Another great resource

I attended an event in Boston this morning that was all about social media, Web 2.0, etc. There was an interesting presentation on the ROI from marketing, but most of what was said could be applied to social media -- since so much of marketing involves social media these days. In light of this presentation, you could make a good case that social media is seen as a must-have in an organization, rather than a nice-to-have, precisely to the degree that it results (real or imagined) in more revenue (directly or indirectly).

I wonder how much cash value concepts like "community" and "building brand" have to CFOs and CEOs if their corporate social media becomes an end unto itself, rather than a means to an end (more revenue)? Part of me thinks that the social media projects in corporate America that survive and thrive into the next decade will be those with clear, measurable results. This shouldn't kill creativity and community, but just hold them accountable in some way (however defined). Think of the dot-coms of the late 1990s: they claimed that companies shouldn't be valued on profits alone, and, well, they mostly went out of business.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong, or just partly right. Anyone care to set me straight?