I got a Facebook message from a guru in the Social Media Marketing space tonight Shama Hyder. She wrote the members of her ACT Blueprint group on Facebook that there is something called RUI that always (and should) comes before ROI. What is RUI? RUI, or otherwise known as Resistance, Understanding, Integration, are the steps that most clients will go through before really adopting a Social Media Marketing plan.

You know, I always talk about ROI in social media marketing and new media marketing, and it always comes back to ROI. Well, you know, this past week I’ve spoken to some organizations and I’ve realized that they aren’t even to the point to really discuss ROI (“Return on Investment”). They were at a whole different acronym which I called RUI, and I think a lot of businesses, non-profits, and organizations fall under this category. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think about it.

But to me, RUI is “Resistance, Understanding, and Integration,” and I realize that this is the process most people go through every single time that anything new comes out. You know, when web sites came out, when Email came out, and now it’s social media, you’re seeing this. Before you can talk to people about ROI, you really have to talk to them about RUI and figure out where they are, because the first thing people feel is resistance. It’s a new idea. They’re not sure. They’re resisting it. And I’ve noticed this but, you know, as people who are very accustomed to doing [things the] way they’ve always done things; you see the resistance level is higher, so there is resistance.

Then there’s understanding. So they understand what social media can do for them. They understand the mindset. And then there is integration where they actually start making it part of what they’re doing, whether it’s their marketing activities, [or] their daily life, and once they understand RUI, once they’ve been through that process, then you can talk to them about ROI.

I’ve noticed this quite a few times with clients with whom I’ve broached the topic of marketing their site on Social Media. I’ve gotten a variety of reactions and responses. Some clients seem intrigued and almost excited about using this new medium, others are more cautious and still others look at me like I’m on some kind of 1970′s hallucinogen. With each of these types of business people in mind, Shama’s suggestions on how to use RUI to your benefit are right on. In the end, it’s a fact, in order to get your clients to integrate Social Media into their marketing budget and plan they need to see the ROI and to get to the ROI you need to get past the RUI.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on what Shama’s saying. Post them below in the comments.

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Tags: business, corporate, Integration, marketing, Media, PR, Resistance, roi, RUI, Shama Hyder, Social, Social Media, Understanding

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.