Let Us Not Forget What Social Media Is About: The Benefits of Social Media Engagement

While many of us in the agency and media business write and try to calculate a business’s ROI in social media, let’s not forget the real benefits of social media and just how kind and generous people and companies can be. Our business page posted the best thing about social media on social media day.  A person commented about how he picked up a homeless man who had not spoken to his family in over 30 years, had never been on a computer, and through social media, found his sister in England who had informed them that their mom was still alive and living in Ireland. We have all been touched in some way by reconnecting with someone from our past, but I thought this was a little different and more special than the friend we had not spoken to since a year or two after graduation… Last week, I was given a heads-up on a community page that we run that a young member of our community whose cancer had been in remission had come back and was in the Ronald McDonald House in New York City. The child’s hometown is a small, family-friendly community in Southern Oregon with a population of just over 8,000 people. The family opened a Facebook page for Team Ethan Jostad. In just over a week, they have added over 1,200 ‘likes.’ They are partnering with local businesses that are helping with fundraising. They are ‘liking’ those business pages and encouraging people to support those businesses. Some of the best PR for a company comes from cause marketing. They are doing a GREAT job under very tough circumstances and would encourage you all to ‘Like’ their page. Last night, over 2.2 million porch lights were turned on at the Caylee Marie Anthony. Great things are happening every day on social media by individuals and businesses. While the register ringing keeps the doors open, it is the engagement you have with people that makes the registers ring. By the way, if you could tell me what the REAL ROI of a radio, TV, or print campaign is, let me know.