The other night I attended a gathering of Portland’s online community managers.  I like nothing more than getting together with a bunch of smart people to explore new ideas, concepts, and issues.  This turned out to be one of those nights.

One of the issues that came up was in relation to the ROI (return on investment) – I wrote about this last week.  My question is, how do you help a small business owner that they need to put their money into social media and online networking?  Why would a business with less than 100, or less than 50 employees want to pay someone to develop a presence for them online?  And even if someone agrees that they need an online social networking presence, how could anyone quantify their return on this investment?

It turns out that this isn’t just an issue for the small businessperson, but for the Fortune 500 companies also. Some of my colleagues do consulting work for these companies, and it is a hot topic in all sectors right now.

There were two things I took away from this conversation:

• At this point, no one can guarantee that you will see a direct return on the dollars you spend.  For instance, if you pay a social media consultant $5000 to develop your online presence, you won’t automatically see $10,000 more revenue next year.
• The conversation has moved out of the town square and onto the Internet.  People are talking online, and they’re talking about your business, your products and services, and your company.  It’s up to you whether you want to join that conversation or not.  Either way, the conversation is happening – and your traditional advertising dollars are not going to influence the conversation, and the resulting purchasing decisions, as much as a person’s online community.  It is imperative that you become a part of that community.

Years ago, before the age of huge metropolitan centers, people lived in villages, and they shopped in the town square. Everyone knew everyone else and it was the center of social networking.  Because refrigeration hadn’t yet been invented, people went to the market fairly frequently.  Those who offered superior products and friendly service were the most likely to succeed.  In the real-world of the 19th-century marketplace, you couldn’t fake it.

20th century marketers and the companies they represented, were very removed from their customers. We saw a backlash to this in the last few decades when people began to advocate buying locally.  There has always been back channel conversation, but businesses had to hire market researchers and employ focus groups to discover what was being said about their products.  But, with the advent of online social media, businesses and regular people can interact directly.

Here’s a real life example:

Last year, a friend and I engaged in a short online discussion about Comcast. My friend was in Amsterdam, and I in Portland. Within moments, we were joined in our discussion by one of Comcast’s vice-presidents.  It was very impressive.  My attitude  towards the company changed course significantly.

A few months ago, I mentioned Verizon and their lockdown of the GPS device on my Blackberry.  Several friends jumped on my comment and we all commiserated the shortsighted decision on the part of Verizon.  There was considerable discussion about switching to ATT and an iPhone, so we would have better access to geo-location social networking capabilities.  I’ve never heard anything from Verizon on this issue. (By the way, I’ve gone on to post messages on Verizon’s website, sent them emails, and talked to customer service over the phone – but I’ve never heard anything in return.)

So, you tell me, who is winning more customers in the online community? Verizon, or Comcast?  Can we really afford to not participate in this conversation?

Last week, a friend of mine posted a comment on Twitter about being refused service when she tried to order food in the drive-thru lane at a local Burgerville restaurant. I’ll let her tell the story in her own words:

http://www.cafemama.com/2009/aug/12_to_burgerville_a_more_bikethrough_future.html

What do you think? Can you afford NOT to participate in this conversation?

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