Welcome to the Social Engagement Benchmark

Welcome to the Social Engagement Benchmark (SEB SCORE)

Last week we released the Social Engagement Benchmark (SEB), an aggregate measure of social usage which enables a singular exploration of how engaged different consumer segments are. This was released as a report provided to all clients and available to purchase from the report store. We have also provided clients with a work sheet they can utilise to build their own SEB scores hands on.

What is the “Social Engagement Benchmark”?

A simple (and singular) measure to assess how socially engaged a particular consumer segment has become.

It uses 12 key social behaviours and aggregates social consumer engagement in participation, content creation and brand engagement (4 measures in each). These are then aggregated into one holistic measure and weighted to 100 point scale against the highest ranking demographic segment on the planet.

In the case of 2012’s benchmark, this segment is High income Chinese consumers. We weight all scores on a global basis to remove local bias, and provide a true reflection on how socially engaged a consumer segment is. Even if you are only interested in a single market, this wider context is crucial to deliver the right kind of strategy and investment.

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Why did we create it?

It was created in response to our clients’ needs to have an easier way to assess the value and importance of social, as part of their marketing communications organisation and investment mix.

Social is increasingly complex and fragmented. A singular holistic measure was necessary to develop initial strategic frameworks. Looking at specific behaviours such as “Social Networking” usage or “Commenting on Stories” and adoption of individual platforms like Facebook, makes this process very difficult.

More crucial brands are scaling up social media across multiple markets and across all target segments. The need to properly assess which markets and segments to prioritise, led to the creation of the SEB score which provides a quantifiable and more credible measure than looking at internet penetration, or the number of people Facebook claim in a market.

How can you use it?

It helps enable the implementation of a multi-market social infrastructure and the prioritisation of investment:

• Prioritise investment by market and target segment
• Identify key target audiences
• Design cross market roll out strategy
• Utilise it as a replacement for internet penetration for assessing digital market development

The report explores which markets and consumer segments rank highest on the SEB score. It also investigates how agencies and marketers, who implement multi-market digital and social frameworks, need to re-think how they prioritise budgets and resources.

(Click here to buy the report and access GWI consulting)

Key findings of the SEB score

• Asia (with the exception of Japan) dominates, with China leading the way, regardless of the demographic compared.
• As a rule, fast growing internet markets like China, Brazil, India or Indonesia, lead mature markets in social engagement, regardless of the demographic measured.
• In many cases, fast growth markets have a larger social universe that is able to deliver an equivalent total market reach to mature high penetration markets. When it comes to social, the distinction between “mature” and “emerging markets” needs to be re-thought
• These results demand that we re-think how multi-market social organisation or how marketing allocations are made. We need to move away from internet penetration as the criterion for investments. While reach is not a crucial requirement when investing in social infrastructure and communications, internet penetration is typically used to assess investment levels for online marketing. This view, and applying SEB scores, blows that methodology away.

Enjoy the presentation

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