Return on Investment? It's About Time!

According to today's article in Ad Age, marketers have achieved the impossible. They have finally managed to measure the return on investment of social networking and have therefore validated it as an effective form of advertising.

The debate around this issue is one I've been following with some interest. While there's no doubt that social networking leads to conversation the question is whether this conversation ever leads to sales. But according to research performed jointly by ComScore, MySpace and Dunnhumby, a 28% ROI was able to be measured for an unnamed package-goods brand's $1 million social media campaign.

Marketers were able to accomplish this astonishing feet by combining an internet usage database with customer loyalty panels. According to Ad Age, this single-source database allowed for a "definitive look at how internet ads affect offline purchases." I'm not quite sure I buy it but as advertisers feel more comfortable spending online, this may be just the financial boost Facebook has been hunting for.