Great questions with the right intent. As an industry, we need to have answers.
The two questions in the title are THE most loaded questions in our industry right now.
Why do I consider them loaded?
- Because everyone wants an easy, one answer, response to the question.
- Philosophically/Theoretically some know that one answer is simplistic and more complex BUT they lack the patience to sit through the conversations and work it takes to get to an answer or results.
I have no patience for those that think #1 is possible - you're chasing a white whale that will kill your career - if you want to debate me on this issue, please give me a call 816-807-3367. Don't grumble about it and tell people "this guys an idiot", call me first before you make a fool out of yourself amongst your co-workers. If you provide a salient case to me and can make me believe there is one universal answer, I'll post your picture on my blog and dub thee a "Fucking Stud."
As for #2, I did a Google search and there are literally hundreds of articles "claiming" to answer this question - I just posted three (I'll save you time - you've read these or something close to it a hundred times):
- How Much is a Tweet or a Like Worth to You?
- How much is a Facebook "Like" worth?
- How much is a Facebook Fan really worth?
The last article is pretty good - the only issue is the dollar amount is associated to the spend and the value is applied over all of the Brands evaluated. How's that possible - the cost and variations of each Brand make that a very subjective analysis.
I believe this much exposure over time creates the perception that, even if you don't have data to validate what a 'Like' is worth, there has been enough content out there to point people to an answer - these articles don't point to THE ANSWER - they point to discussions about the things we already believe but have not really been able to validate [a 'Like' has value].
Personally, I'm fine with that because the issue of the value of Social is far more complex than any other media channel we've seen to date. It needs to be discussed a lot. We need to get to an answer far faster than we did with any other media to date.
Issues that make these questions complex - we are asking the wrong questions - we need to start asking better questions.
The wrong questions
- Question: Who's doing it well? Who's monetizing social or Facebook 'Likes'?
- Answer: The ones that are, you could probably count on one hand AND if they know they sure as shit aren't sharing that secret sauce with anyone. This is one of those secrets that is a real game changer. It is like Coke giving Pepsi their formula. It isn't going to happen.
- Question: Why can't you show me social case studies that are directional?
- Answer: First, MONETIZATION is subjective to the corporation asking the question. There is not and will never be a one sized fits all solution. Second, why would you accept directional results and give it weight for consideration from any other brand?
The right question
Question: How would you monetize our social efforts?
Answer:
1) Define Success
The number one mistake most marketers make. THEY DON'T DEFINE SUCCESS. THEY ASK AFTER THE FACT. THIS DOESN'T WORK AND CREATES ANIMOSITY INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE MARKETING ORGANIZATION.
What do you want to accomplish?
- Improved customer retention
- Causes of demand generation
- Understanding loyalty
- Message calibration
- Offline sales
For most companies the answer we hear is, Sales. By far, the most important objective is sales. Sales is to corporations what oxygen is to humans. It's needed to survive.
For most marketing companies they are wise enough to understand that all activities within a consumer-lifecycle has a net positive or negative on sales. To ONLY evaluate sales and not have success metrics established that feed the sales funnel is short sighted.
If this is the one you want to focus on be prepared to answer this question - are you set up to measure everything?
2) Create a Single Data Capture Solution OR Data Management Platform
You need a solution that allows you to plug in all of the measurement solutions available in the market today. It must provide for easy access, and modeling capabilities. It also needs to have a customizable dashboard that allows for reporting views that meet established evaluations as well as ad-hoc requests.
3) Develop statistical modeling frameworks that distills multiple channel metrics into single measurement scores
Two frameworks that can guide you are a CLC Scoring Matrix and a Dimensional Marketing Classification Matrix.
Dimensional Marketing Classification Matrix
This approach allows you to evaluate multiple factors critical to profitable sales success - example: one-to-one to mass communication over purchase value (such as Monetary Value). This approach allows you to understand how your ecosystem’s scores to determine what touch points are working for consumers and where your growth opportunities lie. By mapping these indices, product-use stages and/or other client-driven dimensions provides additional context and allows brand managers to monitor how connectivity to the brand varies over the consumer journey THUS allowing you to apply the appropriate weight.

The CLC Scoring Matrix
This approach allows you to add contextual dimension based on your objective. Below is an example structure. For the most part, the step within the life-cycle would have the same definition. The two areas where the definition would be different based on your goal would be the KPI and the Weighted Score you give the KPI's.

4) A protocol to input your insights back into the marketing eco-system.
All of the information and insight in the world gets you nothing if you can't act on it. You must be able to do something once you have learned something.
Critical Steps
These steps are critical to answering the question: How do you monetize Social?
If you don't have the patience or the commitment to go through the steps necessary to get the answer - don't ask the question.