Over the past month, Google and Adobe have attempted to answer that question. Both companies have released tools that let marketers track their marketing spending through social media. Such data aims to provide some concrete ROI behind the touchy-feely world of Likes, retweets and +1s — data that, on its own, amount to what Phil Mui, group product manager for Google Analytics, dubs “vanity metrics.”

via Beyond Likes: How Google and Adobe Aim to Measure Your True Social ROI.