What is Return on Relationships?
Back in the 80's it was all about "Data", the 90's was about "Information", as in Information Technology..... we now find ourselves in the era where "Knowledge", insight and Social Media are the main things we focus on and we now measure brands more in terms of engagement and value, rather than the more traditional measures previously used to calculate success.
One key area that has changed is that, in terms of sales and marketing, is the power of the Internet, meaning we must now measure a different kind of Return on Investment "ROI" because the investment now is focused on areas like brand loyalty and traction - something the telecoms industry has long understood as Average Revenue Per User "ARPU" and "Churn", i.e. the rate at which people leave and join your network.
The difference now is that investment must be in building relationships with clients through your brand communications and retaining them and getting your loyal customers to become advocates for your products/services (think about the "Like" button on Facebook), which means that ROI is now becoming ROR - "Return on Relationships" because it is the loyalty and advocacy that you get from your client base that will make you profitable and differentiate you from your competitors.
Two good examples of successful Facebook brand campaigns are Compare the Meerkat in the UK, with almost 800,000 "Likes" and Oreo, which is more US focused campaign and has almost 25,800,000 likes!! (as at 16th Feb 2012) Clearly, these brands have invested heavily to make this happen but, ultimately, the traction they have gained is from real people who have a choice and could just as easily be posting negative or no comments.
For ordinary people, like us, it is still possible to become a Social Networking Expert and build significant ROR by engaging with our networks to gain advocacy from friends, colleagues and clients that help us to do more business, more profitably. If you click on the ROR logo (above) there are a lot of resources there to help you create your own networking strategies that suit your style, your brand and your business.
One key area that has changed is that, in terms of sales and marketing, is the power of the Internet, meaning we must now measure a different kind of Return on Investment "ROI" because the investment now is focused on areas like brand loyalty and traction - something the telecoms industry has long understood as Average Revenue Per User "ARPU" and "Churn", i.e. the rate at which people leave and join your network.
The difference now is that investment must be in building relationships with clients through your brand communications and retaining them and getting your loyal customers to become advocates for your products/services (think about the "Like" button on Facebook), which means that ROI is now becoming ROR - "Return on Relationships" because it is the loyalty and advocacy that you get from your client base that will make you profitable and differentiate you from your competitors.
Two good examples of successful Facebook brand campaigns are Compare the Meerkat in the UK, with almost 800,000 "Likes" and Oreo, which is more US focused campaign and has almost 25,800,000 likes!! (as at 16th Feb 2012) Clearly, these brands have invested heavily to make this happen but, ultimately, the traction they have gained is from real people who have a choice and could just as easily be posting negative or no comments.
For ordinary people, like us, it is still possible to become a Social Networking Expert and build significant ROR by engaging with our networks to gain advocacy from friends, colleagues and clients that help us to do more business, more profitably. If you click on the ROR logo (above) there are a lot of resources there to help you create your own networking strategies that suit your style, your brand and your business.
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Twitter - @MillionDollarNw
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