710104Digital Business Analytics for Decision MakersClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThere is a huge demand from the Social Media Marketing sector, marketing managers and directors for effective solutions to the measurement of the ROI of Social Media Marketing (SMM). Companies that can effectively predict and measure the effectiveness of SMM on their business will make better use of marketing budgets, maximise engagement with consumers that can influence their market and gain an edge on their competitors. At present, there is no accurate, accepted or robust mechanism for modelling the return of the new and emerging marketing form that is SMM. As the buzz around Social Media grows, more and more companies need to use this form of marketing or risk being left behind. But many are struggling to use SMM effectively - investment decisions are often made on the basis of gut feel or raw marketing instinct. A shift towards a much more scientific and quantifiable mechanism for modelling the connection between investment and return is needed. It is the identification of this need, and the opportunity it presents, that forms the basis for our application to the TSB for funding. Bloom Media have established a partnership with the University of Reading's Centre for the Mathematics of Human Behaviour. The University's own research has focused on the way that information flows through networks and created some theories that need application and testing in the real world. Bloom Media wish to build on this academic research and apply it to the real world social media ecosystem. In doing so, we will research, develop, test and apply a mathetical model that can be used to predict the relationship between investment and return on SMM by modelling how inputs into a social network affect its outputs. We are seeking funding from the TSB to prove our concept. Having proved that concept, we are looking to exploit the opportunity it creates through a SaaS business proposition that makes our model widely available to the wider business community.