The Power and draw of Social Media and it's ROI

Social media by most accounts can be seen as an additional draw for many consumers and fans of entertainment that allows for further and deeper engagement of content and brands offerings. While many of us champion the possibilities and opportunities daily on what we see is a strong opportunity to really engage people on-line and through the adjunct of communities, we now see another and very comprehensive study that shows people are actively looking for and want to have more engagement through on-line communities and digital interaction.
The study focuses on Americans and their desire to have companies engage and promote to them through social communities, with the following information additional food for thought for agencies, content producers, or any company looking to build their brand while offering an additional way to increase ROI.

• Americans think companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
  
• Americans who want to provide feedback on a specific product and service (41%)
  
• Americans want new and exciting ways to be engaged and interact with a brand (37%)
  
• Americans want to be target-marketed through a specific on-line or interactive community (25%)

the power of social networking through twitter

Most people by now have heard that users on Twitter have been signing up under the names of characters from the hit AMC show Mad Men with various posts in character.

While this has brought some publicity to the show the question remains what is the endgame and actual measurable benefit that is has had for the show?

Two things can be taken form this experiment, the first being the name and brand recognition for the show is increasing, and second that many users signed up to receive "tweets" from the character.

Going forward the success of future creative story arcs, and ones that are possibly pitching new products or services, could be based on further engaging the current and future audience by continuing the dialogue off-platform.

Unique way to engage that seems to have captured the imagination of many people.