Rather than using sentiment as a proxy for brand health, we should embrace a new 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:

PERCEPTION

  • Value: perception of the usefulness and benefit of a product compared to the price charged for it
  • Quality: general level of satisfaction with the way a product works and its ability to work as intended
  • Aspiration: expressing a longing or wish to own the product or to be associated with the product’s qualities
  • Differentiation: the extend to which social media users draw distinctions between the qualities and characteristics of the brand and its competitors

ENGAGEMENT

  • Presence: the size of a brand’s owned social communities weighed with the sentiment expressed by the community members toward the brand
  • Influence: the ability of a brand to earn unaided mentions as well as have its messaging amplified and shared by the social media community
  • Virality: the number of unique people engaged in conversations with or about the brand; weighed with the sentiment expressed by those users
  • Resonance: the ability of a brand to engage users with its content and elicit reactions from them