• by Phyllis Fine , Staff Writer, May 21, 2014

Focusing on big numbers -- such as millions of “likes” --  is “how a new emerging technology establishes itself. But now that we [in social media] have our seat at the table, how can we start talking” about our value? asked moderator Tania Yuki, founder and CEO of Shareablee, setting the stage for the “Social ROI” panel at OMMA Social.

One big question the panel grappled with: Do likes still matter? “I can’t remember a presentation I put together that had number of ‘fans’ or ‘likes,’” said Stephen DiMarco, CMO, Millward Brown Digital.

“The C-level suite doesn’t care how many likes you have,”  added Lawrence Mak, senior manager, product marketing, Adobe.

But as someone tweeted during the panel, “the C-level suite still expects vanity metrics.” Addressing this notion, the panel noted that the number of likes and basic fans provides context, but the suite is now moving beyond those numbers.

And, noted Yuki, “We can’t go from vanity metrics [straight] to ROI. That’s skipping a step” -- and it can be discouraging to go from, say, millions of likes to the actual 12 sales made in a particular period. In between is the active community building that social media adds to brand presence.