Here's the buried lead in Jay Baer's awesome post about measuring the financial impact of social media:
it's not about the leads
ironic, huh? ask any smart salesperson or strategist to identify their best customer, and they will tell you, "the one who's bought from me before." why? because everything about selling to them a second time is cheaper, ergo more profitable...and social is a great way to keep the handshake warm.
Turn Social Media ROI Upside Down
A third area where we’re to blame for not measuring social media ROI effectively is in thinking about social effectiveness purely through through prism of new revenue generation.
Here’s my prediction: We’re going to look back at the early days of social media and say “why did we think this was about customer acquisition, when it’s clearly about loyalty and retention?”
The people that are fans of your company on Facebook? Current or former customers (84% says research from DDB). The people that read your company tweets? Current or former customers. The people that read your company blog and watch your videos and look at your pins? Current or former customers.