Whether you're self-employed or work for a company, if you've ever had to convince someone of the benefits of adapting social media, you well know the difficulties. Indeed, there's a certain style to pitching social media. Nonetheless, the biggest concern that employers/clients have about any project, and one of the most terrible obstacles faced by a social media evangelists is the question "What is the ROI?" This can be a difficult question. Fortunately, Mitch Joel over at Twist Image has a concrete rebuttal:

Let’s trade. I’ll give you the ROI of social media, if you can return back the ROI on trust. Fair deal?
[...]

Here’s the crux of it: if you’re not building community based on trust – providing value, being open and transparent and giving equal voice to all, your Podcast (or community… or brand) won’t last all that long in this day and age where we are all connected.

It’s deep. It’s powerful. It’s true. It also takes a lot of time to develop – and that’s where Marketers get scared off. It’s not something that can happen in a quarter. Truth is it can happen faster or it can take years to build.

Maybe the equation is simpler than any of us thought? Could be it be as simple as:

Trust + Community = ROI?

This is what social media is all about from a marketing perspective, then: Trust. This very reason is what I was hinting at when I rebutted Michael Gray's anti-blogger stance. In essence, social media (especially blogging) marketing is about really engaging the consumer or client, rather than just reach out to them. That kind of engagement is invaluable, moreover, because it builds trust. Not only does trust generate clients, but it can retain it in more difficult times.

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