If I had a £1 for every time I hear from the financial director at a large corporate or big brand that they want to know what is the ROI of using Twitter, I would have earnt myself thousands of pounds. My blood is boiling now with hearing this weak and poor excuse, and I am sorry it is a pathetic excuse. I am no longer going to ignore it and suggest to those brands and corporates whose Financial director is still asking for the ROI from utilising Twitter, they need a new Financial Director.

When I make this suggestion, it is not with my Twitter expertise hat on. There are a ton of excellent reasons why brands, corporates and all sizes of business need to embrace Twitter. Unlike all other forms of marketing, Twitter offers a communication channel and not simply a way to add on another way to broadcast their 1 sided messages. Twitter offers a unique way to find, listen, interact and engage with their audience.

I am writing this blog post as a customer, a consumer, someone who uses many services and products that the larger brands and corporates have to offer. How can they continue to ignore me when I talk about them, why would they want to ignore me when I mention them, speak about them, make reference to them.. Why would they do that? Why do they continue to spend millions on adverts etc.. where they are talking to simply anyone, when I am here on Twitter talking about them and being totally ignored?

Why would they only be interested in communicating with me when they themselves can demonstrate to their financial director that I am worthy of the investment that they make, as I will produce some sort of extra return on that investment. I have already invested in their services and/ or products. Why does there have to be any extra return on setting up a way for them to communicate with me. It is total madness and makes my blood boil..

Every business big or small needs to understand that things move on. New technologies arrive, new ways of doing things, new and higher expectations from their customers, and those businesses who sit there and think they are too big, too important, to make the changes will in my opinion die a slow death.

If your Financial Director says to you ‘ I dont use any form of social media, I think its all a nonsense’.. You seriously need to find a new financial director. Get someone in who does understand the true value of Twitter is not in any form of ROI, it is simply in wanting to communicate with your customers. By communicating with them, you make them feel special, wanted, listened to, appreciated, valued, and if you do that, you know what, they then become amazing brand advocates for you and tell tons of others about you. What ROI do you place on all that?

Not everything can be directly measured. Your businesses has given you perhaps a phone, business cards, other tools perhaps. Surely they have not questioned what is the ROI of giving you these things. They are simply part of doing your job. Well I would argue all day every day that being on Twitter is part of how you communicate with your customers – period.

When a corporate or big brand says how amazing they are we all sort of expect that and pretty much ignore it. However when people we know talk about brands in a positive light, that is way different and far more important and is something that is happening more and more. So why dont brands harness this? Why do so many not want to get involved because some finance person has asked for stacks of data to back up those claims. There is so much evidence on Twitter of brands who are getting it, who are generating signifcant new brand advocates from Twitter, you just need to do a search.. It is everywhere.. Yet the Finance Director still wants more evidence, more numbers, and more data.

@MarkShaw is an award winning ex sales guy that advises and trains businesses, and individuals on how to utilise Twitter to gain more business & to be effective with their time.  He is the author of the book Twitter Your Business & has been on radio, published in the media and given talks all throughout the UK in his capacity as a Twitter expert.