Over the last decade, social media technologies have profoundly disrupted the way people perceive, engage, and consume brands. These technologies have also led to another significant shift in society—the willingness of people to share information about their personal interest, relationships, and behaviors. This wealth of new information is leading to a fundamental change in the way companies measure, track, and manage the health of their brands.

A significant part of how social has changed information exchange is in the way consumers think about, comprehend, and discuss brands. Consumers now respond to brand messaging in real time and voice their ideas about brands to large peer networks. More importantly, their opinions are shaped more by social influencers than by the brands themselves

In addition, the volume of consumer data social media generates is larger than anything market researchers have had access to in the past. Where once the best course of action was to conduct polls and focus groups from a small sample of consumers, it is now possible collect and analyze the opinions and behaviors of millions

Since the scale and manner in which consumers experience brands has so irrevocably changed, the traditional means of measuring brand health are no longer adequate. How can we be satisfied with the results of a survey or focus group, when there are millions of consumers actively offering up information on how they perceive and engage with brands?

Why Measure Brand Health?

Brand health is simply a measure of a brandʼs equity. Brand equity consists of elements such as the brand associations, perceptions, and actions that distinguish one brand from another and that influence a customerʼs knowledge about a brand. When brand elements are favorable in a customerʼs mind, brand health is considered to be positive. When they are not favorable, the brand health is negative.

In the past, positive associations of a brand in a customerʼs mind tended to be stronger and more sustainable over time. Brands with positive equity will consistently generate, maximize and grow cash flows. They achieve this by commanding a price premium, allowing for brand extensions and licensing, creating barriers of entry, attracting and retaining more valuable customers, and reducing the costs of customer acquisition.

Positive brand equity drives customer value, which in turn drives shareholder value. To leverage positive brand equity, marketers must take a measured approach to identifying, developing, and managing brand elements relevant to the corporation and its products.

Brands can no longer be viewed as fixed assets. Rather, thanks to todayʼs social media revolution, brands are living organisms that can either reach market stardom or quickly wither into oblivion overnight.

Traditional market research firms and brand consultancies have failed to adapt to this new reality. Their methods, while not entirely invalid, have become dated and at times inaccurate. Their flaw lies in their overreliance on qualitative research methodology to arrive at their measure of brand health. That is, interviews, focus groups and surveys.

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These research methods carry three wellknown problems:

1) There is the issue of bias. For example, focus group subjects are unduly influenced by other participants and moderators. Also, survey results can vary significantly depending on how questions are crafted.

2) It is usually impossible to survey 100% of a target audience. Thus, researchers rely on audience samples to conduct their studies. These small samples lead to high margins of error and unreliable results.

3) The costs of research can be exorbitant—as a result brand studies are not conducted as frequently as needed.

We see social data not simply as a new source of brand intelligence, but as a better source of brand intelligence. The advantages of measuring brand health through social are as follows

Size

Social media data is unparalleled in the volume of brand relevant content it offers. Established brands generate millions pieces of content per month.

Holistic Measurement

Social media touches all points in the customer journey, from awareness, to intent, to purchase, and then advo cacy. It also incorporates PR and news coverage. Social is a one-stop shop for insight into the full breadth of consumer and media opinions.

Centralized Source

By measuring brand health using Tracx social media data, we are able to centralize brand health information into one user-friendly and accessible platform. Previously a brand would need to sort and combine multiple sources of data, now we have a single hub to manage everything.

Scalability

The Tracx platform and methodologies are nimble enough to adjust to changes in the marketplace. This allows for regular updates to brand health measurements to encourage ongoing optimization of brand management.

Unbiased And Unsolicited

Social media content is not driven by the brand itself or a market research firm acting on behalf of the brand. It is what consumers choose to discuss about the brand. Participation in the conversation is voluntary, and as a result yields honest and emergent brand insight.

Methodology

Objectives

The goal of brand health measurement is to obtain a 360 view of the brand in its marketplace. More specifically, our analysis allows clients to:

• Gain a better understanding of consumer perception of the brand and its competitors
• Deepen and strengthen customer relationships by determining how to engage consumers with appropriate content on appropriate channels
• Differentiate the brand from its competitors

Model

Attention and Tracx have developed a model that measures the health of brands in the context of the competitive set and category ecosystem. The model looks at two core areas; Perception and Engagement.

On the Perception side we focus on key areas that define thoughts and feelings about the brand. The Engagement side quantifies the reach and strength of the brand and its messaging. All volumes are weighed against sentiment, to ensure that brands are not rewarded for negatively driven spikes in activity.

Both Perception and Engagement consist of four distinct areas of measurement:

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