U.S. patent application number 15/692559 was filed with the patent office on 2017-12-21 for systems and methods for simultaneous display of related social media analysis within a time frame.
The applicant listed for this patent is Share Rocket, Inc.. Invention is credited to David Flaxman, Christopher E. Kracht, Blair Lazuka, Michael Ostman, Scott H. Smith.
Application Number | 20170366630 15/692559 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 51351934 |
Filed Date | 2017-12-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170366630 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Smith; Scott H. ; et
al. |
December 21, 2017 |
Systems and Methods for Simultaneous Display of Related Social
Media Analysis Within a Time Frame
Abstract
Described herein are systems and methods for analyzing social
media data for assets and related sub-assets, and simultaneously
displaying the analysis for assets, sub-assets, and contributing
social media content items to give the user insight into the
analysis. The analysis may be based on user selection of a time
frame, and may also include a historical timeline that plots
different lines for different assets. The user may select one of
the assets and cause related sub-assets and social media content
items to be simultaneously displayed.
Inventors: |
Smith; Scott H.; (Dallas,
TX) ; Kracht; Christopher E.; (Carrollton, TX)
; Flaxman; David; (Chevy Chase, MD) ; Ostman;
Michael; (Westford, MA) ; Lazuka; Blair;
(Lunenburg, MA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Share Rocket, Inc. |
East Addison |
TX |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
51351934 |
Appl. No.: |
15/692559 |
Filed: |
August 31, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14272988 |
May 8, 2014 |
9762686 |
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15692559 |
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14259787 |
Apr 23, 2014 |
9667732 |
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14272988 |
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61906167 |
Nov 19, 2013 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/2477 20190101;
H04L 67/306 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06F 16/447 20190101;
G06Q 50/01 20130101; H04L 67/22 20130101; G06F 16/24578
20190101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/08 20060101
H04L029/08; G06F 17/30 20060101 G06F017/30; G06Q 30/02 20120101
G06Q030/02; G06Q 50/00 20120101 G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1.-20. (canceled)
21. A method for assessing the social media performance of an
asset, the method comprising: identifying an asset; identifying a
first subset of social media profiles controlled by the asset;
identifying a second subset of social media profiles that are not
controlled by the asset, the performance of the second subset of
social media profiles having an ability to affect the performance
of the first subset of social media profiles; determining profile
performance information for each of the first and second subsets of
social media profiles; deriving asset performance information
based, at least in part, on the profile performance information for
each of the first and second subsets of social media profiles; and
displaying the asset performance information.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the profile performance
information is based, at least in part, on a plurality of aspects
of social media performance.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein determining profile performance
information for each of the second subset of social media profiles
comprises deriving aspect-specific performance information for each
of the plurality of aspects of social media performance.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of aspects of
social media performance comprise an audience aspect, a voice
aspect, an engagement aspect, and a reach aspect.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein deriving aspect-specific
performance information for each of the plurality of aspects of
social media performance comprises deriving an influence aspect of
social media performance based, at least in part, on the engagement
aspect and the reach aspect of social media performance.
26. The method of claim 24, wherein deriving aspect-specific
performance information for each of the plurality of aspects of
social media performance comprises deriving an impact aspect of
social media performance based, at least in part, on the voice
aspect, the engagement aspect, and the reach aspect of social media
performance.
27. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium containing
instructions that, when executed by a processor, performs a method
comprising: identifying a first plurality of social media profiles
under the control of an asset; identifying a second plurality of
social media profiles that are not under the control of the asset,
the performance of the second plurality of social media profiles
having an ability to affect the performance of the first plurality
of social media profiles; determining profile performance
information for each of the first and second plurality of social
media profiles; deriving asset performance information based, at
least in part, on the profile performance information for each of
the first and second plurality of social media profiles; and
displaying the asset performance information.
28. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 27,
wherein the second plurality of social media profiles are under the
control of one or more entities within a peer group to which the
asset belongs.
29. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 28,
further comprising determining a share assessment for the asset in
relation to the peer group based, at least in part, on the profile
performance information for each of the second plurality of social
media profiles.
30. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 27,
wherein the second plurality of social media profiles are under the
control of one or more entities within a hierarchy to which the
asset belongs.
31. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 27,
wherein deriving asset performance information comprises weighting
the profile performance information for each of the second
plurality of social media profiles based, at least in part, on a
level of influence the performance of a respective social media
profile of the second plurality of social media profiles has on the
performance of one or more social media profiles of the first
plurality of social media profiles.
32. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 31,
wherein the profile performance information of at least two of the
second plurality of social media profiles are assigned different
weights.
33. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 31,
wherein the profile performance information of each of the second
plurality of social media profiles are assigned unique weights.
34. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 27,
wherein the profile performance information is based, at least in
part, on a plurality of aspects of social media performance.
35. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 34,
wherein the plurality of aspects of social media performance
comprise an audience aspect, a voice aspect, an engagement aspect,
and a reach aspect.
36. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium containing
instructions that, when executed by a processor, performs a method
comprising: identifying a first social media profile under the
direct control of an asset; identifying a second social media
profile that is not under the direct control of the asset, the
performance of the second social media profile having an ability to
affect the performance of the first social media profile;
determining profile performance information for each of the first
and second social media profiles; deriving asset performance
information based, at least in part, on the profile performance
information for each of the first and second social media profiles;
and displaying the asset performance information.
37. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 36,
wherein the second plurality of social media profiles are under the
control of one or more entities within a peer group to which the
asset belongs.
38. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 37,
further comprising determining a share assessment for the asset in
relation to the peer group based, at least in part, on the profile
performance information for each of the second plurality of social
media profiles.
39. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 36,
wherein the second plurality of social media profiles are under the
control of one or more entities within a hierarchy to which the
asset belongs.
40. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 36,
wherein the profile performance information comprises a plurality
of aspects including an audience aspect, a voice aspect, an
engagement aspect, and a reach aspect.
Description
[0001] This is a continuation application of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 14/259,787, filed Apr. 23, 2014, and claims
the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
61/906,167, filed Nov. 19, 2013, both of which are expressly
incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0002] The embodiments relate generally to systems and methods for
collecting, analyzing, assessing, and displaying an entity's social
media performance and, more specifically, systems and methods that
assess an entity's social media performance with respect to other
entities within the same peer group, organization, or industry.
BACKGROUND
[0003] With the proliferation of social media networks and
individual user's propensity to endorse, share, or otherwise
express opinions regarding social media content, there is an
ever-growing volume of valuable data that can be used to analyze or
otherwise derive the general significance, influence, and impact
surrounding such content. Moreover, individual user's interactions
with social media content can provide insights relevant to the
entities that author or place the content (either directly or
through subsidiaries/contractors/employees/etc.).
[0004] The advertising industry is over a trillion dollar per year
industry with an ever-growing focus on online advertising and
social media content. Marketers and brands are constantly trying to
optimize existing ad campaigns and look for new ways to reach
potential customers. Moreover, businesses and their
agents/personnel are actively engaging in social media, attempting
to elevate their public profile, drive consumer traffic, and
influence the public's behavior and opinions. Gathering data
associated with social media content and deriving insights
therefrom is therefore of chief importance.
[0005] In response to this need, many systems and methods have been
developed to gather, analyze, and transform the vast quantity of
social media data that is available through the various social
media platforms such that the data can be placed in a form useful
to the entities responsible for authoring, buying, and placing
social media content items. Among other things, entities placing
content within social media platforms are interested in learning if
the content is reaching its target demographic, whether that target
demographic is interacting with the content, and whether the
entities' online efforts are having an impact on consumer behavior.
To this end, systems and methods have been developed to assess
social media marketing efforts and convey information that can be
used by marketers or brands to make decisions going forward.
[0006] These systems and methods, however, fail to deliver valuable
insights with respect to how an individual's or entity's social
media performance may compare to its peers, who is most effective
at creating consumer interaction, and what entities most
efficiently engage with the public over today's various social
media platforms. The known systems and methods for assessing online
marketing campaigns also lack adequate techniques for comparing one
entity versus another, or one industry versus another. Nor do they
account for the intra-organizational or intra-industry impact that
one entity's social media activity may have on another entity.
Rather, advancements in known systems and methods have primarily
focused on expanding the quantity of data gathered and analyzed,
identifying those social media users wielding the most influence
among a demographic, and assessing a sentiment associated with
discrete social media content items and/or users.
[0007] Accordingly, systems and methods could benefit from improved
devices and techniques for analyzing social media data and
transforming that data to facilitate a holistic assessment of an
entity's social media activity. Moreover, improved device and
techniques are needed to facilitate side-by-side comparisons of
social media performance across a peer group, within an
organization, across an industry, or across multiple
industries.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0008] In accordance with certain embodiments of the present
disclosure, systems and methods for analyzing social media data,
assessing various aspects of social media performance, comparing
the social media performance of a plurality of entities within a
peer group, and displaying useful information to users in a
comprehensive and/or intuitive fashion are disclosed. In one
aspect, social media data can be analyzed in the context of peer
groups such that assessment, scoring, ranking, and/or best
practices empirical data can be derived therefrom. This data may
then drive transformation and investment efforts with respect to
social media activity, advertising, marketing, and all other
spending efforts within the context of a competing set of
industries, markets, brands, organizations, or individuals. Peer
groups may be defined in a number of ways and may comprise an
industry, an organization, a trading area, and/or a group of
user-selected or predetermined entities or individuals. The peer
groups may further span across similar entities within an industry,
a subset of entities within an industry, a plurality of industries,
and/or any other relevant boundaries of competitive forces.
[0009] In another aspect, the system may comprise a method for
assessing an entity's social media performance across one or more
social media platforms in light of, among other things, subject
matter, market size, geographic considerations, time constraints,
vertical goodwill, and/or horizontal goodwill. In some embodiments,
vertical goodwill may reflect the impact that an entity's social
media performance attributed to, or influenced, the performance of
other entities belonging to a different tier within the same peer
group, organization, industry, or hierarchy. Horizontal goodwill,
on the other hand, may reflect the impact that an entity's social
media performance attributed to, or influenced, the performance of
other entities belonging to a common tier within the same peer
group, organization, industry, or hierarchy.
[0010] In another aspect, systems and methods of the present
disclosure may facilitate comparing an entity, such as a brand,
organization, sub-brand, affiliate, individual, or subset of
individuals, against similarly situated entities within a peer
group.
[0011] In a further aspect, any insights, assessments, and
comparisons performed in conjunction with the systems and methods
disclosed herein may be used to benchmark entities with respect to
their competition and/or develop best practices. In one embodiment,
benchmarking and/or best practices may be qualitatively and/or
quantitatively based, at least in part, on empirical statistical
data and analysis within an industry, across an industry, or across
a peer group.
[0012] Moreover, systems and methods described herein may comprise
a user interface for displaying social media performance and
assessment information pertaining to one or more entities. In some
embodiments, in addition to performance and assessment information,
the user interface may communicate information for comparing an
entity's performance to one or more other entities within a peer
group. The user interface may also present ranking information
pertaining to an entity's performance relative to the peer group,
social media platform information. In one embodiment, peer groups
may be customizable within the interface using one or more filters
for further defining or refining the presented information. For
example, filters may comprise one or more of an industry filter, a
tier filter, a geographic filter, a temporal filter, a subject
matter filter, a market size filter, a demographic filter, and a
social media platform filter.
[0013] In another aspect, the user interface may be configured to
display information pertaining to one or more entities within a
tier of a peer group, organization, brand, or industry, including
competing industry participants, sub-brands, peer groups, and
individuals. Alternatively or additionally, the user interface may
be configured to display multi-tier performance assessment
information. For example, the interface may simultaneously display
data pertaining to entities spanning a plurality of tiers within a
peer group, organization, brand, or industry.
[0014] Additional objects and advantages of the present disclosure
will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in
part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by
practice of the disclosure. The objects and advantages of the
disclosure will be realized and attained by means of the elements
and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended
claims.
[0015] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general
description and the following detailed description are illustrative
and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the claims.
[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several
embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the
principles of the disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a system as described herein.
[0018] FIG. 2 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a system as described herein.
[0019] FIG. 3 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a system as described herein.
[0020] FIG. 4 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a system as described herein.
[0021] FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a computing
system as described herein.
[0022] FIG. 6 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a method as described herein.
[0023] FIG. 7 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a method as described herein.
[0024] FIG. 8 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a method as described herein.
[0025] FIG. 9 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment of
a method as described herein.
[0026] FIG. 10 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment
of a system as described herein.
[0027] FIG. 11 depicts some aspects of an illustrative embodiment
of a method as described herein.
[0028] FIG. 12 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
[0029] FIG. 13 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
[0030] FIG. 14 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
[0031] FIG. 15 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
[0032] FIG. 16 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
[0033] FIG. 17 depicts some aspects of an illustrative graphical
user interface as described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0034] Disclosed herein are various embodiments of a system for
collecting, evaluating, transforming, and displaying social media
assessment and performance information. In one aspect, the system
may gather data associated with an entity from one or more social
media platforms. The system may further collect data pertaining to
other entities within the entity's peer group, organization, and/or
industry. The collected data may then be analyzed to derive
assessment information indicative of the entity's social media
performance and, in some embodiments, to directly compare the
performance of the entity to that of other entities.
