Categories: Technology Services

Copywriting: Social Media ROI?

I came across an interesting problem the other day. While working on copy for a website, I noticed a statement that some service had improved some client’s ROI by some huge percent. The people who had asked me to write this were very clear on the fact that ROI should be a focus, and so I wrote that in without consideration.

However, it nagged at me, and it still nags at me, because of something I read just this Monday. CopyBlogger’s wonderful blog post on Social Media ROI. An interview with Sean Jackson, the CFO of Copyblogger, brought up a very interesting technicality of our industries current copywriting practices: you don’t get an ROI from expenses, and marketing is an expense.

In Sean’s words:

Marketing will never produce an ROI because ROI is not what you think it is.

A pure definition of ROI is simple to quantify.

ROI = (Gain from the Investment – Cost of Investment)/Cost of the Investment

The problem for marketing professionals is that marketing activity is not an investment. An investment is an asset that you purchase and place on your Balance Sheet. Like an office building or a computer system. It’s something you could sell later if you didn’t need it any more. Marketing is an expense, and goes on the Profit & Loss statement.
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Unless your organization uses Enron style accounting (circa 2001), every marketing effort you pursue is an expense in time, money, and resources … it’s not an accounting asset.

This resulted in a conversation between myself and Ben Meyers about copywriting and proper language use. In this case, ROI is a widely (mis)understood term, and as such, it’s likely to be understood better than alternatives. On the other hand, people in-the-know will scoff and have a lower opinion of you. It’s a trade off.

My general attitude is often summed up online as “haters gonna hate”, so use language the way you think your audience does (although with the overabundance of horrible writing online, perhaps not exactly like them). So go ahead, use ROI, especially if it’s a big number.

Kent Clark

Some have compared him to the Dalai Lama, others to Kublai Kahn. When he isn't teaching third world children how to purify water with nothing more than a plastic bottle and a garden hose, he is creating mad waves for surfers off the west coast with little more than a paddle. Some say there is a boat involved, others that he walks on water. Little is known about his background. he appeared from nowhere 15 years ago and claims heritage from a land with neither want not need. He makes little comment, stating only that it was a pretty cool place. Fire does not burn him, cold does not hurt him. Words could... but they don't. When he passes, pedals fall off branches. When he speaks, hair tugs at skin, pulling just slightly in his direction. He does not sleep but he does dream. He has muscled his way into the lives of the famous and whispered his way into their hearts. And in the wee hours he plays oboe softly, as if to sooth the night to sleep.