A final note from RazorFish’s 2009 “Social Influence Marketing” (SIM) survey.

Social is a tough sell to traditional oriented companies that have long made marketing decisions based on CPA. As the stigma of social has been that it is free or nearly free; a social program that initially costs more per acquisition than current efforts is perplexing.

Social allows us to target our acquisitions and yes, the cost of acquiring the right people, the loudest people, the most influential people, is higher.

Quoted from the SIM, “From a purely monetary perspective, this customer may have a lower financial value to the business. From a social CRM perspective, this person is the connector and the evangelist of the brand.”

The cost to acquire an influential is higher, because that acquisition translates into future acquisitions at little to no cost. In social hard CPA does not exist. Businesses will have to determine CPA on a program by program basis.

*The SIM survey is a solid sample of an average user. Fluent surveyed 1,000 US internet users about how technology affects the way they engage with brands and make purchasing decisions. 56% of respondents own a smartphone but they aren’t necessary “tech savvy” users considering 62% of them use Internet Explorer as their primary browser.

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