[0035] In another aspect, the assessment of an entity's social
media performance may take into account the social media
performance of related entities. For example, the social media
performance of an entity may be positively or negatively impacted
by the social media performance of one or more other entities
within the entity's peer group, organization, or industry,
including entities belonging to different hierarchical tiers within
the entity's organization or industry.
[0036] The systems and methods disclosed herein can also be used to
derive industry benchmarks and/or best practices for an individual,
peer group, organization, industry, or industry subset.
[0037] While the systems and methods described herein are primarily
concerned with gathering and analyzing data from social media
platforms, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the systems
and methods described below can be used in other contexts,
including the analysis of data gathered from any number of sources
such as privately maintained databases or public sources accessible
via the Internet.
[0038] Reference will now be made in detail to certain illustrative
embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying
drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be
used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like
items.
[0039] FIG. 1 depicts one illustrative embodiment of a hierarchical
structure 100. In one aspect, hierarchical structure 100 may
comprise a plurality of vertical tiers, each tier representing one
or more subsets or groupings within the hierarchy. In another
aspect, the first tier may represent a peer group. The peer group
may comprise one or more assets sharing one or more common traits.
The first tier of a peer group may be the highest level, broadest,
or most encompassing subset or group within the hierarchy, i.e.,
peer group 110 at the first tier may comprise every asset within
the hierarchical structure. Each subsequent tier may comprise
progressively narrower groups or subsets of entities than the
previous tier and/or represent one or more subsets of the entities
belonging to the previous tier in the hierarchy. As depicted in
FIG. 1, hierarchical structure 100 may comprise four vertical
tiers. In other embodiments, however, structure 100 may comprise
fewer or additional tiers.
[0040] As used herein, an "asset" is meant to describe any entity,
the social media performance of which is to be assessed, scored,
and/or presented. As shown in FIG. 1, an asset may comprise any
entity, including but not limited to, an organization, a
profession, a brand, a network, an industry, a sub-organization, a
sub-brand, an affiliate, a department, a section, a program, an
employee, a contractor, an individual, etc. Thus, structure 100 may
comprise one or more tiers, each tier comprising one or more
assets, the assets becoming more narrowly defined at each
successive tier.
[0041] In one illustrative embodiment, peer group 110 (the highest
tier in structure 100) may be a television network. In such an
embodiment, the tier 2 assets, i.e., sub-groups 120a, 120b, 120c,
may represent one or more subdivisions within network 110. For
example, tier 2 may comprise one or more affiliate television
stations 120a, 120b, 120c, each associated with network 110 of tier
1. The tier 3 assets, i.e., micro-groups 130a, 130b, 130c, in turn,
may represent one or more subdivisions encompassed by at least one
asset of tier 2. For example, the tier 3 assets may comprise one or
more television programs 130a, 130b, 130c, each associated with
affiliate 120a of tier 2. Likewise, the tier 4 assets may comprise
one or more subdivisions encompassed by at least one asset of tier
3. Continuing with this particular example, the tier 4 assets may
comprise one or more individuals or television personalities 140a,
140, 140c, each associated with program 130a of tier 3.
[0042] Of course, this is only one example of peer group 110 and
structure 100. In another example, peer group 110 may comprise one
or more members of a profession such as television personalities.
In such an embodiment, the tier 2 assets may represent subdivisions
of the television personalities based on subject matter. For
instance, asset 120a may be news anchors, asset 120 may be weather
forecasters, asset 120c may be reporters, etc. Continuing with this
example, tier 3 assets may be further refined subsets of each tier
2 asset and/or may be subdivided based on market size or geographic
territory. Tier 4 assets may then, in one embodiment, represent the
individual television personalities.
[0043] It should be noted, however, that each asset within a
particular tier may not be associated exclusively with a
corresponding asset of the next highest tier. In other words,
though FIG. 1 depicts micro-group 130a of tier 3 as being
associated with sub-group 120a of tier 2, that may not exclude the
possibility that micro-group 130a of tier 3 may also be associated
with sub-group 120b or 120c of tier 2. Similarly, though FIG. 1
depicts individual 140a of tier 4 as associated with micro-group
130a of tier 3, that does not exclude the possibility that
individual 140a of tier 4 may also be associated with micro-group
130c of tier 3. Going one step further, it also does not exclude
the possibility that an asset of tier 4 may be associated with
multiple tier 2 assets. In other words, individual 140a of tier 4
may be associated with sub-group 120a of tier 2 as well as
sub-group 120b of tier 2. In fact, any asset associated with peer
group 110 at any tier may be associated with any other asset in
hierarchical structure 100. Moreover, any asset associated with
peer group 110 may also be associated with another peer group
entirely (not depicted).
[0044] While the aforementioned examples describe peer group 110
(the highest tier in structure 100) as a television network or a
profession, it should be understood that peer group 110 may
represent any asset comprising one or more subsets of assets. For
example, peer group 110 may be, among other things, an industry,
market, organization, corporate entity, brand, business, or any
subdivision thereof. The next tier of assets may comprise one or
more subdivisions of the peer group. For example, where peer group
110 may be an organization, the next tier of assets may be one or
more entities at least partially operated by, controlled by,
supervised by, advised by, funded by, or otherwise associated with
the peer group. This tier of assets may include, among other
things, any division, department, franchise, affiliate, sub-brand,
branch, or other entity that may be considered on a second,
intermediate, or otherwise lower organizational tier than the peer
group 110. The same may be true for each subsequent tier of
structure 100. Again, these examples are not meant to encompass all
embodiments. Rather, they are only illustrative of the
possibilities and presented to afford one of skill in the art a
framework within which to understand the systems and methods
described herein.
[0045] In addition to each asset within structure 100 having an
association with one or more tiers and/or other assets within the
structure, each asset within each tier of structure 100 may be
associated with one or more social media profiles 150. For example,
one or more assets of structure 100 may be associated with one or
more of a FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, or INSTAGRAM profile.
Profiles 150 may represent a social media presence on one or more
social media platforms and may be used to, among other things,
communicate announcements, politicize events, advertise products,
disseminate news stories, or otherwise reach customers, consumers,
or the public.
[0046] In one aspect, each asset within peer group 110 may have one
or more social media profiles for which it may be directly
responsible for placing content and/or engaging with the public.
For example, each of peer group 110, sub-groups 120a, 120b, 120c,
micro-groups 130a, 130b, 130c, and individuals 140a, 140b, 140c may
have control over, or be responsible for maintaining, one or more
respective social media profiles. Thus, when assessing the social
media performance of an asset within structure 100, information
from the one or more social media profiles controlled or maintained
by the asset may be collected, analyzed, scored, and/or
presented.
[0047] In some embodiments, however, when assessing the social
media performance of an asset, information may be collected not
only from those social media profiles controlled or maintained by
that asset, but information may be collected from one or more
social media profiles controlled or maintained by other assets
within or outside of structure 100. For example, assessing the
social media performance of asset 120a of tier 2 may involve
collecting information associated not only with the social media
profile(s) controlled or maintained by asset 120a, but also social
media profile(s) controlled or maintained by other assets, such as
assets 130a, 140a, 140b, and 140c. In this manner, an assessment of
the social media performance of each asset within hierarchical
structure 100 may take into account the contributions, positive or
negative, of other related assets within the same structure or peer
group.
[0048] In a further embodiment, and as described in more detail
below, as one or more assets and/or social media profiles are
entered into an assessment system such as, for example, the system
depicted in FIG. 4, each asset may be associated with one or more
social media profiles. The one or more assets may be entered into
the assessment system manually (e.g., by a user) or in an
automated/programmatic fashion. As discussed above, the social
media profiles associated with each asset may or may not be
directly controlled or maintained by the respective asset. In fact,
any asset may be associated with any social media profile in
structure 100 or other social media profile in the system. In
alternative embodiments, rather than the one or more assets being
associated with one or more social media profiles at the time that
the assets are entered into the assessment system, the assets may
be associated with the one or more social media profiles at some
time after the assets are entered into the system. In further
embodiments, the social media profiles associated with any one or
more assets entered into the system may be updated to add,
subtract, or substitute social media profiles.
[0049] In another aspect, and as described in more detail below,
the weight afforded each social media profile to be included in an
assessment of a particular asset's social media performance, or the
weight afforded information collected with respect to each social
media profile to be included, may be adjusted based, at least in
part, on a relationship between that asset and the asset having
control over the respective social media profile. For instance, in
an embodiment in which asset 130a may represent a television
program and asset 140a may represent a television personality
appearing on the television program, and when assessing the social
media performance of asset 130a, information collected from one or
more social media profiles directly controlled or maintained by
asset 130a may be weighted heavier than information collected from
one or more social media profiles directly controlled or maintained
by asset 140a. Similarly, the information collected from the one or
more social media profiles directly controlled or maintained by
asset 140a may be weighted heavier than information collected from
one or more social media profiles directly controlled or maintained
by asset 130b, which, in this embodiment, may be another television
program airing in a time slot adjacent to asset 130a. Of course
this is only one example of how one or more social media profiles
may be considered and/or weighted when assessing the social media
performance of an asset and is not meant to exclude other suitable
possibilities for incorporating and/or variably weighting
information associated with one or more social media profiles when
assessing the social media performance of an asset.
[0050] By taking into consideration the social media profiles of
related assets within structure 100, the social media performance
assessment of each asset may reflect both vertical and horizontal
goodwill garnered from related assets within the peer group,
however that peer group is defined. As used herein, the term
"vertical goodwill" may be used to describe the effect that an
asset's social media performance benefited, hindered, or otherwise
influenced the performance of other assets belonging to a different
tier within the same structure 100. "Horizontal goodwill," on the
other hand, may be used to describe the effect that an asset's
social media performance benefited, hindered, or otherwise
influenced the performance of other assets belonging to a common
tier within structure 100.
[0051] FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of one or more
social media profiles, such as social media profiles 150 of FIG. 1.
In one aspect, social media profiles 150 may comprise a plurality
of social media platform-specific profiles, each maintained by a
respective entity. The platform-specific profiles may comprise data
indicative of the social media presence of the respective entity
with the platform. In one embodiment, the platform-specific
profiles, each controlled or maintained by a respective entity, may
comprise data indicative of activity taking place on one or more
social media platforms. Such data may include, but is not limited
to, information associated with the placement of content on each
platform by the respective entity, information associated with the
placement of content by other members of the respective social
media platform, information associated with other members'
engagement of the entity and/or content placed by the entity,
and/or information indicative of relationships between any two or
more entities within the respective platform.
[0052] For example, social media profiles 150 may comprise a
FACEBOOK social media profile 210, an INSTAGRAM social media
profile 220, a TWITTER social media profile 230, a LINKEDIN social
media profile 240, and/or other social media profiles 250. It
should be noted, however, that social media profiles 210, 220, 230,
240, and 250 may only be representative of the possibilities.
Social media profiles 150 may comprise any number of social media
profiles, across any number of social media platforms, each profile
being maintained by an asset within or outside of structure 100. In
one embodiment, each asset of structure 100 may maintain each of a
FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, and LINKEDIN profile. In other
embodiments, one or more assets of structure 100 may maintain
additional, fewer, or alternative profiles. In other words, social
media profiles 150 may comprise the social media profiles
maintained by any entity within or outside of structure 100,
regardless of social media platform. In one embodiment, social
media profiles 150 may comprise every social media profile of every
social media platform, or some subset thereof. Moreover, any or all
of the social media profiles may comprise the aforementioned data
indicative of the social media presence of one or more entities
with respect to a particular social media platform.
[0053] In another aspect, one or more of the social media profiles
may comprise one or more dedicated content channels. In one
embodiment, profile 210 may comprise one or more dedicated content
channels 212, profile 220 may comprise one or more dedicated
content channels 222, profile 230 may comprise one or more
dedicated content channels 232, profile 240 may comprise one or
more dedicated content channels 242, and profile 250 may comprise
one or more dedicated content channels 252. In a further
embodiment, a dedicated content channel may comprise a webpage,
profile page, newsfeed, or communication channel controlled or
maintained by the entity that controls or maintains the respective
profile. The asset may also have an amount of control or a level of
autonomy with respect to content disseminated through the dedicated
content channel, including content originating from the asset
and/or content originating from another member of the respective
social media platform.
[0054] In a further aspect, any or all of the social media profiles
may comprise one or more public conversations communicated over the
respective social media platform. In one embodiment, social media
profile 210 may comprise one or more public conversations 214,
social media profile 220 may comprise one or more public
conversations 224, social media profile 230 may comprise one or
more public conversations 234, social media profile 240 may
comprise one or more public conversations 244, and social media
profile 250 may comprise one or more public conversations 254. In a
further embodiment, a public conversation may be included within a
social media profile where, for example, the asset responsible for
controlling or maintaining the profile (or an affiliated entity,
asset, etc.) is the subject of the conversation, is mentioned in
the conversation, or the conversation relates to a subject matter
in which the asset is interested, involved, or otherwise associated
with. Of course, these are only examples of the types of public
conversations that may be included within a social media profile
and should not be considered exhaustive of the possibilities. Any
suitable criteria for classifying a public conversation within a
social media profile may be implemented and used in conjunction
with this disclosure.
