Developing And Implementing A Social Media Program While Optimizing Return On Investment - An MBA Program Case Study

Abstract

Over the past decade, Web 2.0 has brought a wealth of opportunities for improving marketing effectiveness; social media platforms, in particular, have proven to be exceptional tools for realizing growth potential.  The big question for businesses used to be how to measure and report financial return on investment (ROI) for social media ad spend to show that it is impactful as a marketing media tool.  The focus has now shifted to how much traditional media spend should be reallocated to social or online media.  The current paper is a Social Media case study of a large MBA program which has developed and implemented a comprehensive Social Media program with a focus on two “ROI” issues - financial Return on Investment and Reallocation of Investment.  Social media plan development and implementation, integrated marketing/sales funnel development, and social media platform ROI results are discussed and evaluated.  Lessons learned and next steps are also posited.