A measurement of the effectiveness of an organisation’s investment in social media. Like any metric for return on investment, social media ROI is calculated by dividing the total benefits of an investment by the sum of its costs.
Therefore, it is completely dependent on which costs and benefits are factored into the calculation. It’s tempting to look at vanity metrics but this won’t resonate with execs and will always leave social media at a tactical level in your company.
To get meaningful value from an ROI calculation, the metric should be fully aligned with the business objectives behind a social media activity.