[0055] In one embodiment, public conversations may be initiated by
the asset that controls or maintains the profile or by another
asset within any tier of the structure. Alternatively, public
conversations may be initiated without any such asset's
involvement, e.g., initiated by a member of the respective social
media platform that is unaffiliated with peer group 110, initiated
by a member of the public, or initiated by some other entity
related or unrelated to one or more assets within a hierarchical
structure. In a further aspect, and regardless of the entity
responsible for initiating the public conversation, the asset that
controls or maintains the respective profile, or an asset within
the peer group 110, may take part, or engage, in the public
conversation or it may not.
[0056] FIG. 3 depicts an environment 300 for facilitating the
collection, analysis, assessment, and presentation of social media
performance information over a network, such as the Internet. In
one aspect, environment 300 may comprise an end user device 310, a
host server 320, and a plurality of social media servers 330, 340,
350. In one embodiment, host server 320 may be in communication
with user device 310 and/or social media servers 330, 340, 350 via
the Internet. In other embodiments, host server 320 may be in
communication with user device 310 and/or social media servers 330,
340, 350 via any one or more suitable communication channels,
including but not limited to, wireless networks, wired networks,
and/or networks comprising wireless and wired components.
[0057] In another aspect, end user device 310 may be a personal
computer. In other embodiments, user device 310 may be a smart
phone, a tablet, a smart television, or any other processor-based
or controller-based computing device.
[0058] In a further aspect, host server 320 may comprise, or
otherwise be in communication with, one or more host databases (not
depicted in FIG. 3). The one or more host databases may be
maintained separate from host server 320 so that server 320 may
more fully utilize its processing power. Alternatively, any or all
host databases may be integrated with server 320. Moreover,
information stored within any or all host databases may be
duplicated across the one or more databases or distributed between
them.
[0059] Host server 320 may autonomously communicate with social
media servers 330, 340, 350, each corresponding to a social media
platform such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, or INSTAGRAM, to name
a few. In one embodiment, host server 320 may communicate with
social media servers 330, 340, 350 via one or more Application
Programming Interfaces ("APIs"). Social media servers 330, 340, 350
may be publically accessible or they may be privately maintained
and/or require credentials to access. Further, each social media
server may be in communication with one or more respective
databases. As described above with respect to host server 320, each
of the respective databases may be maintained separate from its
associated social media server, or integrated therewith. In one
embodiment, one or more of social media servers 330, 340, 350 (and
their respective databases) may gather and record member
activities, statistics, and information in conjunction with
members' engagement with the associated social media platforms. In
one embodiment, the respective databases may be updated with member
activity information in real-time, or they may be periodically
updated at predetermined intervals.
[0060] In another aspect, host server 320 may be configured to
access social media servers 330, 340, 350, and their respective
databases, via the respective APIs. Host server may further be
configured to collect a portion or all of the information contained
in the respective database of each social media server. In this
manner, all of the information available in each social media
server/database may be collected by host server 320 and stored in
the host database(s) for analysis, assessment, presentation, and/or
recall. Access to the social media servers and their respective
databases by third parties such as host server 320 may be permitted
in an unfettered fashion (for example, all data may be made
available in real-time) or meted out in accordance with one or more
restrictions imposed by the respective social media platforms (for
example, limits on the quantity of data available for retrieval
within a predetermined period of time or restrictions as to what
information is made available to third parties).
[0061] Though user device 310, host server 320, and social media
servers 330, 340, 350 are each depicted as single servers/devices
for simplicity, it should be appreciated that one or more of these
components may actually comprise a distributed network comprising a
plurality of servers/devices. Moreover, while FIG. 3 depicts only
one user device 310 and three social media servers 330, 340, 350,
environment 300 may comprise additional users and user devices, as
well as more or fewer social media servers.
[0062] FIG. 4 depicts another embodiment of host server 320. As
shown in FIG. 3, host server 320 may be in communication with user
device 310 and social media servers 330, 340, 350 via a network,
such as the Internet.
[0063] In one aspect, host server 320 may comprise a configuration
module 410, a data retrieval module 420, a database 430, a
streaming data module 440, an assessment module 450, a supplemental
data module 460, a token management module 470, and a presentation
module 480.
[0064] In one aspect, a user desiring to assess the social media
performance of one or more assets may access host server 320 via
user device 310. For example, the user may access configuration
module 410 of host server 320. In particular, the user may transmit
identifying information to configuration module 410, the
identifying information pertaining to one or more assets to be
assessed and/or one or more social media profiles related to the
one or more assets.
[0065] In one aspect, a user may transmit information associated
with one or more assets, each belonging to a peer group and/or
related to one or more of the social media profiles. For example,
the user may transmit asset information identifying assets 110,
120a, 130a, 140a, 140b, and 140c.
[0066] In another aspect, a user may transmit information
associated with one or more social media profiles, each of which
may be related to one or more of the identified assets within the
peer group. For example, the user may transmit information
associated with one or more of social media profiles 150.
Alternatively, host server 320 may programmatically identify one or
more of social media profiles 150, each of which may be related to
one or more of the identified assets, based, at least in part, on
the asset identification information provided by the user.
Regardless of how the social media profile information may be
attained, the social media profile information may comprise
identification and/or authentication information associated with
each social media profile. In a further embodiment, the user may
transmit (or host server may programmatically identify) any or all
information necessary for host server 320 to access a corresponding
social media server and/or retrieve data from the corresponding
social media server associated with a social media profile.
[0067] In a further aspect, each identified asset may be associated
with one or more social media profiles. In one embodiment, the user
may associate each asset with one or more social media profiles. In
other embodiments, each asset may be programmatically associated
with one or more social media profiles. In such an embodiment, one
or more of the programmatic associations may be presented to the
user for the user's acceptance or rejection. In this manner, a user
may be afforded an opportunity to customize which social media
profiles may be associated with which assets.
[0068] For example, the user may associate asset 140c with a first
subset of social media profiles 150, asset 140b with another subset
of social media profiles 150, asset 140a with yet another subset of
social media profiles 150, and so on, for each of assets 130a,
120a, and 110. Of course, this example is only illustrative of the
possibilities and should not be construed as limiting of the
suitable possibilities. Any combination of one or more social media
profiles 150 may be associated with any of the identified assets,
either manually or programmatically. Further, each social media
profile may be associated with one or more assets, and vice versa.
Moreover, and as discussed in more detail below, the assessment of
each social media profile may be weighted differently for each
asset to which it may be associated. For example, assuming that a
particular social media profile may be associated with both assets
140a and 130a, a performance assessment of that social media
profile may be weighted heavier when assessing the social media
performance of asset 140a than when assessing the social media
performance of asset 130a because asset 140a may be more closely
related to, or responsible for maintaining, that social media
profile.
[0069] In a further aspect, the user may associate ("tag") each
asset and/or social media profile for which social media
performance is to be assessed with additional trait or
characterization information. In one embodiment, the asset or
social media profile may be tagged with any trait information that
may be helpful in assessing the asset's or profile's performance
and/or identification of the asset's peers. The tagged information
may also be useful in sorting the performance assessment results
presented to the user, which is discussed in more detail below.
[0070] In some embodiments, the asset may be tagged with
information including, but not limited to: information identifying
one or more peer groups to which the asset belongs; information
identifying one or more tiers within a peer group's hierarchical
structure to which the asset belongs; information indicative of the
industry in which the asset participates; information identifying
the job responsibilities of the asset; information identifying
which other assets within a peer group the asset may be related
(and how closely the asset may be related to any such other
assets); information indicative of the geographic location, reach,
or territory of the asset; information indicative of the market
size associated with the asset's activities; information indicative
of a target demographic associated with the asset's activities;
and/or information identifying a time period associated with the
asset's activities. It should be noted that these examples are only
illustrative of the possibilities, and assets may be tagged with
any suitable trait information useful in the assessment of the
asset's social media performance, determining the members of an
asset's peer group, and/or defining relationships between an asset
and one or more other entities.
[0071] In another aspect, such tagged information may serve to aid
in the automated identification of those entities within an asset's
peer group. For example, any or all entities comprising one or more
similar tags may be presumed to belong to a common peer group. Such
assets may or may not belong to the same organization or, in some
cases, even the same industry.
[0072] In one embodiment, configuration module 410 may
programmatically identify one or more entities sharing one or more
common traits as compared to an asset. Configuration module 410 may
then suggest to the user including those entities within a peer
group associated with the asset. In a further embodiment, the user
may then have an opportunity to accept or reject inclusion of the
identified entities in the asset's peer group. Additionally or
alternatively, the user may manually identify entities to include
within each asset's peer group. Thus, the user may be afforded an
opportunity to customize a peer group for one or more assets, and
information may be collected not only from the social media
profiles associated with the user's assets, but also from the
social media profiles associated with the entities within the
asset's peer group.
[0073] Such embodiments afford the user an ability to assess the
social media performance of each asset compared to, or in light of,
the performance of its peers, as the user defines those peers. Such
contextual assessment may, among other things: provide the user
with a more robust and comprehensive understanding of an asset's
social media performance; enable comparison of the asset's
performance to similarly situated entities; facilitate benchmarking
within an industry, organization, or peer group; and/or promote the
establishment of best practices within the industry, organization,
or peer group.
[0074] In another aspect, the user may filter performance
assessment results based, at least in part, on the trait
information when the user desires to more narrowly tailor an
asset's peer group. For example, where an asset is a television
personality and the asset's peer group comprises all television
personalities, the user may decide to review the asset's social
media performance assessment results in light of a subset of the
peer group, such as those television personalities appearing at the
same time of day or television personalities associated with a
common subject matter. Because each asset or entity for which
social media data is collected may be tagged with the various trait
information, sorting performance assessments based, at least in
part, on whether each entity exhibits one or more particular traits
can be done quickly and efficiently. Of course, these examples are
only illustrative and should not be construed as exhaustive of the
possibilities. Further details with respect to these aspects of the
disclosure are discussed below.
[0075] After the social media profile information, asset
information, trait information, and peer group information has been
gathered at configuration module 410, and/or the various
relationships/associations between the data sets has been
determined, this data may be transmitted to data retrieval module
420 and/or database 430.
[0076] In one aspect, any or all of the information received at
configuration module 410 from user device 310 may be transmitted to
data retrieval module 420. In one embodiment, data retrieval module
420 may be configured to interface with one or more social media
platforms, such as social media servers 330, 340, 350. As mentioned
above, such interfacing may take place via one or more APIs.
Moreover, each social media server may be in communication with one
or more databases configured to store information associated with
one or more users of the social media platform. In some
embodiments, the databases corresponding to each social media
server may store data pertaining to member activities, statistics,
and information. Such data may be provided to the social media
platform by a member, or collected in some other fashion (e.g., by
monitoring a member's activities and/or engagements over the social
media platform).
[0077] In a further aspect, data retrieval module 420 may be
configured to transmit a request for data to any one or more of
social media servers 330, 340, 350. Such a transmission may, in
some embodiments, further comprise authentication information
and/or credentials necessary for the retrieval of information from
any of the social media servers or databases. In one embodiment,
data retrieval module 420 may request all information maintained in
one or more databases of the social media platform. In other
embodiments, data retrieval module 420 may request all information
maintained in one or more databases of the social media platform
associated with one or more social media profiles. In particular,
data retrieval module 420 may request all information associated
with the social media profiles transmitted by configuration module
410. Such social media profiles may comprise one or more social
media profiles associated with assets and/or one or more social
media profiles associated with entities within those assets'
respective peer groups. In a further embodiment, data retrieval
module 420 may request only a subset of information maintained in
one or more databases of the social media platform associated with
one or more social media profiles.
[0078] Depending upon the permissions and/or policies of each
social media platform and the needs of host server 320, data
retrieval module 420 may request historical data associated with
one or more social media profiles, an ongoing, real-time stream of
data associated with one or more social media profiles, or periodic
transmissions of the latest available data at predetermined time
intervals. In some embodiments, any one or more of the
aforementioned requests may be accomplished with a single request
and/or transmission of authentication information, or
alternatively, may be accomplished through a plurality of requests
and/or authentication information transmissions. For example, where
data retrieval module 420 requests an ongoing, real-time data
stream associated with one or more social media profiles, data
retrieval module 420 may be required to transmit updated
authentication information at predetermined intervals in order to
receive the stream in an uninterrupted fashion.
[0079] In one aspect, where one or more social media profiles may
include public conversations, as discussed previously herein, a
request from data retrieval module 420 to one or more social media
servers may comprise one or more keywords for searching any or all
publically available data of the respective social media platform.
In an alternative embodiment, data retrieval module 420 may request
all publically available data, or request a subset of the
publically available data based on some criteria different from, or
in addition to, keywords.
[0080] In a further aspect, data retrieval module 420 may be
configured to request any data from one or more social media
servers 330, 340, 350 to be used in conjunction with assessing the
social media performance of an asset. In one embodiment, data
retrieval module 420 may request data from social media servers
330, 340, 350 to be used in conjunction with assessing any one or
more of the audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, and
impact (as described below) of an asset's or profile's social media
presence or performance.
[0081] In one embodiment, an asset's social media audience, voice,
engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact may comprise the
audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact,
respectively, of one or more social media profiles associated with
that asset.
