In a recent poll by the TSIA of firms using social media, 68% of companies said they don’t know or can’t measure the ROI of social media. That’s a real shame, and if that’s the case for you, I would argue that you are focusing your social media efforts in the wrong place.

There are certainly tools out there to help you measure your efforts in social media, but sometimes it’s not the tool’s fault, it’s the business case.

Many people take a classic approach to social media and treat it like just another media channel, expecting to see instant results like they do with other online media such as banners, text links, and search. This is why they find it hard to see results that make for a strong ROI.

In the case of social customer support, I would argue that this is the single best place to focus your social media efforts, since it can reduce customer churn and increase retention rates faster than any other program we have ever seen before. Spotting a customer issue, responding to it, and solving the problem in minutes using social media provides what can only be called an exceptional customer experience.

In fact, a recent Forrester study shows that customers actually prefer a better customer experience compared to everyday low prices, and, moreover, great customer experiences drive positive word of mouth (WOM). So why wouldn’t you center you social media efforts in this area?

Layering on social media tactics for support can also decrease your contact center costs. Tactics like providing free support forums, peer-to-peer collaboration and discussion threads on social networks, and support through microblogging can act as a string of defense before a person calls you’re your contact center (which is the highest cost support vehicle any company can have).

Not everyone enjoys calling into a contact center and, as social media evolves, people will expect to be able to get support through the channels they prefer and feels most comfortable using.

The downside of poor customer service has been well documented on the web, and more and more people are taking to the web to warn other would-be customers of their dissatisfaction. Don’t let that be your company! Great customer service enabled by social media is a no-brainier, and it is the single best place to build your business case for social media.

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Paul Dunay is Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing for Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications, author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley 2009) and Social Media and the Contact Center for Dummies. His unique approach to integrated marketing has produced significant revenue and cost-savings for Avaya, and has led to his recognition as a BtoB Magazine Top 25 B2B Marketer of the Year for 2009 and winner of the DemandGen Award for Utilizing Marketing Automation to Fuel Corporate Growth in 2008.