Social Media Case Study Database Focuses on Real Results

Today, everyone interested in social media is understandably intent on finding concrete examples of how companies have used it to generate real sales. That’s why I was excited when I came across a recent episode of For Immediate Release interviewing Todd Maffin, creator of CaseStudiesOnline.com. The recently birthed social media case study database contains studies created by  businesses, marketing agencies and individuals from across the web.

Social Media Case Studies Focused on Measurable Results

Maffin’s project focuses on real results not the warm fuzzies like “return on influence,” “impressions” or website “HITS” (“How Idiots Track Success” – Shel Holtz) – the kind of information that businesses really need to make an informed decision on whether an investment in social media is right for them.  Of course, measurable results start with sales, but also include actions taken (tweets), interviews garnered, members retained and similar metrics. The goal of the site is to present examples that can offer marketers examples and insight into what they can expect when jumping into the social media waters.

Social Media Case Studies: A Few Examples

So far, CaseStudiesOnline.com contains about 200 case studies and is a work in progress for Maffin, who is a marketing consultant and speaker, but I wanted to offer a few quick examples of the types of case studies that can be found on the site. They include:

Facebook Marketing Study for a Bakery: In conjunction with Desert Gallery Bakery and Cafe, Rice University determined that Facebook marketing for this Houston multi-unit bakery makes a lot of sense.

A Nonprofit Organization’s Twitter Success: An interview with BrightSpark Consulting on how Twitter led to increased donations and a deal with Amazon to benefit an African AIDS charity.

Social Media to Sell Out Event: A post on how an agency Swirl used blogger outreach, Facebook and Twitter to sell 15,000 tickets to an event and make it a big success.

These are just a handful of case studies, but I tried to give you a good cross-section of the type you can find there. I must admit that after looking a bit more closely, the case studies seem to be heavily focused on larger company efforts, but I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprise since they tend to be the ones that measure their results more carefully. But with that said, there are a decent number of studies that still have a bit of the “fluffy” factor; some of the “results” are not quite as focused on the concrete results I would have hoped. But hey, it’s a start.

Still in Beta & Free

CaseStudiesOnline.com offers some good food for thought and should be useful to jump start some ideas. I particularly like its ability to sort on a variety of criteria like Demographics, Industry Type, Organization Type, Geographic Region and Marketing Tactic. Since it was started as a project, Todd accepts case study submissions from around the world, which has its benefits and drawbacks. While usefulness of some of the case studies might be debatable, the ability to use and build on others’ ideas is a big benefit. As a result, the success of a site like this is in the participation of businesses and social media marketers to share their success and perhaps their failures too.
Checkout CaseStudiesOnline.com and see what you think. If you think it has value, take the opportunity to offer your own social media case studies to share with businesses willing to explore this emerging marketing method. Ultimately it’ll work to benefit your business in the long run.

If your interested in learning more about social media success stories or how your business may benefit, give us a shout.

Bill Rowland