[0082] As used herein, the term "audience" may describe a
relationship between a social media profile and other members of
the social media platform. In one embodiment, the audience
associated with a social media profile may indicate the number of
platform members that have confirmed a relationship with the social
media profile on the respective social media platform. In a further
embodiment, and depending on the nomenclature used by the
respective social media platform, the audience associated with a
social media profile may be based, at least in part, on one or more
components, including but not limited to, "friends," "followers,"
or "fans" associated with the social media profile. In some
embodiments, these components may or may not be weighted equally
when determining the audience associated with a social media
profile. Further details regarding the collection and assessment of
data from one or more social media platforms for determining, among
other things, the audience associated with a social media profile
are set forth below.
[0083] As used herein, the term "voice" may describe a messaging
activity level associated with a social media profile. In one
embodiment, the voice associated with a social media profile may
indicate the frequency with which content may be published to the
social media platform by an entity that maintains the social media
profile. In a further embodiment, and depending on the nomenclature
used by the respective social media platform, the voice associated
with a social media profile may be based, at least in part, on one
or more components, including but not limited to, "posts,"
"comments," "tweets," "replies," or "re-tweets" associated with the
social media profile. In some embodiments, these components may or
may not be weighted equally when determining the voice associated
with a social media profile. In still further embodiments, content
published by the audience or other members of the respective social
media platform may also be included among the components of the
voice associated with a social media profile, though content
published by the asset that controls or maintains the social media
profile may be weighed differently than content published by the
audience or other members. Additionally, the media format of each
component may be taken into consideration when weighing the
components. For example, "posts" comprising a video format may be
deemed a separate component and/or weighed differently than textual
"posts." Likewise, "tweets" comprising an image format may be
deemed a separate component and/or weighed differently than
"tweets" comprising only text or a video format. Further details
regarding the collection and assessment of data from one or more
social media platforms for determining, among other things, the
voice associated with a social media profile are set forth
below.
[0084] As used herein, the term "engagement" may describe an
ability for the social media profile to communicate a message
reliably, i.e., while the voice associated with a social media
profile may indicate the frequency with which content may be
published by an asset that controls or maintains the social media
profile, engagement may indicate whether that activity is
worthwhile. In one embodiment, the engagement associated with a
social media profile may indicate whether other members of the
respective social media platform are interacting with the published
content. In a further embodiment, and depending on the nomenclature
used by the respective social media platform, the engagement
associated with a social media profile may be based, at least in
part, on one or more components, including but not limited to,
"shares," "likes," "comments," "mentions," "re-tweets,"
"favorites," and "replies," and may also include, but may not be
limited to, hashtag mentions and/or search term/keyword matches
within a public conversation. In some embodiments, these components
may or may not be weighted equally when determining the engagement
associated with a social media profile. In still further
embodiments, interactions with published content by any one or more
of the asset that controls or maintains the social media profile,
the audience of the social media profile, and other members of the
respective social media platform may be included in one or more of
the components of the engagement associated with the social media
profile, though interactions by the asset that controls or
maintains the social media profile may be weighed differently than
interactions by the audience or other members. Additionally, the
media format of each component may be taken into consideration when
weighing the components. For example, "comment" comprising a video
format may be deemed a separate component and/or weighed
differently than textual "comments." Likewise, "re-tweets"
comprising an image format may be deemed a separate component
and/or weighed differently than "re-tweets" comprising only text or
a video format. Further details regarding the collection and
assessment of data from one or more social media platforms for
determining, among other things, the engagement associated with a
social media profile are set forth below.
[0085] As used herein, the term "reach" may describe a potential
first and second order audience, i.e., while the audience
associated with a social media profile may indicate the number of
platform members that have confirmed a relationship with the social
media profile, reach may indicate whether that audience is a
beneficial or useful audience. In one embodiment, the reach
associated with a social media profile may indicate both the
audience associated with the social media profile, as well as the
audience of the audience. In a further embodiment, rather than
simply taking into consideration the audience of the audience, the
reach associated with a social media profile may take into
consideration only the audience of the engaged audience, i.e., the
audience of those social media platform members that not only are
considered a part of the social media profile's audience, but those
members that have engaged the content associated with the social
media profile. Further details regarding the collection and
assessment of data from one or more social media platforms for
determining, among other things, the reach associated with a social
media profile are set forth below.
[0086] As used herein, the term "influence" may describe an ability
for the social media profile to convert reach into engagement. In
one embodiment, the influence associated with a social media
profile may comprise a ratio of engagement to reach. Thus, and for
example, assuming two social media profiles having equal reach, the
social media profile associated with greater engagement may have
greater influence. Further details regarding the collection and
assessment of data from one or more social media platforms for
determining, among other things, the influence associated with a
social media profile are set forth below.
[0087] As used herein, the term "impact" may describe an efficiency
with which a social media profile may generate influence and/or
engagement. In one embodiment, assuming two social media profiles
having equal influence and/or engagement, the social media profile
associated with less voice may have greater impact. In other words,
voice may be associated with energy expended by an asset
controlling or maintaining a social media profile. Thus, the social
media profile associated with less voice while achieving equal or
greater influence and/or engagement may be characterized as more
efficient. Further details regarding the collection and assessment
of data from one or more social media platforms for determining,
among other things, the impact associated with a social media
profile are set forth below.
[0088] In another aspect, upon receiving a request from data
retrieval module 420, and optionally verifying any authentication
information transmitted in conjunction with such request, the one
or more social media servers may retrieve any or all of the
requested information from its respective database(s) and transmit
that information to data retrieval module 420.
[0089] Host server 320 may further comprise a database 430. As
shown in FIG. 4, database 430 may comprise a single database
integrated with host server 320. In alternative embodiments,
however, database 430 may be maintained separate from host server
320 so that, among other things, server 320 can more fully utilize
its processing power. In further embodiments, rather than a single
database, database 430 may comprise a plurality of databases that
may or may not be located in a single location. Moreover, any or
all information stored within database 430 may be duplicated across
one or more databases or distributed between them.
[0090] Any or all of the information received at configuration
module 410 from user device 310 and/or received at data retrieval
module 420 from social media servers 330, 340, 350 may be
transmitted to database 430 for storage. In one aspect, database
430 stores one or more of social media profile information, asset
information, trait information, and peer group information received
from configuration module 410, as well as some or all associations
between multiple data sets. For example, database 430 may store
information for associating asset information to corresponding
social media profile information, trait information, and/or peer
group information.
[0091] In another aspect, database 430 may store information
received from one or more social media platforms via data retrieval
module 420. For example, database 430 may store information
retrieved for asset and/or social media profile assessment,
including but not limited to data indicative of the audience,
voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact associated with
a social media profile. In some such embodiments, database 430 may
further store one or more components that may be used in
determining the audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence,
and/or impact associated with a social media profile, including but
not limited to, data indicative of "friends," "followers," "fans,"
"posts," "comments," "tweets," "replies," "re-tweets," "shares,"
"likes," "mentions," and "favorites."
[0092] Database 430 may further store information for correlating
some or all data associated with a social media profile, and/or
correlating some or all social media profiles with one or more
assets. In further embodiments, database 430 may also store
algorithms for determining one or more of the audience, voice,
engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact associated with a
social media profile based on one or more of the aforementioned
components. One or more illustrative algorithms for determining the
audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact
associated with a social media profile are described below.
[0093] Additionally, where one or more of the audience, voice,
engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact associated with a
social media profile may comprise a plurality of components,
database 430 may further store weights assigned to each component.
In this manner, the relative weight assigned each component may be
customized based, at least in part, on contextual information. In
some embodiments, the contextual information may comprise, for
example, the industry in which an asset participates, the market
size in which the asset is engaged, and/or the geographic location
of the asset. However, it should be noted that these examples are
only illustrative of the possibilities and the components may be
weighted in any suitable fashion and/or in view of any contextual
information or other considerations. In some embodiments, the
weights assigned to each component may be predetermined and/or
industry-based. In further embodiments, the predetermined weights
may be presented to the user via configuration module 410 and the
user may be afforded an opportunity to modify the predetermined
weights of one or more components used in the assessment of any or
all assets or social media profiles.
[0094] In another aspect, database 430 may store authentication
information necessary to retrieve data from one or more social
media servers 330, 340, 350. In one embodiment, data retrieval
module 420 may read or recall authentication information from
database 430 prior to, or in conjunction with, transmitting a
request for data to one or more social media servers. Conversely,
where authentication information may be transmitted from one or
more social media servers 330, 340, 350 to data retrieval module
420, that authentication information may be transmitted from the
data retrieval module to database 430 for storage.
[0095] In a further aspect, any asset or social media profile
modifications made by the user via configuration module 410 may
also be stored in database 430. Such modifications may include, but
are not limited to, changes to existing assets or social media
profiles, additions of new assets or social media profiles, and
removal of existing assets or social media profiles. In this
manner, database 430 may maintain an up-to-date record of all
assets and corresponding social media profiles for which data may
be retrieved from social media servers 330, 340, 350. Any or all
updated information may also be communicated to data retrieval
module 420, either directly from configuration module 410 or via
database 430, to ensure that all relevant data is being requested
from the social media platforms and/or unnecessary data is not
being requested from the platforms.
[0096] In another aspect, in addition to transmitting data received
from social media servers 330, 340, 350 to database 430, data
retrieval module 420 may transmit some or all of the data received
from the social media platforms to streaming module 440. In some
embodiments, the data transmitted to streaming module 440 may
comprise data collected from one or more social media servers 330,
340, 350 upon which the performance assessment of one or more
social media profiles and/or assets may be based, at least in part.
For example, data retrieval module 420 may transmit data comprising
information to be used in conjunction with assessing any one or
more of the audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, and
impact associated with a social media profile and/or asset,
including but not limited to, information indicative of those
components of audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach set forth
above.
[0097] In one embodiment, data retrieval module 420 may transmit
one subset of data received from configuration module 410 and/or
social media servers 330, 340, 350 directly to database 430, and
may transmit another subset of data received from configuration
module 410 and/or social media servers 330, 340, 350 directly to
streaming module 440. For instance, data retrieval module 420 may
transmit social media profile identification information, asset
identification information, authentication information, scoring
profile information (including weights for various components to be
used in performance assessments), other information input by a
user, and/or historical data retrieved from one or more social
media platforms directly to database 430. Other data retrieved from
the social media platforms (e.g., data used in conjunction with
assessing any one or more of the audience, voice, engagement,
reach, influence, and impact associated with a social media profile
and/or asset) by data retrieving module 420 may be transmitted
directly to streaming module 440. In this manner, relatively static
information (i.e., information typically not subject to relatively
frequent change or requiring affirmative intervention to change)
may be transmitted directly to database 430, whereas relatively
dynamic information (i.e., information retrieved from the social
media platforms that may be changing relatively frequently and/or
updated in real-time, at pre-determined intervals, or otherwise
automatically) may be transmitted directly to streaming module 440.
It should be noted, however, that regardless of what information is
transmitted directly to streaming module 440, data retrieval module
420 may then transmit any or all received information to database
430 in order to supplement or amend the data stored there. Thus,
any or all real-time or relatively dynamic data retrieved from one
or more social media servers may be collected and transmitted to an
assessment module 450 (described in more detail below) via
streaming module 440 as quickly and efficiently as possible, while
still maintaining an up-to-date record in database 430 of any or
all data retrieved from the one or more social media platforms,
including any or all relatively dynamic information.
[0098] Assessment module 450 may comprise logic and/or algorithms
for assessing the social media performance of one or more social
media profiles and/or assets. In one embodiment, such performance
assessments may be based, at least in part, on information received
or retrieved from one or both of database 430 and streaming module
440. As discussed above, such assessments may be based, among other
things, on data retrieved from one or more social media platforms,
including but not limited to, "friends," "followers," "fans,"
"posts," "comments," "tweets," "replies," "re-tweets," "shares,"
"likes," "mentions," and "favorites." These components and/or data
associated therewith may be used in determining the audience,
voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact associated with
a social media profile and/or asset. Moreover, and as discussed
above, the information upon which an assessment is based may rely,
at least in part, on information retrieved from a dedicated content
channel associated with a social media profile and/or public
conversations associated with an asset or social media profile.
[0099] In another aspect, assessment module 450 may determine an
audience associated with one or more social media profiles. As
discussed above, the audience associated with a social media
profile may reflect a relationship between a social media profile
and other members of the social media platform. In one embodiment,
the audience associated with a social media profile may indicate
the number of platform members that have confirmed a relationship
with the social media profile on the respective social media
platform. Depending on the nomenclature used by the respective
social media platform, the audience associated with a social media
profile may be based, at least in part, on one or more components,
including but not limited to, "friends," "followers," or "fans"
associated with the social media profile. Such components may or
may not be weighted equally when determining the audience
associated with a social media profile. For example, "friends" may
be weighted heavier than "fans," or vice versa.
