All I hear about nowadays is how difficult measuring ROI in Social Media can be. As Ken Kaufman in CFOwise Blog writes, "Social Media is about branding, not advertising," and so it seems, at first look, very difficult to quantify the everlasting results of brand development, at least immediately.

But how easy is it to measure the return on traditional advertising anyway? While it is true that Social Media adds value to the brand, and therefore is a significant influencer, its ROI can also be measured in terms of its alignment with the greater strategy and the results the overall campaign achieves.

Here's Mashable's look into HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI.

It is quite possible to add quantitative elements to an Interactive Campaign utilizing Social Media. We've been able to do it for Sponsors via Live Events. The pre-event buzz generated on social networks (including offering discounts off admission prices to people who followed on Twitter or signed on as Facebook fans), together with follow-up post-event activities featuring highlights of the event, promotions on related and future events, continued audience interaction and feedback, and product offerings, are all measurable/trackable avenues. And at the event itself, onsite interaction and the instant action options all culminate the entire process into a very measurable model.

All attendees at a recent event were able to type in the unique code found on their e-tickets, register through a URL the sponsor created and used specifically for the promotion to win one of the prizes -products of the sponsor. But all attendees, even if they were not among the winners, were given a free download. Based on those registrations, and the tracking of the downloads, the sponsor was able to determine how many actual paid downloads were achieved throughout the rest of the season as a result. Not only were they able to see who the new engagements are, they also knew from what event, venue, and when.

The best part of this whole experience for the sponsor was our PPP (pay-per-purchase) approach. Rather than asking the sponsor to 'spend' money on gold, silver, or bronze 'sponsorships,' we were able to convince them to try our 'Interactive' methods, once they realized they'd only pay if the program was successful. It wouldn't cost them anything to try. It was definitely a win-win for all; including the audience who benefited from a hands-on approach, as well as voluntary but willing engagement rather than resigned submission.

The emergence of digital technology utilized both onsite and online, increases brand awareness and consumer loyalty by generating a high involvement with your target group. The new digital feedback mechanisms offer advertisers a wide variety of possibilities, limited only by imagination. And measurable ROI.