Ever since I first heard the term ” return on involvement” I have been wanting to investigate it further… I love that some smart people (who I have no idea who is - sorry) says that the future of business is going to be more about return on involvement than return on investment.

Return on investment to me is something lucrative that you put into a company with the purpose of getting more value back, than the money you put in.

Return on involvement is some engagement that you put into a company and you get more value back, because you engaged in the company.

wheres return on investment binds itself to a company or to investments, return on involvement can be added to everything. The action you need for this to work is actually just to show up and participate, whether it’s on the internet, at conferences, at events, in projects, in interesting subjects you like. as long as you are involved in something - if you follow good’old networking practice, you will have a return on that involvement - excellent.

So how do you measure it ? - I have been thinking a while about this, and to me it’s quite simple.

1. if you are at a conference. Talk to people. Be prepared. Get cards. Use cards as leads to find them elsewhere online. Make a deal with yourself that you will get at least 30 leads after a conference.

30 leads is a very good return on involvement that you get just by being present.

2. if you are on facebook or in other communities ( big timeconsumer of employed people - and heck, also freelancers). be proactive. make listings for your company. Have an official page. Bring in your blog. Make a strategy what the facebook group is for ( very important)… talk to your fans. send them updates =)

with a clear focus on the group on facebook, your return on creating these events/groups/gatherings of people could be quite large… You just have to be proactive about it.

So if you get a functional group with 100 + members that you can talk to and tell about your process and ideas - i would say that’s a very good return on involvement…

3. if you are on a mailinglist or you read a blog - Contribute ! Comment ! - the return on involvement here is traffic back to your own site… everytime you leave a link somewhere, and if you leave it frequently - people will find out who you are etc etc.

the return on involvement here can be pretty high - as long as you keep out the commercial messages and focus on the conversation in itself (subject, opinions etc)…

so go out there and involve yourself =) - it’s gonna be worth it… and if somebody want you to measure involvement - just do it.. track it in every way. Have a pen and paper and write down how involved you are and how much time you use on it.