Clients are always talking about ROI in social media and lately they’re going as far as asking for specific metrics to define the value of their social presence. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be considering the same thing if I was in their shoes- in fact- I can guarantee I would be trying to figure out what my investment is getting my brand. But, first I would ask myself a few things. “Self”, I would say:

1) What are you trying to get out of your presence in social media?
2) And thereby, what is your strategy for achieving those objectives?
3) And of course, will your strategy pay off your objectives?

Those are the obvious questions, right? But beyond that, having watched the growth of social media, I would try to remind myself to take a step back and think about the near future opportunities in the space to make sure what I’m building for my brand and consumers, with my agency or PR group, is setting me up for success in what is yet to come. Today, I’m talking specifically about social media commerce, and what is newly being coined F-commerce.

If we know that 67% of shoppers spend more online after receiving recommendations from their online community of friends, and American Eagle, for example, saw a 57% increase in order value from their e-comm site after simply implementing the “like” button- what boom should we expect in the near future? F-commerce. Not to say F-commerce isn’t already in place. Brands ARE selling things via facebook- but other than in Lady Gaga’s shop, it’s yet to be highly adopted. In fact, only 8% of brands with a facebook page have the transaction capability implemented.

So my point is this. It’s important to figure out what you’re doing in the social space now and make sure your strategic approach aligns with your objectives. It’s silly to care about the cost of a like if 1) at the end of the day there is no guaranteed metric, and 2) what you really want to see is a spike in sales…but at the same time, it’s important to think about what social media is going to enable your brand to do in the future, so you can start building toward that. If you’re a retailer, or a conversion-focused brand of any sort, think about whether or not you are setting yourself up to have an audience in the space where huge commerce opportunity is headed.

Thanks Future Lab for the stats. Oh, and you’re welcome, Mark Zuckerberg.