We are at least 5 years into the social media shift in marketing. Companies are allocating budgets to community management, content creation, design, and applications. Yet marketers are having to struggle when it comes time to ask for more budget. Why? They can’t prove that social media is moving the revenue or cost needles.

Therefore, we as marketers need to get very serious about social media ROI measurement to move our industry forward. Many elements need to evolve including technology, reporting standards, and education. There are many more, but these are the key ingredients holding us back in my opinion.

I believe education is the first step, and this is why I am inviting you to a special webinar hosted by the Online Marketing Institute, Business2Community, and Social Media HQ. Nichole Kelly will be presenting on how to Report Social Media ROI to the C-Suite on October 3rd.

Just to give you a little background on Nichole, her company Full Frontal ROI merged with Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls’ company, earlier this year. Here is her bio from Social Media Explorer’s site:

Nichole Kelly is the social media pioneer who innovated the marketing industry by measuring social media results to core business objectives: sales, revenue and costs. As a respected national speaker, she has provided insight and training with leading marketing organizations including the American Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America, Forrester Research, Marketing Profs, Radian 6 and HootSuite. Nichole’s systematic approach to social media ROI and case studies are highlighted in books such as The Executives Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy by David B. Thomas and No Bullshit Social Media by Jason Falls. Prior to joining SME Digital, Nichole worked for major brands such as The Sherwin-Williams Company, The Federal Reserve Bank, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, Caliber Learning Networks (a Sylvan company), and Signs By Tomorrow, a national franchise. Nichole is one of the nation’s leading experts in building measurable social media strategies that are designed to deliver on your company’s business objectives.

She has the ammo to back up her experience, so I suggest you sign up for the webinar while the iron is hot!