Measuring the impact of communication and social media

I read a fascinating story about social responsibility. The article pointed out that if Wal-Mart had a reputation like Target, its stock would be worth 8.4% more. How’s that for demonstrating return on investment (see BusinessWeek: Beyond The Green Corporation)?

Perhaps the day will come when socially responsible and eco-friendly practices will boost a company’s bottom line.

So my question is: how does public relations affect the practice of, or at least perceptions of social responsibility and eco-friendliness?

Those of us in the communication field know our efforts can have a profound impact. And when reputation equals higher stock price, suddenly our skill set becomes invaluable.

Management’s challenge is to create and maintain value for the company. As such, reputation certainly has value. It can be measured, managed, grown and protected. Social media has an ever increasing impact on reputation and therefore corporate performance.

For any communication endeavor to be effective it must come from a place of accountability. Communicators need to work from a framework of creativity and good judgment in outlining strategies, tools and tactics, and ultimately metrics of success.

What social media does is provide faster access to unlimited information, the disintermediation of the editorial function and peer-to-peer dialog beyond geographic borders. Social media helps people connect, become informed and energized. It has great power to drive collective behavior.

Professional communicators are savvy about measuring outcomes. Comparing outgoing messages on every channel to social network buzz and things like stock price, market share, revenue, customer retention and sales growth provide metrics by which to measure success.