# How to measure social media ROI

> ROI is (value gained minus cost) divided by cost. Count time as well as money, link each goal to something you can trace, & accept that some value, like trust, won't fit in a formula.

Updated: 2026-10-05.

## The basic formula

ROI is value gained minus cost, divided by cost. If you spent $1,000 & the work led to $3,000 of value, ROI is 200 percent.

The hard parts are the two inputs: counting all the cost & deciding what counts as value.

## Count the whole cost

Include tool fees, creative costs, ad spend & staff or freelancer time. Leaving time out makes social media look cheaper than it is.

Use the same period for costs & results, such as a quarter.

## Decide what counts as value

Match value to your goal:

- Sales: revenue from customers who came via social
- Leads: number of qualified enquiries, times your average close rate & deal value
- Hiring: applicants who came from social & the cost of finding them another way
- Support: questions answered publicly that would have been tickets

Pick one or two. Trying to value everything produces numbers nobody trusts.

## Be honest about what's untraceable

Awareness, trust & reputation matter but resist precise numbers. Someone may follow you for months, then buy after a search.

Say plainly what you can measure & what you're judging. A rough, honest range is more useful than a falsely exact figure.

DunSocial can't turn trust into a number either, & it doesn't claim to.

## Where DunSocial fits

DunSocial can help with the cost & activity side. Its flat price makes the tool cost simple, & its calendar shows what you published in the period.

Its analytics dashboard covers X, Bluesky & Pinterest, so for other platforms take reach & clicks from each platform's own tools. DunSocial doesn't calculate ROI or attribute revenue to posts.

## Keep it simple & repeatable

Use the same sheet every quarter: cost lines, outcome lines, ratio. Trends matter more than any single figure.

DunSocial's post history makes it easier to line up spikes in results with the posts that preceded them, which you can then note in your sheet.

## Related guides

- [How to attribute leads & sales to social media](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-budgeting-and-roi/how-to-attribute-leads-and-sales-to-social-media.md)
- [What social media metrics actually matter?](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-analytics/what-social-media-metrics-actually-matter.md)
- [How to create a social media report](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-analytics/how-to-create-a-social-media-report.md)
- [How to calculate the time cost of social media](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-budgeting-and-roi/how-to-calculate-the-time-cost-of-social-media.md)

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