No ROI in Social Media?

"Marketing, including social media marketing, is about efficiency. Marketing is a process of decreasing the time, money, and resources required to communicate with customers and make it easy for them to buy products and services.

The more efficient your marketing is, the more profit you make. That’s what you want to optimize for."

Thanks to Jim Kukral, I was able to appreciate this very interesting post (http://linkd.in/vbWRqb) entitled "There is No ROI in Social Media Marketing." Interesting point of view and one, I thought, that made a lot of sense. Like many experienced marketers, I've been in the situation where the organization I was working for constantly bounced from idea to idea looking for the shiny stuff. Chasing an elusive ROI with efforts that are easily distracted by the next new thing is probably the norm rather than the exception.

I like Sean Jackson's point that marketing is about profit, and efficiency, and not really about ROI. After all, I can generate lots of income with advertising but if it's the wrong kind of income, then I haven't done my client any good at all. What's the wrong kind of income? Loss leaders, for one. If I am selling lots of widgets at less than cost then there's no profit margin. That's an unsustainable model.

The other point I liked was this concept of "digital sharecropping;" that is, trying to do business using social media platforms rather than using them for what they were intended for - developing relationships. Do take a few minutes to read the blog, it is entertaining and informative. And then I'd like to hear your comments.