Do you want to know how to measure your brand strength in social media? A benefit of an active presence in social media is that it will allow you to improve your branding. Qualitatively information feels great in your reports and dashboards, but I want you to know how much [in money terms] has your brand improved thanks to social media.

I do not like measuring using soft indicators, like RTs or likes. I prefer the hardcore financial values. The ISO 10668:2010 is an international valuation standard that is very valuable if you are interested in how to measure a brand.

This is not an easy task though, since a brand is what in accounting and finance is considered an intangible asset. However, if you are capable of measuring the value of a brand, you will be able to mesure other key concepts in social media as word of mouth and engagement.

The ISO 10668:2010 devotes the following sections to brand valuation:

  • How to define the brand: is it your company’s name? your product? Indicate what you want to measure.
  • Aim of the valuation:  are you willing to value the brand to sell it? for measuring marketing ROI? or just accounting purposes? Indicate why you want to measure.
  • Scope: is the brand going to continue in the market? Indicate which is the perspective of the valuation.
  • Method: income, market, or cost approach.
  • Analysis: the valuation has to be founded on enough data and information, with a reliable approach which includes financial, behavioural and legal aspects. These aspects take us to the need for a good monitoring and active listening tool.
  • Reporting: document in which all the brand valuation details will be shown.

If we focus on the method, there are three ways ISO 10668:2010 considers:

  1. Branding costs: this approach is based on the answer to the question of how much would cost us to build the brand from scratch. It is the financial analysis of the money that would need to be invested to create the brand. For instance, how much would an agency charge you if you had to create your current brand as it looks today?
  2. Cost-saving: in this case, it is the amount of money that has been saved by building or improving the brand thanks to the social media activities. Many companies use a method which is based on estimating a royalty or franchise cost.
  3. Higher turnover: finally, this method asks to measure the additional turnover that is attributable to the brand. It may be measured by the additional sales, or the price premium, that can be linked to a brand effect. Those brands which products or services are capable of generating higher turnover compared to the competitor brands are more valuable. The value of the brand can be approximated using the sales units times this price premium.

Now ask yourself, am I measuring my brand correctly? Further, do I understand the main drivers behind its performance?