Most Companies Not Adequately Measuring Their Social Media ROI, According to MarketingProfs Poll

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - August 18, 2009) - MarketingProfs, a
trusted online resource for more than 320,000 professional marketers, today
announced the results of a small, informal poll that show companies may be
struggling to measure their growing social media investments.

According to the poll, released as part of a new case study collection on social
media ROI, more than 80 percent of respondents said social measurement was
either "important" or "somewhat important" to their business. However, 70
percent said their companies are not doing enough to track their social
initiatives -- such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, content-sharing sites --
and drive tangible ROI results.

"While social media marketing remains hugely popular, it's clear from these
results that few have confidence in their ability to track and measure it
from an ROI perspective," said Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer for
MarketingProfs. "Until marketers figure out the measurement game, brands
may resist increasing their social media investments."

Surprisingly, the biggest measurement hurdle was not the lack of tools, but
the lack of dedicated resources, according to the poll. Thirty percent
chose lack of resources, followed by "don't know what to measure" (25
percent) and "social media isn't primarily about ROI" (20 percent). Lack of
tools was fourth with 14 percent.

Other interesting items from the poll:

• Nearly 80 percent say they plan to increase their use of social media
  monitoring in the next six months
• Most people are using social media monitoring for brand reputation
  management and prospecting, followed by identifying brand advocates
• The poll also touched on PR ROI measurement, which 87 percent of
  respondents thought was "important" or "somewhat important" to their
  company

The poll data is part of a new special report from MarketingProfs called
"Social Media ROI Success Stories: How 11
companies - like OfficeMax, Nissan, BMC and Microsoft - are listening,
engaging and measuring." The package includes detailed case studies on
social media measurement, PR measurement and social media monitoring.
Readers will learn:

• How Nissan Canada measured a viral social campaign to promote its new
  cube car north of the border
• How BMC Software uses PR performance metrics to get the best results
  possible out of its PR team
• How Microsoft used social media monitoring to engage IT pros on the
  fence about the company's new operating system, Windows 7

In addition to the case studies and poll data, the report also offers
recommended tools and questions to consider before getting started with
improving social media ROI.

"Social Media ROI Success Stories" follows in the footsteps of several
other best-selling MarketingProfs' special reports, including "Twitter Success Stories," "Facebook Success Stories," "Email
Success Stories," and "The
Obama Playbook: How Digital Marketing and Social Media Won the
Election. All are available free of charge to Premium Members of
MarketingProfs (or can be purchased separately for $49 each). For more
information, please visit the MarketingProfs
Store.

About the survey: This informal poll was conducted in June 2009
across several marketing and social media outlets. It included a total of
338 completed responses.

About MarketingProfs

MarketingProfs is a rich and trusted resource that offers actionable
know-how regarding marketing applications of Facebook, Twitter, and other
social media tools along with coverage of more traditional marketing
topics, such as lead generation and email marketing. The MarketingProfs
team is committed to helping you market your products and services smarter.
Entrepreneurs, small-business owners and marketers in the world's largest
corporations make up our more than 320,000 members. Our library of more
than 3,000 articles, online seminars, conferences, discussion forum, and
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quickly turn even the toughest marketing challenge into your own marketing
success story.