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My good friends at Digital Clarity tweeted this a few hours ago:

“What’s the ROI of Social Media? You will still be in business in 5 years time”.  I love this observation!  Let me tell you why.

Marketers debate endlessly about metrics and measurement tools to measure the impact of what we are doing in social media.  We want to attach an ROI to our efforts. But, what if we are measuring the trees, but missing the forest?

There is an existential value to social media that goes beyond measurement. Can you place a value on the insight a business gains as it connects and engages with it’s customers?  The opportunities that come from unplanned and serendipidous new connections?

I recently visited the website of a business whose owner I know very well.  Beautiful website, great product, but no signs of social outreach.  Like dinosaurs, businesses that do not evolve, do not survive.  Period.