Engagement Labs Launches New TotalSocial(TM) Measurement Solution in the UK

OREANDA-NEWS. Consumer conversation -- both in-person and online -- is a proven driver of sales. In fact, word-of-mouth conversation is responsible for a huge amount of annual consumer spending. In the U.S., around one third of the sales impact is from online conversation, while two thirds are attributed to offline conversation (i.e. word of mouth), and all evidence suggests the UK pattern is similar. Many marketers today overweigh the perceived value of online conversation, when in reality, examining both online and offline together reveals the entire picture of how consumer conversation actually impacts a brand.

To help marketers better understand how brands perform socially -- both online and offline -- technology and data company Engagement Labs, announced the launch of a new and innovative measurement solution for brands and marketers in the UK. TotalSocial is the first tool to measure a brand's social impact of online and offline conversation, providing a scorecard ranking for 350+ UK brands across 18 major industry categories, plus diagnostics to guide improvement. TotalSocial combines in-depth social listening with comprehensive offline conversation measurement tools to assist marketers in identifying the differences between their online and offline conversations and areas of competitive opportunity or significant emerging threats.

"For marketers to truly understand the conversations taking place around their brand they must have a TotalSocial perspective. Just looking at one piece of the puzzle will at best only give you a fraction of your total brand story and at worst, provide brands with inaccurate information to build programmes against," said Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "We developed this measurement solution to address this industry need by providing a first-ever holistic view of brand social performance. TotalSocial rankings allow marketers to measure the impact of all consumer conversations happening around their brand and maximize their ROI by optimizing this powerful data."

The top TotalSocial brands mentioned in the ranking are not only performing well within the online sphere, but also translate online conversation to offline conversation and vice versa. These are the brands that are creating "talkworthy" campaigns with shareable content which drives positive conversation.

"We know that consumer conversation about brands is an important driver of sales and brand health. This includes real world conversations, as well as what gets talked about in social media. TotalSocial is an important evolution in consumer insights and analytics. It's the first-ever truly integrated and comprehensive source for both offline and online consumer conversations about brands," stated Steve Thomson, UK Managing Director of Keller Fay Group (an Engagement Labs company).

Relatively few brands are "Conversation Commanders" -- strong social performers in both online and offline channels. However, this should be every brand's aspiration, and the brands shown above are among those who consistently achieve strong TotalSocial scores in both channels. In order to be a Conversation Commander, marketers must understand where they are doing well and where they could improve, to build strategies and tactics that will amplify online and offline TotalSocial performance.

"While understanding your brand's performance is essential for marketers, benchmarking your brand against key competitors and studying your industry's performance are just as vital. TotalSocial provides brands with detailed information into the metrics that make up a brand's performance and identifies the right marketing levers to pull to improve marketing ROI and topline performance," noted Segal.

The TotalSocial measurement solution is based on a proprietary scoring system built on the pillars of Engagement Labs' patented social media measurement tool and the world's only word of mouth tracking system for brands. The TotalSocial score is based on the most important drivers of brand performance: Volume, Sentiment, Brand Sharing and Influence. As a tracking system that is "always on," momentum is built into each of the metrics. TotalSocial tracks 350 brands within the UK, across 18 major industry categories, and 500 brands in the U.S.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) is the world's first TotalSocial company, offering intelligent data, analytics and insights for marketers. We are leaders in tracking, measuring and benchmarking the social impact of conversations happening around a brand and industry -- both online and offline. Consumer conversations are a proven driver of critical business outcomes, including sales. Engagement Labs' TotalSocial measurement solution provides brands with unique data fuelled insights and powerful analytics to understand online and offline social impact and drive business results.