Return on relationship

While most probably know the term return on investment (ROI), return on relationship is a more current concept coined by CMO of Brand Innovators, Ted Rubin. ROR is an idea built on the social media era and the opinion that connections with customers usually cause significant growth for today’s businesses.

What is return on relationship (ROR)?

Like social ROI, return on relationship is a method of measuring business success. While net ROI is indicative of the positive results of your efforts in financial data, ROR applies to the value that you get out of building and maintaining connections with customers. This value comes in the form of:

• Recommendations and referrals
• Followers and fans
• Loyalty and repeat business
• Social sharing
• Social media engagement

A business that hopes to build a company supported by loyal customers who are willing to promote the organization through word of mouth (WOM) marketing needs a considerable level of ROR. According to Rubin, return on relationship is centered around sentiment monitoring, organic engagement, and community management efforts.

How does social media affect return on relationships?

A lot of companies today have their own social media pages, but they may not be getting any notable ROR from those pages. Many brands log onto social media and begin posting pictures and videos without any significant strategy. To concentrate on ROR, you’ll need to think about how each of your social media efforts is providing value for your followers and your brand.

• How does your content increase brand loyalty?
• What do you alreadyknow about your audience?
• Are you really listening to your customers and reacting/answering to their needs?
• How are your engagement levels faring?

Return on relationship puts value back into the “social” part of social media. Often, you will engage in having conversations with your followers, getting back to their requests and delivering the content they’re looking for.

How to improve ROR

As with many social media strategies, ROR needs diligent planning. The first place to start is shifting to a customer-centric focus that prioritizes your people first. Instead of considering your social campaign’s value within the criteria of the profit it can deliver, examine the power of relationships.

To generate ROR, you’ll need to:

• Listen to your customers/followers. A tool like Vista Social will makes it easier to build better customer relationships on any social platform.
• Deliver excellent customer service. Answer your customer’s questions and needs- give them the support they’re searching for.
• Ask how your people want to be served. Design polls to figure out what kind of content your followers are interested in. 
• Remember the “social” part of social media. Don’t just post content, reply to your followers and get active in their discussions.
• Be consistent. Always reply to queries promptly, and let your people know that you’re there for them.