[0100] In one aspect, the audience, a, associated with a social
media profile may be determined using the following Equation
(1):
a , v , e , r = j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x mj ) t Eq . ( 1 )
##EQU00001##
[0101] As used in Equation (1), x may represent each component
associated with the social media profile to be included in the
audience determination for components 1 through k. For example,
where the audience associated with an illustrative FACEBOOK social
media profile may comprise three components (e.g., "friends,"
"followers," and "fans"), then k may equal 3 and Eq. (1) may
include x.sub.1, x.sub.2, and x.sub.3. The number or type of
components to be considered when determining the audience
associated with another FACEBOOK social media profile, a TWITTER
social media profile, or some other social media profile may be
different and the examples provided herein are only intended to
demonstrate the possibilities. For instance, the audience
associated with an illustrative TWITTER social media profile may
comprise only one component (e.g., "followers").
[0102] Regardless of the number of components, each component, x,
may represent the sum of all event instances during the relevant
time period, t. For instance, where the audience comprises a
"friends" component, x for that particular component may be the
total number of "friends," however that term may be defined,
associated with the social media profile during the relevant time
period.
[0103] Further, w may represent the weight afforded each component,
x, 1 through k, such that where, for example, audience is based, at
least in part, on the aforementioned three components, then w may
reflect the weight afforded each of those components.
[0104] Furthermore, l may represent the weight afforded a temporal
period for time periods 1 through t, such that where, for example,
only one time period is being included within the analysis, then 1
may be set to 1.0 and t, the number of time periods, may also be
set to 1.0. In alternative embodiments, however, where several
different time periods are being included in the analysis, l may
reflect a weight afforded each time period, t. For example, in one
embodiment, where a performance assessment may be made based on the
social media performance associated with a social media profile
over a time period (e.g., a day, week, month, year, etc.),
relatively recent activity may be weighted more heavily than
relatively older activity. In one example, where performance may be
evaluated with respect to all activity over a week-long timespan,
activity associated with a first day (the oldest activity) may be
discounted, for example weighted 1/7, as compared to activity
associated with the seventh day (the most recent activity). Social
media activity associated with the second day may be discounted to
a lesser extent, for example weighted 2/7, as compared to social
media activity associated with the seventh day, and so on, such
that more recent activity may be weighted more heavily within the
performance assessment. Of course, this example is only
illustrative and alternative formulations and/or considerations for
weighting both recent and older activity are also possible.
Moreover, in alternative embodiments, it may be desirable to weight
older activity greater than more recent activity, or not consider
temporal factors at all when weighting social media activity.
[0105] In another aspect, the voice, v, associated with a social
media profile may also be determined using Equation (1). As
described above with respect to the audience, x may represent each
component to be included in the voice determination for components
1 through k. For example, where the voice associated with an
illustrative FACEBOOK social media profile may comprise two
components (e.g., "posts," and "comments"), then k may equal 2 and
Equation (1) may include x.sub.1 and x.sub.2. The number or type of
components to be considered when determining the voice associated
with another FACEBOOK social media profile, a TWITTER social media
profile, or some other social media profile may be different and
the examples provided herein are only intended to demonstrate the
possibilities. For instance, the voice associated with an
illustrative TWITTER social media profile may comprise three
components (e.g., "tweets," "replies," and "re-tweets").
[0106] Regardless of the number of components, each component, x,
may again represent the sum of all event instances during the
relevant time period, t. For instance, where the voice comprises a
"posts" component, x for that particular component may be the total
number of "posts," however that term may be defined, associated
with the social media profile during the relevant time period.
[0107] Likewise, w and l, representing the weight afforded each
component, x, and the weight afforded each time period, t,
respectively, may be treated similarly to the corresponding
variables described above with respect to the audience associated
with a social media profile.
[0108] The engagement, e, associated with a social media profile
may also be determined using Equation (1). Similar to determining
the audience and voice, x may represent each component to be
included in the engagement determination for components 1 through
k. For example, where the engagement associated with an
illustrative FACEBOOK social media profile may comprise four
components (e.g., "shares," "likes," "comments," and "mentions"),
then k may equal 4 and Equation (1) may include x.sub.1, x.sub.2,
x.sub.3, and x.sub.4. The number or type of components to be
considered when determining the engagement associated with another
FACEBOOK social media profile, a TWITTER social media profile, or
some other social media profile may be different and the examples
provided herein are only intended to demonstrate the possibilities.
For instance, the engagement associated with an illustrative
TWITTER social media profile may comprise six components (e.g.,
"re-tweets," "favorites," "mentions," "replies," hashtag matches,
and keyword matches).
[0109] Regardless of the number of components, each component, x,
may again represent the sum of all event instances during the
relevant time period, t. For instance, where the engagement
comprises a "re-tweets" component, x for that particular component
may be the total number of "re-tweets," however that term may be
defined, associated with the social media profile during the
relevant time period.
[0110] Likewise, w and l, representing the weight afforded each
component, x, and the weight afforded each time period, t,
respectively, may be treated similarly to the corresponding
variables described above with respect to the audience and voice
associated with a social media profile.
[0111] The reach, r, associated with a social media profile may
also be determined using Equation (1). Similar to determining the
audience, voice, and engagement, x may represent each component to
be included in the reach determination for components 1 through k.
For example, where the reach associated with an illustrative
FACEBOOK social media profile may comprise six components (e.g.,
"friends," "followers," "fans," "friends" of engaged users,
"followers" of engaged users, and "fans" of engaged users), then k
may equal 6 and Equation (1) may include x.sub.1, x.sub.2, x.sub.3,
x.sub.4, x.sub.5, x.sub.6. It should be noted, in this particular
example, one or more of the components may be based, at least in
part, on an engagement determination, described above. The number
or type of components to be considered when determining the reach
associated with another FACEBOOK social media profile, a TWITTER
social media profile, or some other social media profile may be
different and the examples provided herein are only intended to
demonstrate the possibilities. For instance, the reach associated
with an illustrative TWITTER social media profile may comprise two
components (e.g., "followers" and "followers" of engaged
users).
[0112] Regardless of the number of components, each component, x,
may again represent the sum of all event instances during the
relevant time period, t. For instance, where the engagement
comprises a "followers" component, x for that particular component
may be the total number of "followers," however that term may be
defined, associated with the social media profile during the
relevant time period.
[0113] Likewise, w and l, representing the weight afforded each
component, x, and the weight afforded each time period, t,
respectively, may be treated similarly to the corresponding
variables described above with respect to the audience, voice, and
engagement associated with a social media profile.
[0114] In another aspect, the influence associated with a social
media profile may be determined using the following Equation
(2):
inf = e r = j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x mj ) j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j
w m x mj ) Eq . ( 2 ) ##EQU00002##
[0115] As presented in Equation (2), the influence, inf, associated
with a social media profile may comprise a ratio of the engagement
associated with the social media profile, e, and the reach
associated with the social media profile, r. The influence
associated with a social media profile may reflect, among other
things, an ability for the social media profile to convert reach
into engagement. Thus, and for example, assuming two social media
profiles having equal reach, the social media profile associated
with greater engagement may have greater influence.
[0116] In another aspect, the impact associated with a social media
profile may be determined using the following Equation (3):
imp = e v .times. r = j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) j = 1 t m =
1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) .times. j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) Eq
. ( 3 ) ##EQU00003##
[0117] As presented in Equation (3), the impact, imp, associated
with a social media profile may, like the influence, comprise a
ratio of the engagement associated with the social media profile,
e, and the reach associated with the social media profile, r, but
further take into account the voice associated with the social
media profile. Thus, the impact associated with a social media
profile may reflect, among other things, an efficiency with which a
social media profile may generate influence and/or engagement.
Thus, and for example, assuming two social media profiles having
equal influence and/or engagement, the social media profile
associated with less voice may have greater impact, as the entity
that maintains the social media profile may be expending less
energy while achieving equal results as compared to the other
social media profile.
[0118] In a further aspect, and as discussed above, the social
media performance of an asset may comprise the social media
performance of one or more social media profiles, n. Thus, and for
example, the audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or
impact associated with a plurality of social media profiles may be
combined to generate the audience, voice, engagement, reach,
influence, and/or impact, respectively, associated with an
asset.
A , V , E , R = i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) t Eq . (
4 ) ( a ) ##EQU00004##
[0119] In one embodiment, the audience, A, voice, V, engagement, E,
and reach, R associated with an asset may be determined in
accordance with Equation (4)(a). In particular, for all social
media profiles 1 through n that define an asset, and for all time
periods 1 through t that are being included in the assessment, and
for all components of either the audience, voice, engagement, or
reach (as described above) 1 through k, the products of the time
period weight, l, component weight, w, and component value, x, may
be summed. The result may then be divided by the number of time
periods, t.
A , V , E , R = i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( c i l j w m x ijm ) t Eq
. ( 4 ) ( b ) ##EQU00005##
[0120] In another embodiment, the audience, A, voice, V,
engagement, E, and reach, R, associated with an asset may be
determined in accordance with Equation (4)(b). Equation (4)(b) may
be substantially similar to Equation (4)(a), but Equation (4)(b)
may allow for the independent weighting of one or more social media
profiles to be included within the performance assessment of an
asset. For example, FACEBOOK and TWITTER social media profiles may
be weighted more heavily than Instagram or LinkedIn social media
profiles. In further embodiments, geographic considerations may be
taken into consideration when weighting one or more social media
profiles to be included in a performance assessment. For example,
and as discussed in further detail below, when the performance
assessment of an asset includes the performance of social media
profiles maintained by other entities/assets, the weight afforded
the social media profiles maintained by the other assets may be
based, at least in part, on the geographic proximity of those
entities compared to the asset being assessed. Of course, these are
only a couple illustrative embodiments of how or why a social media
profile included in the assessment of an asset's social media
performance may be afforded varying weights. Any suitable or
otherwise useful criteria may be used to determine, at least in
part, the weight afforded a social media profile included within a
performance assessment.
[0121] Equation (4)(b) may convey that for all social media
profiles 1 through n that define an asset, and for all time periods
1 through t that are being included in the assessment, and for all
components of either the audience, voice, engagement, or reach (as
described above) 1 through k that may be included in any social
media profile associated with the asset, the products of the
contribution weight, c (i.e., the weight afforded a particular
social media profile), time period weight, l, component weight, w,
and component value, x, may be summed. The result may then be
divided by the number of time periods, t.
[0122] It should be noted, although either of Equations (4)(a) or
(4)(b) may be used to determine the audience, voice, engagement,
and/or reach associated with an asset, for simplicity of
explanation, where the audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach of
an asset is incorporated in, or forms the basis of, further
equations or algorithms below, Equation (4)(a) will be used.
However, one may appreciate that Equation (4)(b) may be substituted
in other embodiments.
[0123] The influence, INF, associated with an asset may, thus, be
determined in accordance with Equation (5):
INF = E R = i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) i = 1 n j = 1
t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) Eq . ( 5 ) ##EQU00006##
[0124] It follows that in some embodiments, the impact, IMP,
associated with an asset may, thus, be determined in accordance
with Equation (6):
IMP = E V .times. R = i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) i =
1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) .times. i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1
k ( l j w m x ijm ) Eq . ( 6 ) ##EQU00007##
[0125] In one aspect, in addition to determining an audience,
voice, engagement, reach, influence, and/or impact for an asset, a
determination as to the asset's "share" of audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach within a peer group may be made. In one
embodiment, an asset's share of audience, voice, engagement, and/or
reach may represent a portion or percentage of a total audience,
voice, engagement, and/or reach, respectively, associated with a
peer group that includes the asset. In this manner, a performance
assessment of an asset may directly compare the asset's social
media performance, including a number of facets thereof, against
the performance of its peers. As described in more detail above,
the peer groups may be defined in a variety of ways and/or may be
customized by a user.
A share , V share , E share , R share = i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l
j w m x ijm ) i = 1 p j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) Eq . ( 7 )
##EQU00008##
[0126] In one embodiment, the share of an asset's audience,
A.sub.share, the share of an asset's voice, V.sub.share, the share
of an asset's engagement, E.sub.share, and the share of an asset's
reach, R.sub.share, with respect to the overall audience, voice,
engagement, and reach associated with an asset's peer group as a
whole may be determined using Equation (7). As shown in Equation
(7), the numerator may represent any of an asset's audience, voice,
engagement, or reach, and takes into consideration one or more
social media profiles associated with the asset. The denominator,
on the other hand, may represent the entire audience, voice,
engagement, or reach of the asset's peer group, where p represents
the total number of social media profiles associated with all
assets within the peer group. As discussed previously, the peer
group may be defined relatively broadly, thereby encompassing a
large number of assets, or it may be defined relatively narrowly,
encompassing only those assets most closely related or most similar
to the asset for which social media performance is being assessed.
The type and/or quantity of social media profiles encompassed by
the peer group may reflect the breadth or scope of the peer group.
In a further embodiment, to arrive at a percentage (or a whole
number), the result of Equation (7) may be multiplied by one
hundred (100).
[0127] In a further aspect, an asset may also be ranked within the
context of a peer group, i.e., ranked against its peers (however a
particular peer group may be defined). In one embodiment, an asset
may be ranked against its peers according to any one or more of the
audience, voice, engagement, reach, influence, impact, audience
share, voice share, engagement share, and reach share. In other
embodiments, an asset may be ranked within a peer group on a scale
of 1 through 100, or some other scale intuitive to a user (e.g., 1
through 10, an IQ-like scale of 1 through 160, etc.).
