Alinean Introduces Social Media ROI Calculator

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alinean, the leading creator of value-based interactive sales and marketing tools for B2B vendors, today announced its Social Media ROI Calculator, a tool to help marketers get the best return on investment (ROI) from social media. Studies indicate that social media spending is increasing, tripling from 6% to 18% percent of marketing budgets over the next five years. With increased investment comes increased accountability, dictating that marketing be able to quantify the value of these investments.

"In today's 'age of austerity' every significant investment requires proof of bottom-line impact – a condition called Frugalnomics," said Tom Pisello, Chairman and Founder of Alinean. "Alinean believes that social media spending has reached this accountability threshold, and continued funding is at risk for marketers not able to quantify the ROI from social media initiatives."

Alinean research measured the engagement levels and derived value of Fortune 500, and select mid/small company social media campaigns. This research revealed that the ROI can be calculated through the Social Media Value Chain, a method for quantifying the costs, benefits and bottom-line value, including:

• Investments – quantifies the costs for marketing labor, tools and integration to establish the social media presence, create content and campaigns, monitor and collaborate and measure social media success;
• Engagement – measures the resultant number of followers, advocates, reach and influence of the social media marketing efforts;
• Benefits – quantifies the value of engagement, measuring the impact social media is having on attracting new customers, improving existing customer loyalty and driving collaborative innovation; and
• Derived Value and ROI – calculates key financial metrics and ratios to assure the social media efforts are generating enough value compared to other potential investments.

The Social Media Value Chain research and key findings were embodied in a Social Media ROI Calculator to help marketers model the level-of-engagement and derive the investment requirements, benefits and ROI.

From the research and using the Social Media ROI Calculator, Alinean modeled the potential ROI of various programs and found:

• Certain companies are realizing higher ROIs, particularly larger companies with popular brands, customer demographics that match social media users, and particular industries including: High Technology, Consumer Products, Retail, Travel, Media and Entertainment, Hospitality and Automotive;
• The majority of organizations are currently achieving a marginal ROI, especially companies that are having to spend more to engage effectively and reach critical mass on their efforts, especially smaller firms, those with less popular brands, and those in particular industries, particularly: Energy, Utilities, Wholesale & Distribution, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals and Professional Services/Service Providers;
• ROI success is best driven by a hierarchical approach to engagement, the Social Media Hierarchy of Needs; and
• Companies who aggressively pursue social media with innovative campaigns and best practices are achieving a significant ROI of 500% or more.

The full white paper "How do you Calculate the ROI from Social Media Marketing?" and the Alinean Social Media ROI Calculator can be found at:  http://www.alinean.com/socialmediaroi  

About Alinean

Alinean, the leading provider of dynamic sales and marketing tools, empowers B2B vendors to better sell to today's economic-focused buyer. Alinean-powered interactive white papers, assessments, ROI calculators and TCO comparison tools create more compelling value-based connections, workshops, presentations and proposals - delivering customized diagnostics, benchmarks, solution recommendations, benefits, investments, ROI, payback and TCO advantage proof points.

Leading B2B firms leveraging Alinean tools include: HP, IBM, Microsoft, EMC, Dell, Intel, IDC/IDG, AT&T, Siemens, Unisys, Thomson Reuters, NetApp, Citrix, Symantec, Novell, Cisco, Oracle, Sybase, and CA.

Learn more at the Fight Frugalnomics™ Resource Center http://www.fightfrugalnomics.com, or by visiting http://www.alinean.com, or calling 407.382.0005.

Alinean, XcelLive and the Alinean logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alinean, Inc. Other Alinean product or service names or logos herein are trademarks of Alinean, Inc. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Alinean