesting content are equally important. Among the top-ranked brands the study evaluates are Starbucks (where I am, incidentally, as I write this), Dell, Google, Amazon and eBay. The top-ranked brands are labeled "mavens" and set the gold standard for the payoff that can happen for a business when social media is used to engage communities, find new customers, and keep them.

If you want to find out how your company ranks, the study has launched a Web site with a Rank Yourself tool. Let us know in the comments how you rank, and of course, if you'd like to improve your engagement in social media, please let us know; we'd like to help.

Posted in Digital Communications