While there is a frantic edge to many marketer’s search for ways to calculate social media ROI, having to justify engagement in social media may be a moot point.

As observers have noted, the deployment and use of social media is spreading rapidly and ineluctably. As B.L. Ochman wrote on businessweek.com on February 19, 2009:

"For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social Web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn't putting itself out there, it ought to be."

Like the need to have a presence on the World Wide Web, companies have realized they need to have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, and other venues, and are flocking there.

Similarly, just as e-mail is provided company-wide to all employees, social media is becoming a universally deployed and consumed medium, with or without ROI justification.

As Tim Walker noted in “Social Media and the Acid Bath of ROI” on hooversbiz.com on May 30, 2009:

“Understand that, sooner or later, social media will probably become as pervasive for your business as e-mail, phones, or face-to-face communication. That’s neither good nor bad — but it’s a good idea to be ready for that day before it’s staring you in the face.”

In another twist on this concept David E. Bowman in “What Is the ROI on Social Media?” on thefuturevalueofbusiness.com on June 5, 2009, writes:  

 “ ‘Social Media’ is not the ends it is a means.  The question is like asking what is the ROI on a telephone system?  Well, it depends who you talk to, what you talk about, what you learn from the call and what you do about the things your conversations uncover?   Sure you can concoct ways to measure this generally, but to be useful you have to measure ROI based on the specifics of what you do with social media, not on social media itself.”

As social media becomes pervasive, marketers also are pondering the question of whether ROI is relevant. Among them is Don Bartholomew, the Metrics Man, who has been actively seeking ways to measure social media ROI. As Bartholomew wondered in a blog entitled “In Social Media, Are We Looking for ROI in All The Wrong Places?” on metricsman.wordpress.com on May 28, 2009:

“One important question seems to be missing from much of the conversation, to what degree should social media be considered a cost of doing business (from a corporate/organizational viewpoint) rather than a distinct activity that must/should be justified by hard ROI?”

Michael Neubarth is a Contributing Editor to CIOZone.com.