At least that is the mantra coming from Cassandra Imfeld Jeyaram Social Marketing Manager, Global Consumer Marketing, InterContinental Hotels Group. Jeyaram was quoted in Eye For Travel as saying:

“For IHG, we’ve been tasked to measure and understand how our social marketing efforts relate back to an increase in room nights. This approach is different than many – if not most – organizations today who measure engagement.”

That is an understatement. How to measure ROI on social media marketing is something that stumps many companies. Is social media marketing advertising and thus ROI should be calculated like other advertising campaigns? Typical measurements there are revenue or length of time spent on the site.

Or is social media marketing different than advertising and thus ROI calculations should be more engagement related like story uploads and guest comments, or links (the SEO measurement)?

Whatever measurement track you take should not stop you from listening to your customers according to Jeyaram:

“Each organization will need to develop their own strategy of how to best engage with their customers. Right now, I think a lot of companies are listening and watching before jumping into the conversation. At this time I think organizations are just beginning to realize the potential and the impact of social marketing on their communications and engagements with their guests.”

So how do you measure the success of a social marketing campaign? Is Imfeld Jeyaram right and that it is all about the revenue?

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