Comments on: How do you divide by zero?

By: Angela Moore

Angela Moore — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:30:31 +0000

Great post! God, how many times do we get asked this question? I will from now on respond, “How do you divide by zero” and point them here. Thank you.

By: Chris Selland

Chris Selland — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:48:47 +0000

Good stuff Ron – I’d add to your last set of bullets that you still need to be able to demonstrate the actual revenue and/or retention impact of those activities, but this is definitely one of the better pieces I’ve read on ROI.

By: David Schultz

David Schultz — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:40:21 +0000

AMEN. I will be forwarding this link around.

By: Jim Storer

Jim Storer — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:36:30 +0000

Great post Ron!

We just discussed ROI in social media (SM) yesterday at the Social Media Breakfast in Boston. The consensus was to measure what you can measure (i.e. leads generated through SM efforts), but it’s not wise to try to calculate hard ROI from SM.

Andrew McAfee from Harvard Business School argued that the impact of enterprise software (including SM) is too complex to calculate ROI with models. Instead he suggested you present management with options and potential outcomes and they can decide what makes the most sense from a business perspective (without getting into an ROI analysis).

The challenge I see in this logic is that it assumes a familiarity with downstream effects of SM efforts. I’d argue we’re still learning how pervasive SM is in impacting and organization’s top- and bottom-line.

Jim | @jstorerj

p.s. you can find the Tweetstream from yesterday’s event by doing a Twitter search for #smb10

By: 10 Twitter Stories in 140 Characters – Brain Leaders and Learners

10 Twitter Stories in 140 Characters – Brain Leaders and Learners — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:23:50 +0000

[...] What would happen to my investments today if I simply divide by zero? [...]

By: RonAmok! » David Scott divides by zero

RonAmok! » David Scott divides by zero — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:59:03 +0000

[...] September, your New Media Evangelist demonstrated how to calculate the ROI of New Media in: How do you divide by zero? In October, I posted Gary V’s thoughts in: Gary Vaynerchuk divides by zero. Today, we have [...]

By: Cost Effective Marketing During A Recession | rob shore | 960 blog | what's your MQ?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:22:57 +0000

[...] an excellent perspective on ROI and New Media, the following is posted from Ron Ploof at RonAmok. As a leader in the New Media space, and the co-founder of a firm that specialized in New Media [...]

By: RonAmok! » Gary Vaynerchuk Divides by Zero

RonAmok! » Gary Vaynerchuk Divides by Zero — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:08:52 +0000

[...] week I took an “academic” approach to the New Media ROI question. Today, Social Media Powerhouse Gary Vaynerchuk takes a much more “energetic” [...]

By: Mike Kilroy

Mike Kilroy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:35:51 +0000

Great dollars and cents post on new media, which is what the C-suite of companies everywhere are hungry to calculate.

You might want to investigate the idea of new media outreach as an inexpensive addition to or, in some cases, replacement of traditional marketing practices in tougher economic times.

No matter what happens with the economy, companies still have to promote their products and services to customers. Where should that precious promotional dollar be spent?

By: harry ... the ASIC guy

harry ... the ASIC guy — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:24:32 +0000

Leverage Can Be Your Friend…

During these last few weeks of the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, many of us have become all too familiar with the term “leverage” as it applies to those entities that used to be called investment banks. That kind of leverage is very…