RonAmok!

Earlier this month, one of the nonprofits that I volunteer with asked if I could help them raise $3,000 for a special project. The organization had already raised some money offline through their most active supporters, but those efforts had plateaued at $1,125.

First, I assessed their online assets to determine which ones could produce the most robust dividends. Based on that analysis, I decided to approach both their Facebook Fans and blog readers by:

• creating a “Donations” tab on the Facebook page that described both the project and the goal
• adding a PayPal button in order to accept credit card donations
• adding a snail-mail address for donors who were more comfortable sending a check
• posting to the nonprofit’s Facebook wall (as administrator) letting the organization’s 1400 fans know about the project and new donations tab
• publishing a blog post about the project that included a link to the new Facebook donations tab
• and updating the list of donor’s names as they arrived.

The following is a chart illustrates what happened.

In less than nine days, total donations hit $4,575, eclipsing the organization’s $3,000 goal by 53%!

So, here’s a math question for you. Based on the following information, what’s the ROI?:

• 1400 Facebook fans
• 120 blog subscribers
• 400 unique blog visitors per month
• $30/month for a PayPal account that takes credit cards
• $0 Facebook Fan page
• $0 for donated web hosting
• 2-hours to create and publish the content
• added $3,450 of online revenue in nine days to the $1,125 that was generated offline.

Successful business folks understand that companies are complicated entities that consist of many moving parts. And although the ROI of individual projects is important, the assets that companies build over time may hold more overall significance in the grande scheme. Therefore, rather than spending time calculating ROI on a project-by-project basis, perhaps it’s more prudent to invest that same time into building your company’s online assets?

By considering new media activities as investments in the development of corporate assets, a world of opportunities open. The more valuable the asset, the larger the dividends that it produces.

Last Friday morning, a television in the other room delivered news of the tragedy unfolding in Japan. That’s when I heard the following exchange between three KTLA Morning News folks:

Frank Buckley: Gayle just said a moment ago that the pictures are telling the story and we’re getting amazing pictures, amazing video, photographs into the newsroom from Japan this morning.

Michaela Pereira: And Jessica’s been sifting through them and giving us a look at what some of the journalists and also just regular Joe Citizen is seeing in Japan.

Jessica Holmes: You know, sometimes the perspective of the people is the most interesting and the most telling of a situation like this and we have several photos of the damage left behind from the massive quake…

Joe Citizen? Really? Sometimes the perspective of the people is the most interesting? Wow. The arrogance of “Joe Journalist” is palpable.

I hate to break it to you, Joe, but you don’t own storytelling. You may be able to “report” on a story, but let’s be honest, the limitations imposed by your creed preclude you from compelling storytelling, which requires more than a balanced-view of the facts.

Our new-found ability to create and distribute content far and wide has shaken Joe Journalist’s confidence to the core. And although he’ll gladly use our video in his newscasts, although he’ll label it as “Amateur Video,” he’ll never be able to tell a better story than those who live through the events that he reports on.

Photo Credit: WiGuardPics

The most recent version of the CMO Survey shows how companies still view social media as an axillary function instead of something valuable enough to integrate into their overall communications plans.

When asked to describe how effectively social media is integrated with their firm’s overall and marketing strategies, 421 CMOs gave it a resounding meh (3.4 on a scale of 1-to-7). More specifically, 25% described their activities as not effective at all–the lowest ranking on the chart–compared with only 6% who described their program integration as very effective.

It’s clear that CMOs still don’t understand the ramifications of the massive communications revolution happening around them. Instead of building integrated strategies on top of powerful new content delivery systems, they’ve opted for a Frankenstein approach to marketing–bolting disparate social media appendages awkwardly onto their traditional processes.

What’s even more disheartening is how excited various social media experts are about CMO bullishness, as respondents plan to grow social media spending from 5.6% of their overall corporate budgets today, to 9.9% next year, and a whopping 18.1% in five years! But where do they plan to spend this money?

• Marketing research and intelligence
• Marketing consulting services
• Developing knowledge about how to do marketing
• Integrating what we know about marketing
• Marketing Training

We have such a long way to go. Until companies can integrate social mediums into their overall communications strategies, they’ll continue to live through a horror movie best described as Frankenstein meets Groundhog Day.

The entire CMO Survey can be downloaded here.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons