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ROI of Social Good in the Diabetes Industry

diabetesbluecircleThe other night during DSMA, there was a question posed that had to do with social good and the big players in the diabetes industry understanding the positives of social good.  I mentioned to Bennet  that the shift has began for companies to see the ROI of social good.  But what is the ROI?

This is something that I have written about before in a couple of my other blogs that I write, but I thought it was a good fit to write about here.

The ROI of social media in general has always been difficult to calculate, especially when it’s not defined at the very beginning what the goal is. Typically, the C-Suiters need to see numbers like this. I spent $10, we made $20 from that $10, that means we made a profit.  How can you tell exactly how much money you made by somebody building trust and a relationship with your company?  Trust me, I own a business, it’s difficult to see that connection.  However, a lot of businesses are able to see that connection, at least are starting to.

Take for example companies that host events for bloggers and advocates to attend.  The one I will use as an example because I’ve been there a couple of times, is Roche.  When Roche hosts their annual Diabetes Social Media Summit, how are they able to calculate every year what the return was on that large expense?  I’ve been invited to this thing for 3 years in a row and I still don’t use a single Roche product, but yet I’ve been invited back several times.  Why?

Because they see the return that comes from having somebody willing to blog about their new products or sponsorships that they announce.  They have worked with Diabetes Hands Foundation, Living Vertical, and many others, and I think I have written about all of those partnerships and sponsorships.  Why? Because they are doing good for the diabetes community.

Now, let’s be real, they and other companies, need to make a profit or else they won’t be in business.  I completely understand that they need to make their money back from putting on these awesome events.  And for the most part, I think the companies are understanding that the ones they are directly reaching out to in order to help reach the larger community are not the ones they will directly make a profit from, but from all of the people indirectly effected by their social good.

So, that is my thoughts on the larger companies and social good.  There were some other great comments about how we, as a community can do social good and help the community as whole, especially those offline.  I’m sure there will be several posts about this from around the DOC.