[0128] In one aspect, prior to ranking an asset within a peer
group, it may be determined how far an asset's performance lies
above or far below the peer group's average performance. In such an
embodiment, the performance of each asset or entity within the peer
group may also be determined, for example, in accordance with
Equation (4)(a) or (4)(b).
.mu. A = h = 1 a A a = h = 1 a i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x
hijm ) ta Eq . ( 8 ) ##EQU00009##
[0129] The mean performance across all assets of a peer group may
then be determined, in one embodiment, using Equation (8). Equation
(8) depicts a determination for a mean audience across all assets
within a peer group. However, the same formula may be applied to
arrive at the mean voice, .mu..sub.V, engagement, .mu..sub.E,
and/or reach, .mu..sub.R, across all assets for a peer group. In
particular, Equation (8) adds the audience assessment for each
asset 1 through a in a peer group, and divides that sum by the
number of assets, a, in the peer group.
[0130] In one embodiment, the mean performance across all assets of
a peer group may then be used to determine a standard deviation for
performance assessment of a peer group.
.sigma. A = h = 1 a ( A h - .mu. A ) 2 a = h = 1 a ( a i = 1 n j =
1 t m = 1 k ( l j w m x ijm ) - h = 1 a i = 1 n j = 1 t m = 1 k ( l
j w m x hijm ) ta ) 2 a Eq . ( 9 ) ##EQU00010##
[0131] Equation (9) affords one illustrative method for determining
the standard deviation associated with a peer group's performance
assessments. As was the case with respect to Equation (8), a method
for determining the standard deviation for a peer group's audience
assessment is shown. However, the same formula may be used for
determining the standard deviation for a peer group's voice,
.sigma..sub.V, engagement, .sigma..sub.E, and/or reach,
.sigma..sub.R, assessment. As used in Equation (9), A.sub.h may
represent the audience assessment for any asset within the peer
group (determined, for example, using Equation (4)(a) or (4)(b)).
In particular, and for each asset within a peer group, 1 through a,
the mean audience assessment for the peer group may be subtracted
from the respective asset's assessment and the difference may be
squared. The summation of all such results for each asset in the
peer group may then be divided by the number of assets in the peer
group. The positive square root of that quotient may then represent
the standard deviation for the peer group's assessment.
[0132] Using such a standard deviation, performance assessments for
assets/entities associated with above average performance with
respect to a peer group may result in positive numbers (a number of
standard deviations above the mean), and performance assessments
for assets/entities associated with below average performance with
respect to a peer group may result in negative numbers (a number of
standard deviations below the mean). The assessments that may have
been converted into units of standard deviation may then be
rescaled to convert the standardized scores to an intuitive scale
comprising only positive numbers (e.g., 1 through 100, 1 through
10, 1 through 160, etc.).
[0133] In one embodiment, the standardized scores of each
asset/entity within a peer group may be converted to a percentile
and/or ranked against the other assets of the peer group in
accordance with its percentile.
percentile score A = ( 1 2 .pi. .intg. - .infin. A - .mu. A .sigma.
A e - y 2 2 dy ) .times. 100 Eq . ( 10 ) ##EQU00011##
[0134] Equation (10) provides one illustrative method for
converting an asset's standardized audience assessment into an
audience assessment percentile score. However, the same formula may
be used for determining the percentile score for an asset's voice,
percentile score.sub.V, engagement, percentile score.sub.E, and/or
reach assessment, percentile score.sub.R. In other embodiments,
upon calculating the percentile score for each asset in a peer
group, the assets in the peer group may be ranked in accordance
with each asset's percentile score.
[0135] There are a number of advantages to presenting and/or
ranking a plurality of assets' performance assessments or scores as
percentile scores. For example, this method affords a range of
resulting scores bound by 0 and 100 which may be fairly intuitive
to the user and easy to infer approximately where in a peer group
an asset's performance falls. Perhaps more obviously, it may be
immediately recognized in what percentile of the peer group the
asset's performance falls. Additionally, this methods provides for
easier movement of scores within the mid-range of the peer group
than at the tails or extremes. In other words, an asset may find it
easier to improve its percentile score from 50 to 60 than from 60
to 70, and easier still than improving from 70 to 80. In fact,
improvement of such a percentile score becomes very difficult the
closer the asset's score approaches 100. Likewise, degradation of
the percentile score may become very difficult the closer the
asset's rank approaches 0.
[0136] In another embodiment, rather than converting the
standardized scores of each asset/entity within a peer group to a
percentile score, the standardized scores may be converted to a
T-score.
T - score A = 10 ( A - .mu. A ) .sigma. A + 50 Eq . ( 11 )
##EQU00012##
[0137] Equation (11) provides one illustrative method for
converting an asset's standardized audience assessment into an
audience assessment T-score. Again, the same formula may be used
for determining the T-score for an asset's voice, T-score.sub.V,
engagement, T-score.sub.E, and/or reach, T-score.sub.R. In other
embodiments, upon calculating the T-score for each asset in a peer
group, the assets in the peer group may be ranked in accordance
with each asset's T-score.
[0138] Presenting and/or ranking a plurality of asset's performance
assessments or scores as T-scores also has advantages. Like the
percentile scores discussed above, this method affords a range of
resulting scores bound by 0 and 100 which may be fairly intuitive
to the user and easy to infer approximately where in a peer group
an asset's performance falls. Additionally, this methods affords a
wider range of resulting scores at the extreme ends of the
spectrum, as percentile scores may result in a score of 0 for all
entities with performance assessment scores falling more than 3
standard deviations below the mean for the peer group and/or a
score of 100 for all entities with performance assessment scores
greater than 3 standard deviations above the mean for the peer
group.
[0139] In a further aspect, and regardless of whether asset
performance assessments may be determined as percentile scores or
T-scores, the scores for one or more of audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach may be combined into a composite
score.
composite = i = 1 k ( w i x i ) i = 1 k w i score Eq . ( 12 )
##EQU00013##
[0140] Equation (12) provides one illustrative method for
determining a composite score based on one or more of an audience,
voice, engagement, and/or reach score. In one aspect, either a
percentile score or a T-score may be used for each component to be
combined into the composite score (provided all components of the
composite are based on the same scoring methodology). In one
embodiment, Equation (12) may be used to determine the weighted
arithmetic mean of the components of the composite score. In
particular, for each component, k, the corresponding score
associated with that component, x, may be multiplied by a weight,
w, afforded that component. The product may then be divided by the
sum of the weights associated with each component.
[0141] In another embodiment, a similar composite score may be
calculated based on the share scores set forth above with respect
to Equation (7). Such a composite score may reflect an asset's
total share of social media activity within a peer group, including
any one or more of audience share, voice share, engagement share,
and reach share.
[0142] In a further embodiment, the influence and impact
determinations for an asset (e.g., Equations (5) and (6)) may be
taken into consideration when calculating any one or more of an
asset's composite percentile score, composite T-score, and
composite share score. As discussed above with respect to audience,
voice, engagement, and reach, the influence and/or impact
components may be afforded their own respective weights when
determining a composite score that includes them.
[0143] Regardless of the type of assessments conducted in
assessment module 450, or how those assessments are made,
assessment of the social media data associated with one or more
assets and/or social media profiles may take place on a continuous
basis (e.g., in real-time) or at predetermined intervals (e.g.,
every x seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc.). The results of any
assessment made at a given time, which may be referred to as an
assessment "snapshot," may be transmitted to database 430 for
storing of the assessment information. In particular, the
assessment information (or assessment snapshot) may be associated
within database 430 with one or more asset identifiers and/or
social media profile identifiers stored there. Thus, a historical
record of an asset's or social media profile's performance may be
developed over time.
[0144] In another aspect, in the course of performing assessments
with respect to data received directly or indirectly from social
media servers 330, 340, 350, assessment module 450 may determine
that the data associated with one or more assets or social media
profiles appears stale or outdated. For example, when assessing the
social media performance of an asset within a peer group,
assessment module 450 may determine that the most recent social
media activity information associated with an asset is older than a
predetermined threshold. In one embodiment, the predetermined
threshold may be a time interval, such as x seconds, minutes,
hours, days, etc. In another embodiment, the predetermined
threshold may be a function of previous social media activity
levels detected for the asset. In other words, the predetermined
threshold may be a relatively short period of time for assets that
typically exhibit frequent social media activity, while the
threshold may be a relatively long period of time for assets that
typically exhibit less social media activity. In other embodiments,
the predetermined threshold may be a function of the social media
activity level associated with the asset's peer group. Thus, the
threshold may be a relatively short period of time for an asset
belonging to a peer group that typically exhibits frequent social
media activity, while the threshold may be a relatively long period
of time for an asset belonging to a peer group that typically
exhibits little or infrequent social media activity.
[0145] In one embodiment, where assessment module 450 determines
that the data associated with one or more assets or social media
profiles appears stale, assessment module 450 may transmit a
request for updated data to streaming module 440. In a further
embodiment, the request may then be transmitted to data retrieval
module 420. Retrieval module 420 may then transmit a request to one
or more social media servers 330, 340, 350 to collect the desired
data. The process of retrieving data from the one or more social
media servers by data retrieval module is described in more detail
above, as is the process of receiving the updated data and
transmitting that data to one or more of database 430, streaming
module 440, and assessment module 450.
[0146] In an alternative embodiment, rather than (or in addition
to) the request for updated data being transmitted to data
retrieval module 420 via streaming module 440, the request for
updated data from assessment module 450 may be transmitted to a
supplemental data module 460.
[0147] In one aspect, supplemental data module 460 may be
configured to interface with one or more social media servers 330,
340, 350 and/or a corresponding API in a similar fashion as, and
independent of, data retrieval module 420. In this manner, a
redundancy of social media server connections may be established.
This may be particularly useful when one of the connections fails,
is overwhelmed by data volume, or content retrieval over that
connection is otherwise limited.
[0148] In one embodiment, the data requested by supplemental data
module 460 may be limited to information associated with one or
more assets or social media profiles determined to be stale. For
example, where the threshold for determining that an asset's social
media data is stale is one day, supplemental data module 460 may
only request data associated with the respective assets or social
media profiles from the last 24 hours. Similar to data retrieval
module 420, supplemental data module 460 may request any type of
information from the one or more social media servers that may be
useful in the assessment of an asset's, peer group's, or social
media profile's social media performance. Such information may
include, but is not limited to, any one or more of the
aforementioned components of the audience, voice, engagement,
reach, influence, and impact of an asset's social media presence or
performance.
[0149] In a further aspect, supplemental data module 460 may
maintain one or more records comprising one or more peer groups,
assets, or social media profiles in need of frequent updates. The
entities identified in the records may be identified
algorithmically within host server 320 in accordance with any
previously-described embodiment, or they may be identified by a
user. Regardless of how the entities are identified, one or more
requests for updated data with respect to these entities may be
made at frequent and/or predetermined time intervals. In one
embodiment, the time intervals at which requests are made by
supplemental data module 460 with respect to any or all assets in
need of frequent updates may be shorter than the time intervals at
which data may be requested from the social media servers via data
retrieval module 420. In this manner, the social media data
associated with the entities in the records maintained at
supplemental data module 460 may be kept as up-to-date as
possible.
[0150] In another embodiment, any request for data transmitted by
supplemental data module 460 may be accompanied by authentication
information or credentials necessary to access the databases
associated with one or more social media servers. As described
above, authentication information may be stored and/or recalled
from database 430. Alternatively, or additionally, supplemental
data module 460 may be configured to communicate with a token
management module 470.
[0151] In one aspect, token management module 470 may maintain
up-to-date authentication information used by one or both of
supplemental data module 460 and data retrieval module 420 to
retrieve data from one or more social media servers 330, 340,
350.
[0152] In another aspect, token management module 470 may be
configured to periodically confirm the status of any or all
authentication information stored at host server 320. In one
embodiment, token management module 470 may be further configured
to delete obsolete authentication information, obtain and/or store
new authentication information, or update/renew existing
authentication information.
[0153] In another embodiment, any changes to the authentication
information, including deletions, additions, modifications,
renewals, or updates may be stored in database 430 or may be stored
locally at token management module 470. In an alternative
embodiment, any changes to the authentication information may be
stored in both database 430 and token management module 470 for,
among other things, security and data redundancy purposes.
[0154] In another aspect, one or more performance assessments
conducted at assessment module 450 may be transmitted to
presentation module 480. The performance assessments may comprise
assessments performed with respect to one or more assets, peer
groups, and/or social media profiles. The assessments may comprise
any one or more of the audience, voice, engagement, reach,
influence, and impact associated with an asset, peer group, or
social media profile. The assessments may also comprise any one or
more of the share of the audience, voice, engagement, or reach
associated with an asset, peer group, or social media profile.
Moreover, the assessments may comprise the mean performance
assessment for a peer group, a plurality of assets, or a plurality
of social media profiles. The assessments may also comprise a
standard deviation associated with the performance assessments of a
peer group, a plurality of assets, or a plurality of social media
profiles. Additionally, or alternatively, the assessments may
comprise a percentile score for any one or more of the audience,
voice, engagement, and reach of an asset or social media profile.
The assessments may also comprise a T-score for any one or more of
the audience, voice, engagement, and reach of an asset or social
media profile. In further embodiments, the assessments may comprise
one or more composite scores for an asset or social media profile,
the composite score being based on components derived from any of a
percentile score, a T-score, or a share assessment. In still
further embodiments, the assessments transmitted from assessment
module 450 to presentation module 480 may be any type of assessment
described herein and may, in some instances, include historical
assessment data pertaining to one or more assets, peer groups, or
social media profiles.
