Not long ago, I wrote about how to calculate the ROI of your social media campaign, which generated a lot of interest from the social media community. The article outlined how businesses can use Customer Lifetime Value to calculate the return on their social media investment.

After writing the article, I started analyzing how businesses go about setting up, launching and running their social media campaigns. My conclusion is that there are three distinct stages to this process, which I’m calling the Social Media ROI Cycle. My rough estimate is that about 50% of the business community is still in the Launch stage, about 40% is in the Management stage and about 10% is in the Optimization stage.

Each one of the three stages has its own nuances, so let’s take a look at what happens during each. The percentages referenced in each stage are estimates based on my own experience.

Stage 1: Launch

During the Launch stage, 100% of a company’s focus is on setting up the big four: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some companies focus on the big four plus more such as Flickr, e-newsletters, blogs, SlideShare and other social media platforms. But most companies kick things off by quickly getting into the big four networks simply as a way to have a social media presence.

The approach during this Launch stage is very executional with very little long-term planning. The primary objective is simply to get started. After all, those in charge want to ensure the brand is utilizing cutting-edge techniques, so the marketing department typically responds by jumping in without much plan for the long haul.

Unfortunately, the results of the Stage 1 process are negligible. Sure, you’ll be able to claim that you’ve “got a social media campaign,” but you won’t really see much traction unless you move on to Stage 2.

Stage 2: Management

During this stage, roughly 60% of a company’s efforts are focused on the big four (or the big four plus more). About 10% of the focus is on creative and offer development, 20% on tracking quantitative metrics such as traffic, inbound links, Facebook “Likes,” etc., and about 10% on qualitative metrics such as brand sentiment, survey results and customer polls.

The approach during the Management stage is still very tactical, but the focus is on mid-term instead of short-term results, which is an improvement over Stage 1. The corporate objective at this stage is to engage prospects and customers in some way that gets them to connect with the brand. Ideally, this would mean buying something, but it can also mean downloading a white paper, liking a Facebook Page, responding to a survey, or any other measurable evidence that they’re connecting with your brand.

Stage 2 is where many of the more sophisticated companies find themselves right now. They’re managing their social presence, testing creative ideas, tracking quantitative metrics and analyzing qualitative data.

Most companies today are still at either Stage 1 or Stage 2. But many of the companies I work with have started to reach the Stage 3.

Stage 3: Optimization

About 25% of the focus at this stage is on the “big four plus more,” and about 30% is evenly split among creative and offer development, quantitative metrics and qualitative metrics.

Another 25% of a company’s focus is on improving conversion and optimization of campaigns. What do I mean by that? It’s all about tracking inbound leads and traffic across social media platforms, using tools such as Atlas and DART, and watching those leads turn into customers, either on e-commerce landing pages or through B2B lead generation programs.

It also means testing your way to success with social media campaigns. This can be as simple as trying two different landing pages to see which one drives more clicks. Or, it can be as complex as multivariate testing that analyzes more than one component at a time.

The final 20% of a company’s efforts in Stage 3 include measuring the success of the campaign on an ROI basis. And yes, you can measure a social media campaign on an ROI basis, despite what some social media “experts” will tell you.

The process involves understanding your Customer Lifetime Value (the total revenue the average customer generates for your business during the lifetime of their engagement with you) and comparing it to the results generated by your social media campaign.

For example, if you know the typical customer spends $10 per month with your company and stays loyal to your brand for an average of three years, your Customer Lifetime Value is $360.

Many companies are comfortable spending 10% of their CLV to acquire a new customer. So, in other words, they’ll spend $36 to acquire a new customer who will spend $360 during his or her engagement with the brand.

If your social media campaign costs, say, $36,000 a year to run, and it generates 1,000 new customers each year, you’ve got a winner on your hands. (For a more detailed explanation of this process, please see my previous post, HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign.)

The Bottom Line

In the end, all roads should lead to social media ROI. After all, businesses don’t do social media to be social, they do social media to grow sales and revenues.

If you carefully navigate your way through Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3, you’ll eventually be able to go up to your CFO and say, “Hey, Chief Financial Dude, remember when you told me we wouldn’t be able to measure the ROI of our social media campaigns? Well, we’re already doing it, and we’re making a profit, you knucklehead. So there!”

Of course, you don’t have to use those exact words, but you get my point.

The super-fast beta version that was announced a few weeks ago has already been updated to a stable version. For the Googlers working on Chrome, speed entails not only faster code (the latest version of Chrome boasts a 66% improvement in JavaScript performance) but also easier-to-navigate interfaces.

With that in mind, the company is rolling out a new Settings interface for all Chrome users. One major change is that Settings are now presented in a Chrome tab rather than a dialog box — a change that will seem familiar to those using Google’s Cr-48 notebooks, which run Chrome OS and present absolutely everything in a browser tab.

Settings are also searchable, which many users will likely find extremely helpful.

Google has also extended its sandboxing features to Chrome’s Flash player.

Interested parties can download the latest version of Chrome now. Be sure to check back with us in the comments section to let us know what you think of the new browser.

The security firm said that it had been expecting the BlackBerry platform to fall victim to some kind of attack, and that it first predicted an assault in 2006.

"The smartphone may have remained spared from malware attacks over the years although there have been recent news of a Zeus variant specifically targeting BlackBerry users," wrote Patrick Estavillo, a threat analyst at Trend Micro, in a blog post.

"Banking Trojans are evolving, and more sophisticated attacks involving smartphones are among the most recent developments."

Trend Micro has identified a Zeus variant dubbed BBOS_ZITMO.B which it said is using obfuscation techniques to avoid detection.

"Just like its desktop counterpart, this Zeus variant does not display any graphical user interface that can prompt users about the infection. Instead, it removes itself from the list of applications in order to effectively stay under the radar," explained Estavillo.

Once installed on a handset the malware sends a confirmation message to its administrator, which allows them to change message forwarding addresses and take control of phone commands.

Estavillo said that the malware could let an attacker send malicious messages to a handset, relay hidden text messages anonymously, block calls, remove blocks on other calls, add a new administrator and turn the phone on and off.

The BlackBerry operating system is not the only mobile software under attack, warned Estavillo, and variants targeting Symbian and Windows Mobile have also been spotted with similar traits to BBOS_ZITMO.B.

"Users are strongly advised to keep their mobile devices secure, and be cautious in installing applications and clicking links sent by unknown users, as they may lead to the download of malicious applications," he said.

Trend Micro has awarded the threat a Low rating.