Social Media ROI: The Only Math Most Marketers Can Still Do (And That’s a Problem)

Let’s drag this idiocy into the sun: apparently, nearly 80% of marketers say social media is the ‘easiest’ channel to measure. Wow, what a revelation—you mean the channel where you can watch numbers tick up in real time is easier to track than, say, a two-minute pre-roll at the Regal Union Square? Color me stunned. That same survey (Marketing Week, for those keeping score) has a pitiful 16.6% saying they can measure cinema effectiveness. And yet, every summer, some agency still burns half its client’s ad budget on a movie theater spot because the creative director’s cousin works at an animation studio.

This isn’t a win for social; it’s an indictment of our entire industry’s laziness and addiction to easy metrics. Social’s not ‘easier to measure’—it’s easier to *pretend* you’re measuring something. Likes, impressions, two-second video views: these are not business results, they’re digital lint. But because they’re immediate and auto-generated, every junior strategist on the F train Monday morning can slap a PowerPoint together in ten minutes and call it ‘reporting.’ Meanwhile, try asking that same team what measurable impact their TikTok spend delivered beyond a bump in top-of-funnel traffic. You’ll get the same blank stare you get when you ask a LinkedIn influencer how they define ‘engagement.’

Cinema, out-of-home, anything that doesn’t come with a Google Sheet full of vanity metrics—these require actual thinking, experimentation, and, God forbid, a willingness to accept uncertainty. But in the age of quarterly reporting cycles and CMO churn that makes the Yankees’ bullpen look stable, nobody wants ambiguous results. So the industry default is to chase the channels where the numbers are easiest, not where the impact is greatest.

You want a real test? Start measuring your TikTok ROI against hard conversions, not ‘brand lift’ or ‘awareness.’ See how fast those ‘easy’ numbers dry up. Or better yet, try running a cinema campaign with a trackable offer—QR codes, custom URLs, something that makes the audience prove they cared. Spoiler: most agencies won’t even bother, because it requires actual work. But if you’re serious about effectiveness, stop treating ‘easy to measure’ as a synonym for ‘worth doing.’

Stop hiding behind dashboards and start demanding numbers that matter. Otherwise, keep enjoying your Monday morning dopamine hit as you watch the likes creep up—because that’s all you’re really measuring.