[0155] In a further aspect, the assessment information received at
presentation module 480 may be organized and/or prepared for
presentation to the user via a graphical user interface ("GUI")
appearing at the user device 310. In one embodiment, the GUI may
present any of the aforementioned assessment information
transmitted by assessment module 450. In a further embodiment, the
GUI may simultaneously present performance information pertaining
to an asset, as well as information pertaining to the other
entities within an asset's peer group. In this manner, a
side-by-side comparison of an asset's performance can be
interpreted within the context of the performance of its peers. In
one such embodiment, the asset's performance, or some aspect
thereof, may be numerically ranked against the performance of other
entities within the asset's peer group.
[0156] Additionally, or alternatively, the GUI may simultaneously
present performance assessment information associated with multiple
tiers of a peer group. In one embodiment, not only may performance
assessment information corresponding to a plurality of assets
belonging to a common tier be presented, but additional performance
assessment information associated with one or more assets belonging
to a higher or lower tier of the peer group may be presented to a
user. Alternatively, additional performance assessment information
associated with one or more assets belonging to a different peer
group entirely may be simultaneously presented to the user.
[0157] In still further embodiments, any combination of one or more
of the aforementioned aspects of performance assessment information
associated with an asset, a peer group, or a social media profile
may be simultaneously displayed within the GUI. Moreover, any
performance assessment data stored in database 430 may be directly
or indirectly transmitted to presentation module 480 for display in
the GUI. In one embodiment, the performance assessment information
displayed in the GUI may be based, at least in part, on user input.
In particular, the user may desire to customize the information
displayed in the GUI based on any one or more of assets, peer
groups, social media profiles, an aspect of performance assessment
(e.g., audience, voice, engagement, and reach), and any of the
aforementioned share and/or score assessments. The user may further
customize the information presented in the GUI by sorting based on
the aforementioned tagged trait information associated with one or
more assets and/or social media profiles. Of course, the examples
provided herein are only illustrative of the possibilities, and any
suitable presentation that the user finds helpful and/or places the
performance assessment information in context for the user may be
implemented. Further details regarding embodiments of the GUI are
described below with respect to FIGS. 12-17.
[0158] FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative processor-based computing
system 500 representative of the type of computing system that may
be present in or used in conjunction with any one or more of end
user's device 310, host server 320, and social media servers 330,
340, 350. The computing system 500 is illustrative only and does
not exclude the possibility of another processor- or
controller-based system being used in or with one of the
aforementioned components.
[0159] In one aspect, system 500 may include one or more hardware
and/or software components configured to execute software programs,
such as software for storing, processing, and analyzing data. For
example, system 500 may include one or more hardware components
such as, for example, processor 505, a random access memory (RAM)
module 510, a read-only memory (ROM) module 520, a storage system
530, a database 540, one or more input/output (I/O) modules 550,
and an interface module 560. Alternatively and/or additionally,
system 500 may include one or more software components such as, for
example, a computer-readable medium including computer-executable
instructions for performing methods consistent with certain
disclosed embodiments. It is contemplated that one or more of the
hardware components listed above may be implemented using software.
For example, storage 530 may include a software partition
associated with one or more other hardware components of system
500. System 500 may include additional, fewer, and/or different
components than those listed above. It is understood that the
components listed above are illustrative only and not intended to
be limiting or exclude suitable alternatives or additional
components.
[0160] Processor 505 may include one or more processors, each
configured to execute instructions and process data to perform one
or more functions associated with system 500. The term "processor,"
as generally used herein, refers to any logic processing unit, such
as one or more central processing units (CPUs), digital signal
processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits
(ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and similar
devices. As illustrated in FIG. 5, processor 505 may be
communicatively coupled to RAM 510, ROM 520, storage 530, database
540, I/O module 550, and interface module 560. Processor 505 may be
configured to execute sequences of computer program instructions to
perform various processes, which will be described in detail below.
The computer program instructions may be loaded into RAM for
execution by processor 505.
[0161] RAM 510 and ROM 520 may each include one or more devices for
storing information associated with an operation of system 500
and/or processor 505. For example, ROM 520 may include a memory
device configured to access and store information associated with
system 500, including information for identifying, initializing,
and monitoring the operation of one or more components and
subsystems of system 500. RAM 510 may include a memory device for
storing data associated with one or more operations of processor
505. For example, ROM 520 may load instructions into RAM 510 for
execution by processor 505.
[0162] Storage 530 may include any type of storage device
configured to store information that processor 505 may need to
perform processes consistent with the disclosed embodiments.
[0163] Database 540 may include one or more software and/or
hardware components that cooperate to store, organize, sort,
filter, and/or arrange data used by system 500 and/or processor
505. For example, database 540 may include user-specific account
information, predetermined menu/display options, and other user
preferences. Alternatively, database 540 may store additional
and/or different information.
[0164] I/O module 550 may include one or more components configured
to communicate information with a user associated with system 500.
For example, I/O module 550 may include a console with an
integrated keyboard and mouse to allow a user to input parameters
associated with system 500. I/O module 550 may also include a
display including a graphical user interface (GUI) for outputting
information on a monitor. I/O module 550 may also include
peripheral devices such as, for example, a printer for printing
information associated with system 500, a user-accessible disk
drive (e.g., a USB port, a floppy, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM drive, etc.)
to allow a user to input data stored on a portable media device, a
microphone, a speaker system, or any other suitable type of
interface device.
[0165] Interface 560 may include one or more components configured
to transmit and receive data via a communication network, such as
the Internet, a local area network, a workstation peer-to-peer
network, a direct link network, a wireless network, or any other
suitable communication channel. For example, interface 560 may
include one or more modulators, demodulators, multiplexers,
demultiplexers, network communication devices, wireless devices,
antennas, modems, and any other type of device configured to enable
data communication via a communication network.
[0166] FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method for
gathering information pertaining to one or more assets, peer
groups, or social media profiles, and collecting any or all
associated social media data from one or more social media
platforms.
[0167] At step 610, identification information associated with one
or more assets, entities, and/or social media profiles may be
provided. In one embodiment, a user desiring to assess the social
media performance of one or more assets or entities may provide
information identifying those assets or entities, as well as
information identifying one or more social media profiles to be
associated with any or each of those assets/entities. As described
above, each asset or entity may be associated with one or more
social media profiles. Conversely, each social media profile may be
associated with one or more assets or entities.
[0168] The user may utilize a personal computer, a tablet, a smart
phone, or any other suitable, processor-based or controller-based
device to provide the identifying information and/or transmit the
identifying information to a host server. In particular, the user
may provide the identifying information via a dedicated software
application installed on a user device. Alternatively, the user may
provide the identifying information to the host server via an
Internet or web interface that facilitates communication between
the user device and the host server (e.g., a remotely-hosted
software application or software as a service, "SaaS"). In other
embodiments, the user may communicate the identifying information
in any suitable fashion.
[0169] In other embodiments, the user may only provide identifying
information associated with one or more assets or entities. In
response to receiving the identifying information, the host server
may perform a search of one or more social media platforms and
return a list of associated social media profiles to the user. In
such an embodiment, the user may then select which of the returned
social media profiles should or may be included in an assessment
with respect to each asset or entity identified.
[0170] In another aspect, a user may also provide authentication
information associated with each identified social media profile.
The authentication information may, among other things, enable the
host server to retrieve information pertaining to the social media
profiles from one or more social media servers. In one embodiment,
the authentication information may comprise a username and/or
password for each identified social media profile. In other
embodiments, the authentication information may comprise some other
suitable information for gaining access to the information
associated with a social media profile.
[0171] At step 620, the user may associate or tag each asset or
entity for which social media performance is to be assessed with
additional trait or characterization information. In one
embodiment, the user may manually input and/or associate desired
trait or characterization information with one or more assets. In
other embodiments, the host server may provide the user with a
plurality of tags to selectively associate with one or more assets.
In still further embodiments, the host server may programmatically
tag one or more assets with trait or characterization information
based on other information provided by the user. It should be
noted, however, that these examples are only illustrative and any
suitable method or system for tagging one or more assets (i.e.,
associating one or more assets with trait or characterization
information) is possible.
[0172] In one aspect, one or more assets may be tagged with any
trait information that may be helpful in assessing the asset's
performance, placing the asset's performance in a proper or
desirable context, and/or identifying the asset's peers. The tagged
information may also be useful in sorting the eventual performance
assessment results presented to the user.
[0173] For example, the asset may be tagged with information
including, but not limited to: information identifying the a peer
group to which the asset belongs; an organization associated with
the asset; information identifying one or more tiers within a peer
group's hierarchical structure to which the asset belongs;
information indicative of the industry in which the asset
participates; information identifying the job responsibilities of
the asset; information identifying which other assets within the
peer group the asset may be related (and, for subsequent weighting
purposes, how closely the asset may be related to any such other
assets); information indicative of the geographic location, reach,
or territory of the asset; information indicative of the market
size associated with the asset's activities; information indicative
of the target demographic associated with the asset's activities;
and/or information identifying a time period associated with the
asset's activities. It should be noted that these examples are only
illustrative of the possibilities, and assets may be tagged with
any suitable information useful in the assessment of the asset's
social media performance, determining the members of an asset's
peer group, and/or defining relationships between an asset and one
or more other entities within an industry or hierarchical
structure.
[0174] At step 630, one or more peers associated with each asset or
entity may be identified. In one embodiment, any or all of the
aforementioned asset/entity/social media profile identification
information may serve to aid in the automated identification of
those entities within an asset's peer group. In a further
embodiment, any or all of the tagged information (i.e., trait or
characterization information associated with one or more assets or
social media profiles) may be used to identify the members of an
asset's peer group. For example, any or all entities comprising one
or more similar tags may be presumed to belong to a common peer
group.
[0175] In one embodiment, the host server may programmatically
identify one or more entities sharing one or more common traits as
compared to an asset. In such an embodiment, the host server may
automatedly construct peer groups for one or more of the assets.
Alternatively, the host server may provide the user with a list of
the one or more programmatically-identified entities, such that the
user is then afforded an opportunity to selectively include one or
more of those entities within each asset's peer group. Additionally
or alternatively, the user may manually identify entities to
include within each asset's peer group. Regardless of the
particular method employed, for any or each asset, the user may be
afforded an opportunity to customize a peer group comprising one or
more other entities.
[0176] One or more social media profiles may then be associated
with any or each entity within the peer group(s) in a manner
substantially similar to that described above with respect to the
user's assets or entities. Moreover, each peer group and/or peer
group member may be tagged with trait or characterization
information in a manner substantially similar to that described
above with respect to previously-identified assets.
[0177] At step 640, the asset, entity, and peer group information,
including any or all associated social media profile information,
may be used to collect relevant data from one or more social media
platforms. In one embodiment, a data request may be generated
based, at least in part, on the asset, entity, or peer group
information, including any or all associated social media profile
information. The data request may then be transmitted to one or
more social media platforms from either the host server or the
user's device. In one embodiment, the data request may be
transmitted to the social media platforms via one or more APIs
associated with the respective platforms. In another embodiment,
the data request may be accompanied by authentication information
or credentials for verifying the validity of the request.
[0178] In one embodiment, the data request may request all of the
data maintained in one or more databases of the social media
platform. This data may include, but is not limited to, data
associated with any or all members of the social media platform,
including information provided directly from those members and
information indicative of the members' activities over the social
media platform.
[0179] In other embodiments, all of the data maintained in one or
more databases of the social media platform that may be associated
with one or more social media profiles may be requested. In
particular, all information associated with the social media
profiles identified in steps 610-630 may be requested. Such social
media profiles may comprise one or more social media profiles
associated with the assets and/or one or more social media profiles
associated with other entities within those assets' respective peer
groups. In a further embodiment, only a subset of data maintained
in one or more databases of the social media platform that may be
associated with one or more social media profiles may be requested.
The data associated with a social media profile may include, but is
not limited to, data associated with those assets, entities, or
peer groups affiliated with the social media profile, as well as
data associated with those members of the social media platform
that in some way interacted with the respective social media
profile.
[0180] In another aspect, and depending upon the permissions and/or
policies of each social media platform, a data request may be
transmitted to one or more social media platforms to initiate the
transmission of: historical data associated with one or more social
media profiles; an ongoing, real-time stream of data associated
with one or more social media profiles; or periodic transmissions
of the latest available data at predetermined time intervals. In
some embodiments, any one or more of the aforementioned requests
may be accomplished with a single request and/or transmission of
authentication information, or alternatively, may be accomplished
through a plurality of requests and/or authentication information
transmissions. For example, where an ongoing, real-time data stream
associated with one or more social media profiles is requested,
updated authentication information may be periodically transmitted
at predetermined intervals in order to receive the stream in an
uninterrupted fashion.
[0181] In another aspect, where one or more social media profiles
may include public conversations, as discussed previously herein, a
data request transmitted to one or more social media platforms may
comprise one or more keywords for searching any or all publically
available data of the respective social media platform. In an
alternative embodiment, all publically available data may be
requested, or a subset of the publically available data may be
requested based, at least in part, on some criteria different from,
or in addition to, keywords.
