Yoav from Blink caught this VentureBeat story some days ago, and wrote a subsequent post (in Hebrew) titled ‘What’s in it for me?‘. In his post, Yoav talks about the thing that’s in the heart of any discussion about social media – ROI. From VentureBeat article:
Dell says Twitter has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.
Yoav quotes Seth Godin by categorizing twitter more as a reach tool than a sales tool – a claim I totally agree with. Nevertheless, when we discuss about social media, monetization, business value – we cannot overlook the bottom line, which is money.
As a social media evangelist, I want more people and more companies on board, not because they have to but because there are results and value. Making $1M in revenues will certainly bring more people and businesses into the social media space – because they’ll see both the value and the return.
Links:
Yoav Farhi – What’s in it for me? (Hebrew)
VentureBeat – Twitter has made Dell $1M in revenues
So, for the following week I’ll be vacationing in Prague, without my precious laptop. Yes, my cellphone will still be with me, but I’ll probably refrain from doing business/social related activities, such as checking emails, updating twitter, posting to facebook or reading GReader – to name a few… For 6 days I’ll do my best to disconnect.
