After taking a look at this article over at CNBC entitled "Newest metric for retailers: Their social media following?" I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.
The article points out how Michael Kors shares dropped 24% upon the company reporting nearly a 6% decline in same store sales. Their response?... They be like... "Oh but our social media is the bomb and our fan base is growing really sweet."
I would submit that your business social media presence is a tool to be leveraged for branding, marketing and customer service. And like any other tool ROI matters. If you spend $50,000.00 on magazine ads and generated no sales would you then say it was all good because a ton of people saw your ads?
If your social fan base is growing substantially while your sales numbers simultaneously tank... your're doing it wrong. Maybe your message isn't connecting, maybe your services or products are not competitive or not in demand. Whatever the case may be, at the end of the day you're investing resources into social media and your ROI is unacceptable.
Take a look at the article linked at the top of this post and see for yourself how many businesses seem to be so enchanted with the size of their social media fan base that they are blinded to the simple fact that their business profitability is on a negative trajectory.
My advice to you... regardless of the size of your business... hold your social media accountable to the ROI that you receive from it. Focus more on the actual monetary impact it has on your sales and profits and focus much less on how many fans have clicked your like button or follow tab.
