What is the true business value of social media engagement?
By Mark Schaefer
One of the go-to business metrics of the social media era is engagement. It just makes sense. If people are engaging with our content through likes, shares, and comments, that seems like a reasonable precursor to valuable business benefits. And, it’s so easy to measure, which is always welcomed!
But as I was doing research for my latest book, I could not validate that hypothesis. There is literally no reliable research that ties social media engagement to tangible financial benefits. We sort of “feel” it makes a difference — more engagement is better — but is it?
What is a rational, data-based view of the value of engagement to our businesses? In this comprehensive post, I expand on eight conclusions about the economic value of social media engagement:
- Customer engagement is not normally connected to brand loyalty.
- Most social media engagement does not lead to short-term financial benefits.
- Social sharing is an important metric because it represents organic advocacy.
- Social media engagement that leads to customer community can create tangible business benefits.
- Social media engagement may open opportunities to actionable new business relationships.
