Paul Gillin is a technology journalist who has worked almost exclusively online for the past 10 years. He advises marketers on how to establish an online presence and optimize their use of social media. He is the author of a book called Secrets of Social Media Marketing – how to use online conversations and online communities to turbo-charge your business! (A current favourite business book.)

With respect to setting up a social media marketing plan, Paul refers to the age-old question: What’s the return on Investment? He admits it’s true that it’s difficult to calculate ROI for social media as many of the metrics are undeveloped; but he counters that with a different type of ROI – Risk of Inaction. In the case of setting up a blog, facebook business page or Linkedin group, the cost is pretty negligible and the risk is insignificant.

We’re seeing many real estate builders and developers enter the online social world – announcing projects and providing updates on Twitter, executing great targeted ads on facebook as well as developing  blogs. They all provide potential for lead generation for new home sales as well as assist with search engine marketing.

Risk of Inaction can apply to many areas of business. In times when the economy is in turmoil and consumer confidence is at a low, perhaps it’s time to make some changes and do things a little bit differently. So next time, you have to think about the Return on Investment for something, think also about the Risk of Inaction!