I was reading an article on ERE over the weekend by Cyndy Trivella of NAS that got me thinking.  She was taking a look at adoption of social media by larger corporations - speculating why some of them were dragging their feet, and then laying out 5 steps she thinks companies need to go through to make the plunge. I like this line: "I liken this entire process to being on a diet. Even though you know you need one, no one can make you adopt change if you’re not ready."

It got me thinking. Her last step is about ROI. That's important. My question (and I'm not quibbling with the article, I happen to agree with it, just expanding a bit) is: do you know what your goal is? Social media's a great venue for discussion, conversation, recruiting, inbound marketing, etc all, but what do you want to get out of it? Are you looking to burnish your employment brand & increase candidate pipeline? Drive employee referrals? Communicate with your talent pool? All of the above? Whatever it is, make sure you have a solid handle on your metrics from the start. Then track it. If your CFO approaches you and says "Why are you spending money on this?", it's a good idea to be able to speak the language of business with him: numbers. Show a rise in traffic, reputation, etc, and you're good. Tell him "well, we can't measure it, but everyone's on it so we should be too" might get you a more negative response.