Social Brands 100 2012 Methodology explained

Social Brands 100 - The Methodology in detail

May 2012

© Lawton Communications Group Ltd

Purpose

• Social Brands 100 is an annual initiative to identify and acknowledge high performing social brands

• Social Brands 100 exists to: • Make a data driven and rigorous contribution to the ‘Social ROI’ debate • Gain insight into the trends and patterns around social high performers• Provide benchmarking across diverse companies, and sectors

•This presentation outlines in detail the methodology used to create the Social Brands 100 ranking


Social Brands 100 - key stages

• January to February - nominations are crowd-sourced via the @socialbrands100 account on Twitter

• February to April - the long-list of nominations are shortlisted down to 100 brands based on a Data Score compiled in conjunction with SB100’s social media monitoring partner, Brandwatch

• April to May - an expert panel of judges scores each brand providing the Panel Score

• May - final Social Brands 100 ranking is announced based on the combined Data Score and Panel Score, which determine Social Brand Score


Social Brands 100 - Methodology

• The methodology is based upon three core principles of social brands -• Win-win relationships• Active listening• Appropriate social behaviour

• Adopting these principles consistently creates positive effects in social spaces

• These effects can be measured through a series of ‘observable markers’ of behaviour and interactions between people (including brands) in social spaces

• The level of interaction indicated by each marker equates to a specific score

• These marker scores are aggregated to create the Data Score



• The Panel Score is created by an expert panel of judges from the social media and digital industry

• Each judge is asked to assess each brand across four categories• Value of the brand’s content to communities in social• Success in providing consistent and ‘always on’ community engagement• Prioritising community needs over the brand’s own• Success in creating a powerful overall community spirit

• The judges are asked to assess each brand’s success in each area

• The scores are aggregated to create each brand’s Panel Score



• The total points available for the Social Brands Score is 382.5 • The Data Score accounts for 262.5 of those potential points

• The judges score accounts for 120 of those potential points


Social Brands 100 - Data Score Weightings, calculations and markers

Social Brands 100 - Data Score detail

• The following slides outline:• The different platforms where social interactions are analysed• The relative weighting given to each platform in terms of points available• An overview of the observable markers looked at on each platform• A detailed description of each marker, and what each one can tell us about a brand’s social performance • Exact calculations used to arrive at the points for each ‘observable marker’


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Weightings by platform

Facebook

Twitter

You Tube

Foursquare

Google+

Brand owned blog

Own website

Brand owned forum

30%

6%

4%

6%

8%

4%

15%

27%


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Points by platform

Facebook

Twitter

You Tube

Foursquare

Google+

Brand owned blog

Own website

Brand owned forum

80 points (30%)

15 points (6%)

10 points (4%)

15 points (6%)

22.5 points (8%)

10 points (4%)

40 points (15%)

70 points (27%)


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Observable markers overview

Brand post engagement

Fan post: Brand post ratio

Fan post engagement

Fan posts interacted with by brand

All @brand mentions

Retweets

Mentions of third party @accounts by @brand

Timeliness of response

Average views per video

Average comments per video

Tips done

+1s per post

Shares per post

Comments per postPosts per thread

Outpost links

Outpost link visibility

Blog usage

Comment to post ratio

Social Brands 100 Data Score:Facebook - markers

Brand post engagementAverage number of ‘likes’, ‘comments’ and ‘shares’generated by each brand post. (normalised for community size)Intensity of interaction with brand posted content. Provides a measure ofthe brand’s success in creating content and behaviour that is valuable inthe eyes of the community.

Fan post: Brand post ratioRatio of fan posts to brand postsVibrancy of community and brand’s willingness/ability to foster communityparticipation

Fan post engagementAverage number of ‘likes’, ‘comments’ and ‘shares’generated by each fan post. (normalised for community size)Intensity of interaction with fan posted content, providing a measure of the health of the peer-to-peer spirit in the community

Fan posts interacted with by brandPercentage of fan posts responded to by brandadministrator/community managerQuality of this area of active listening, and willingness to undertake genuineconversation vs. broadcast messages


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Twitter - markers

All @brand mentionsNumber of @brand mentions (normalised for number of followers)Success in creating content and conversations that are sharedthrough networks

RetweetsRetweets of @brand tweets (normalised for number of followers)Ability to create content that has so much value in the eyes of thecommunity that they are willing to share it with their own social graph

Mentions of third party @accounts by @brandQuality of active listening and willingness to undertake genuineconversation vs. pushing messages

Timeliness of responseAverage time taken when responding to third party @accountsHaving the resource and will to deliver ‘always-on’ community management


Social Brands 100 Data Score:YouTube - markers

Average views per videoAverage number of views per video posted by brandValue of video content in the eyes of the community

Average comments per videoAverage number of comments per video posted by brandIntensity of interaction with video content


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Foursquare - marker

Tips doneAverage number of people who completed tips left by the brandCreation of valuable and appropriate content that prompts interaction


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Google+ - markers

+1s per postAverage +1s per postAbility to create content that has so much value in the eyes of thecommunity that they are willing to share it with their own social graph

Shares per postAverage shares per postAbility to create content that has so much value in the eyes of thecommunity that they are willing to share it with their own social graph

Comments per postAverage comments per postIntensity of interaction with brand posted content. Provides a measureof the brand’s success in creating content, and conversation that isvaluable in the eyes of the community


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Brand owned forum - marker

Posts per threadPosts per forum threadSuccess in creating a vibrant community with high levels of interaction


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Own website - markers

Outpost linksLinks to social outpostsProactive promotion of brand’s wider social footprint

Outpost link visibilityVisibility of links to social outpostsHigh priority given to social outposts as part of overalldigital brand experience


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Brand owned blog - markers

Blog usageBrand blog usedWillingness to create long-form content, and engage with community

Comment to post ratioSuccess in creating valuable and appropriate content thatprompts interaction


Social Brands 100 Data Score:Data sets and calculations


Social Brands 100 - Panel Score Judging criteria

Social Brands 100 - Panel Score detail

• The following slides outline:• The four statements each judge was asked to agree or disagree with during the scoring process• These statements carried an equal score and the judge’s responses were aggregated to provide the Panel Score



Question 1“For the main part, the brand provides value based content in its social spaces, rather than focusing on pushing traditional marketing ‘messages’.”

Question 2“The brand provides a consistent presence on its social platforms, demonstrating an ‘always-on’ approach to community engagement.”



Question 3“The brand prioritises the community over its own agenda, valuing and responding to the community’s contributions, needs and ideas.”

Question 4“Overall, there is the sense that the brand has established a powerful community spirit across social spaces – a certain ‘Social Brand Factor’ that’s hard to define, but undeniably present.”


For more information

Julius [email protected]@juliusduncan+44 (0)23 80 828 585


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Social Brands 100 2012 Methodology explained