Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI with Social Media Marketing

1. Establish clear goals for your product or brand, then identify social measurements that support those objectives. 
   
2. Organize your measurements and metrics in a logical framework.
3. Apply a long-term outlook to social media interactions and measurements. It's a commitment, not a campaign. 
   
4. If hard ROI metrics are difficult to track, consider a range of softer metrics that link back to desired business outcomes. 
   
5. Determine a dollar value for customers that opt in and engage your brand via social networks. 
   
6. In your ROI calculations, don't overlook the value of cost savings that result from ongoing social listening and tracking. 
   
7. Build technological capabilities to measure your customers' complete digital footprint—in real time.