A couple of different posts have inspired this one. One of which is from the OPEN Forum and the other from the Harvard Business Review. The reason for investing in people, isn’t so we can sit back and place an ROI on every single connection that we have. Investing in people isn’t quantifying the value of each Twitter follower or Facebook “Like”.
Just because we can measure the ROI of an individual, doesn’t mean we should. Bhargava describes the quantification problem as,
A nice example of where the measurement problem lies because most of us are not used to quantifying the value of social relationships and conversations.
My way of seeing the situation though, is that measuring is what the accountants want to know, it’s what finance wants to know. Good for them. As marketers though, we need to understand the intrinsic value over the dollar value of these connections. Where is the dollar value of having someone talk to their close friends about you (positively of course)? Where is the value of a unique interaction? Granted, while you can quantify a good lead, it’s much more difficult to put a number to the individual transactions that got you there. Don’t ever take the people you meed on a daily basis for granted. These are the people that you will build trust relationships with and have a quality relationship for the improvement of your business.
Trust relationships extend to other businesses too. The HBR article also stuck a nerve with me because it showed that business don’t really care anymore. We’re not taking action to prove that our clients are worth our time, effort and expense. Constantly businesses unintentionally devaluate their customers and don’t entirely try to extend themselves to reach a new understanding with them.
Listen to what people are saying about you, keep a constant eye on Google Alerts about you and your company. This will give you invaluable insight to the relationship you’re maintaining with your customer base. Being able to understand how and why people trust your company over others gives you a whopping competitive advantage.
Are you investing in the people you work with? Are you investing the time and dedication to your clients? I want you to leave a comment below, and tell me: Why do you think people aren’t focusing their resources more on the way we interact with each other and our clients?
Don’t get me wrong, there is an overlap of the two when it comes to social media. On the other hand though the strategies are much different and the focus for each is as unique as the tools you would use. There’s often some confusion as far as which is which and where the lines are drawn for their limits; the thing is one way or another we’re working for the improvement of both. Not just for a bottom line benefit, but for the people who we interact with.
