Having a social media presence does count, especially to younger generations

During my reading of Share This, compiled by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a point made by Simon Sanders in the beginning of Part II struck me as interesting. Sanders says that many social media critics question the ROI measurability for a company having a social media presence (page 20).

To counter that, Sanders argues that most brand awareness increases can be measured through positive online recommendations, most sales increases can be measured through page visits and online purchases (linked from the social media account) and most loyalty goals can be measured by an increase in customer complaint responses due to an increased social media presence.

He sums up the measurability of goals through social media by referencing an Albert Einstein quote: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

This section is interesting to me because I believe that the younger generations will agree more and more with Sanders’s point of view.

Social media means more and more to the younger generations. ‘Likes’ on Instagram and ‘favorites’ or ‘retweets’ on Twitter are growingly synonymous to fame and prosperity for younger generations. They take more stock in social media, and therefore they value the popularity of Tweets and Instagram pictures much more.

Because of this, the younger generation is much more likely to contribute to brand awareness in corporations that use social media well. They notice when a tweet from Taco Bell’s Twitter account gets three thousand favorites, and therefore they view Taco Bell a little bit higher because of it.

This is not to say that social media is everything to youngsters- there is more than one way to reach generation y. However, for those corporations that serve a population from age 15-34, having a popular social media presence will directly correlate to an increased awareness amongst customers.

As a member of generation y, I believe that Sanders is spot-on with this one.