We opted to hold this month’s Social Media Expedition Breakfast in a smaller room than normal – the lounge at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn – which turned out to be a great idea. By keeping the room small, we were able to create a more intimate setting for our informal panel discussion on how Memphis businesses are using social media to further their goals.

The smaller room had two benefits in this regard: the panelists were easier to hear, even from the back of the room, and those who attended were eager to ask their own questions.

Lindsay Coates from Arts Memphis Chats with Kat Gordon from Muddy’s Bake Shop before the Social Media Expedition Breakfast. Media by LunaWeb.

The panelists themselves were gracious in sharing their information and ideas, as well as being quick to answer a question as fully as possible.

The panel, consisting of Lindsay Coates from ArtsMemphis; Beth Sanders, a local design and social media freelancer specializing in churches and non-profits; Kerry Crawford-Trisler from the Commercial Appeal’s online department; Lori Jackson from Lausanne Collegiate School; and Joe Spake, a local real estate agent.

They weren’t the only local social media elite contributing to today’s breakfast, either; Kat Gordon, proprietor of Muddy’s Bake Shop (5801 Sanderlin, if you must know – and yes, you must), donated a couple boxes of cupcakes, just to fill us up a little bit more.

The discussion about how the panelists use social media to promote their businesses stretched longer than expected, and ate up the time normally reserved for core conversations. Ultimately, though, the discussion proved valuable, as the panelists shared not only the tools they use, but how they measure their return on investment (ROI).

The goal of using social media in a business setting is always to make or raise money. The exception is Beth Sanders, whose work for churches usually entails her following their mission to go out and meet people where they are. Ultimately, though, the other non-profits and commercial ventures are doing the same thing.

Most of these businesses are using social networking to reach people where they are. Twitter alone, according to Kerry Crawford-Trisler, earns CommercialAppeal.com 20,000 page views a month. That’s not counting their Facebook presence and other social efforts.

So how do these businesses measure their ROI? It seems pretty universal that they don’t measure it in the number of followers – though they don’t mind having their message in front of a large and growing number of eyes. From larger companies to smaller efforts, the panelists all agreed that it’s a matter of quality over quantity. Joe Spake mentioned how he uses Twitter and Facebook, along with Yelp and LinkedIn, but prefers Twitter and Facebook for the way it allows him to engage and become engaged with his audiences.

The panelists all agreed that even if the purpose of being in social media is more prosaic – to drive page views and ad prices or to seek purchases or donations, that building relationships with the audience makes people care more about where they spend their time or money. That right there is the ROI.

In more immediate terms, counting Facebook fans or Twitter followers is always secondary to measuring community involvement via @replies or wall posts. Lori Jackson notes that when Lausanne alumni comment on video from a school play, something that wouldn’t be possible without social media, that is the central reason for her participation in social media.

And if page views must be measured, said Lori Jackson, Google Analytics is a great tool. That statement was verified once it was established that Analytics was nearly universally used among the panelists. But, as Joe Spake noted, SEO – search engine optimization – is being slowly but surely being supplanted by YEO – you, engaging others.

And so we dispersed from that room back out into the world, keeping the thought in our heads that the purpose of social media in business is to engage others.

Tags | ArtsMemphis, Beth Sanders, breakfast, Commercial Appeal, Joe Spake, Lausanne, Muddy's Bake Shop, Social Expedition, Social Media in Business