[0182] In a further aspect, any data may be requested from one or
more social media servers 330, 340, 350 that may be useful in
conjunction with assessing the social media performance of an
asset, entity, or peer group. In one embodiment, and as set forth
in steps 650a-650d, data may be requested from one or more social
media platforms for assessing any one or more of the audience,
voice, engagement, and reach of an asset's social media presence or
performance. As described above, an asset's social media audience,
voice, engagement, or reach may comprise the audience, voice,
engagement, or reach, respectively, of one or more social media
profiles associated with that asset.
[0183] In particular, at step 650a, data indicative of the audience
associated with an asset or social media profile may be retrieved
or collected from one or more respective social media platforms. As
previously described, the audience associated with a social media
profile may reflect a relationship between a social media profile
and other users of the social media platform. In one embodiment,
the audience associated with a social media profile may indicate
the number of social media users that have confirmed a relationship
with the social media profile on the respective social media
platform. In a further embodiment, and depending on the
nomenclature used by the respective social media platform, the
audience associated with a social media profile may be based, at
least in part, on one or more components, including but not limited
to, "friends," "followers," or "fans" associated with the social
media profile. In some embodiments, these components may or may not
be weighted equally when determining the audience associated with a
social media profile.
[0184] At step 650b, data indicative of the voice associated with
an asset or social media profile may be retrieved or collected form
one or more respective social media platforms. As described above,
the voice associated with a social media profile may reflect a
messaging activity level associated with a social media profile. In
one embodiment, the voice associated with a social media profile
may indicate the frequency with which content is published to the
social media platform by an entity that maintains the social media
profile. In a further embodiment, and depending on the nomenclature
used by the respective social media platform, the voice associated
with a social media profile may be based, at least in part, on one
or more components, including but not limited to, "posts,"
"comments," "tweets," "replies," or "re-tweets" associated with the
social media profile. In some embodiments, these components may or
may not be weighted equally when determining the voice associated
with a social media profile. In still further embodiments, content
published by the audience or other members of the respective social
media platform may also be included among the components of the
voice associated with a social media profile, though content
published by the asset that maintains the social media profile may
be weighed differently than content published by the audience or
other members. Additionally, information indicative of the media
format associated with each component may be retrieved or collected
from the one or more social media platforms. Such format
information may be taken into consideration when weighing the
components.
[0185] Data indicative of the engagement associated with an asset
or social media profile may be retrieved or collected form one or
more respective social media platforms at step 650c. As described
above, the engagement associated with a social media profile may
reflect an ability for the social media profile to communicate a
message reliably, i.e., while the voice associated with a social
media profile may indicate the frequency with which content is
published by an entity that maintains the social media profile,
engagement may indicate whether that activity is worthwhile. In one
embodiment, the engagement associated with a social media profile
may indicate whether other users of the respective social media
platform are interacting with the published content. In a further
embodiment, and depending on the nomenclature used by the
respective social media platform, the engagement associated with a
social media profile may be based, at least in part, on one or more
components, including but not limited to, "shares," "likes,"
"comments," "mentions," "re-tweets," "favorites," and "replies,"
and may also include, but may not be limited to, hashtag mentions
and/or search term/keyword matches within a public conversation. In
some embodiments, these components may or may not be weighted
equally when determining the engagement associated with a social
media profile. In still further embodiments, interactions with
published content by any one or more of the asset that maintains
the social media profile, the audience of the social media profile,
and other members of the respective social media platform may be
included in one or more of the components of the voice associated
with the social media profile, though interactions by the asset
that maintains the social media profile may be weighed differently
than interactions by the audience or other members. Additionally,
information indicative of the media format associated with each
component may be retrieved or collected from the one or more social
media platforms. Such format information may be taken into
consideration when weighing the components.
[0186] In a further aspect, data indicative of the reach associated
with an asset or social media profile may be retrieved or collected
form one or more respective social media platforms at step 650d. As
set forth above, the reach associated with a social media profile
may reflect a potential first and second order audience, i.e.,
while the audience associated with a social media profile may
indicate the number of platform members that have confirmed a
relationship with the social media profile, reach may indicate
whether that audience is a beneficial or useful audience. In one
embodiment, the reach associated with a social media profile may
indicate both the audience associated with the social media
profile, as well as the audience of the audience. In a further
embodiment, rather than simply taking into consideration the
audience of the audience, the reach associated with a social media
profile may take into consideration the audience of the engaged
audience, i.e., the audience of those social media platform members
that not only are considered a part of the social media profile's
audience, but those members that have engaged the content
associated with the social media profile.
[0187] In alternative embodiments, data indicative of any one or
more, but not necessarily each, of the audience, voice, engagement,
and reach associated with an asset or social media profile may be
retrieved. Further, the data indicative of one or more of the
audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach associated with an asset
or social media profile may be retrieved or collected in any
suitable order or it may be collected simultaneously or at an
overlapping time. Data collection restraints and/or other
limitations imposed by the one or more social media platforms may
further dictate how, when, or in what order particular data may be
retrieved.
[0188] FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative method for determining the
aforementioned share assessment pertaining to an asset. At step
710, an asset for which one or more share assessments is to be made
may be identified. In one embodiment, a share assessment may be
performed with respect to an asset identified by a user or the host
server. In alternative embodiments, the user or host server may
identify a peer group, the assets of which are to be assessed. In
such an embodiment, assets belonging to the identified peer group
may be serially assessed, one after another, or share assessments
for a plurality of assets may be conducted in parallel, i.e.,
simultaneously or at overlapping times.
[0189] Regardless of how an asset is identified, at step 720, each
of the asset's associated social media profiles may be identified.
In one embodiment, one or more social media profiles may be stored
in an accessible database and associated with corresponding assets.
In this manner, the one or more social media profiles that serve as
the basis for an asset's social media performance may be easily
identified and/or recalled.
[0190] Similarly, the other entities belonging to the asset's peer
group may be identified at step 730. In one embodiment, peer group
information may be stored in an accessible database and associated
with corresponding assets. In this manner, the one or more peer
groups to which an asset belongs, and any entity therein, may be
easily identified and/or recalled. Further, upon identification of
each entity in the asset's peer group, one or more of the social
profiles that serve as the basis for each of those entity's social
media performance may be identified and/or recalled in a manner
similar to that described above with respect to the asset.
[0191] At steps 740, one or more aspects of the asset's social
media performance may be assessed. In one embodiment, the audience,
voice, engagement, and reach associated with an asset's social
media performance may be assessed at steps 740a, 740b, 740c, and
740d, respectively. In a further embodiment, any one or more of the
audience, voice, engagement, and reach associated with an asset's
social media performance may be determined using Equation (4)(a) or
(4)(b), above. In particular, where Equation (4)(b) is used, each
social media profile contributing to the assessment of the
respective aspect (i.e., audience, voice, engagement, or reach) may
be assigned a weight. Such weights may reflect the relative control
or influence an asset has with respect to activities associated
with social media profile. Alternatively, or additionally, such
weights may reflect the inter- or intra-organizational proximity of
the social media profile to the asset. In other words, a social
media profile directly maintained by the asset may be assigned a
greater weight than a social media profile directly maintained by
another entity within the same or a different tier of a peer group.
Of course, other suitable methods and/or algorithms may also be
used to determine the audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach
associated with the social media performance of an asset and
Equations (4)(a) and (4)(b) are only illustrative of the
possibilities.
[0192] It should also be noted that any one or more of steps
740a-740d may be performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or
additionally, any one or more of steps 740a-740d may be performed
in parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0193] At step 750, one or more aspects of the social media
performance of the peer group to which the asset belongs may be
assessed. Similar to steps 740a-740d, the audience, voice,
engagement, and reach associated with the peer group's social media
performance may be assessed at steps 750a, 750b, 750c, and 750d,
respectively. Assessing these aspects of the peer group's
performance is substantially similar to assessing the same aspects
of the asset's performance. In one embodiment, whereas assessing
the performance of an asset may comprise assessing the performance
of each social media profile associated with the asset, assessing
the performance of a peer group may comprise assessing the
performance of each social media profile associated with the peer
group (which would necessarily include the same social media
profiles assessed with respect to the asset). Thus, as is the case
when assessing an asset, any one or more of the audience, voice,
engagement, and reach associated with a peer group's social media
performance may be determined using Equation (4)(a) or (4)(b),
above. Where Equation (4)(b) is used, each social media profile
contributing to the assessment of the respective aspect (i.e.,
audience, voice, engagement, or reach) of the peer group's
performance may be assigned a weight. Other suitable methods and/or
algorithms may also be used to determine the audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach associated with the social media
performance of a peer group and Equations (4)(a) and (4)(b) are
only illustrative of the possibilities. Moreover, it should be
noted that any one or more of steps 740a-740d and 750a-750d may be
performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or additionally,
any one or more of steps 740a-740d and 750a-750d may be performed
in parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0194] Once the audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach
associated with both an asset's social media performance and a
corresponding peer group's social media performance has been
determined, the asset's share of the audience, share of the voice,
share of the engagement, and/or share of the reach associated with
a peer group may be determined. In one embodiment, an asset's share
of audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach may represent a
portion or percentage of a total audience, voice, engagement,
and/or reach, respectively, associated with the peer group that
includes the asset. In a further embodiment, the share of an
asset's audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach may be determined
using Equation (7), above. Of course, other suitable methods and/or
algorithms may also be used to determine an asset's share of the
audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach associated with the
social media performance of a peer group and Equation (7) is only
illustrative of the possibilities.
[0195] FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method for
determining a comparative score for one or more assets or entities
in a peer group. In one embodiment, a comparative score may be
determined for any one or more of the audience, voice, engagement,
or reach, associated with an asset's social media performance. In a
further embodiment, a composite comparative score may be determined
for one or more entities, the composite comparative score being
based, at least in part, on the comparative scores determined for
the audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach of the corresponding
asset. Such comparative scores and composite comparative scores may
then be used to directly compare and/or rank assets within a peer
group.
[0196] In one embodiment, at step 810, aspects of the social media
performance of a plurality of assets may be assessed. In one
embodiment, the audience, voice, engagement, and reach associated
with each asset's social media performance may be assessed at steps
810a, 810b, 810c, and 810d, respectively. In a further embodiment,
any one or more of the audience, voice, engagement, and reach
associated with each asset's social media performance may be
determined using Equation (4)(a) or (4)(b), above. In particular,
where Equation (4)(b) is used, each social media profile
contributing to the assessment of a respective aspect (i.e.,
audience, voice, engagement, or reach) for each asset may be
assigned a weight. Of course, other suitable methods and/or
algorithms may also be used to determine the audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach associated with the social media
performance of each asset and Equations (4)(a) and (4)(b) are only
illustrative of the possibilities.
[0197] It should also be noted that any one or more of steps
810a-810d may be performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or
additionally, any one or more of steps 810a-810d may be performed
in parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0198] At step 820, the performance assessments associated with
each asset may be used to calculate the average social media
performance across the peer group. In particular, the audience
associated with each asset in the peer group (step 810a) may be
used to determine an average audience for the peer group (step
820a), the voice associated with each asset in the peer group (step
810b) may be used to determine an average voice for the peer group
(820b), the engagement associated with each asset in the peer group
(step 810c) may be used to determine an average engagement for the
peer group (820c), and the reach associated with each asset in the
peer group (step 810d) may be used to determine an average reach
for the peer group (820d). In one embodiment, Equation (8),
described above, may be used to determine the average social media
performance for any one or more aspects of the peer group. Of
course, other suitable methods and/or algorithms may also be used
to determine the average audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach
associated with the social media performance of a peer group and
Equation (8) is only illustrative of the possibilities.
[0199] It should also be noted that any one or more of steps
820a-820d may be performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or
additionally, any one or more of steps 820a-820f may be performed
in parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0200] At step 830, the standard deviation associated with one or
more aspects of a peer group's performance assessments may be
determined. In particular, the audience associated with each asset
in the peer group (step 810a) and the average audience for the peer
group (step 820a) may be used to determine the standard deviation
of the audience associated with the peer group (step 830a), the
voice associated with each asset in the peer group (step 810b) and
the average voice for the peer group (step 820b) may be used to
determine the standard deviation of the voice associated with the
peer group (step 830b), the engagement associated with each asset
in the peer group (step 810c) and the average engagement for the
peer group (step 820c) may be used to determine the standard
deviation of the engagement associated with the peer group (step
830c), and the reach associated with each asset in the peer group
(step 810d) and the average reach for the peer group (step 820d)
may be used to determine the standard deviation of the reach
associated with the peer group (step 830d). In one embodiment,
Equation (9), described above, may be used to determine the
standard deviation associated with any one or more aspects of the
peer group's social media performance. Of course, other suitable
methods and/or algorithms may also be used to determine the
standard deviation associated with any one or more aspects of the
peer group's social media performance and Equation (9) is only
illustrative of the possibilities.
[0201] It should also be noted that any one or more of steps
830a-830d may be performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or
additionally, any one or more of steps 830a-830d may be performed
in parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0202] At step 840, a comparative score for each aspect of each
asset's social media performance may be determined. In one
embodiment, a comparative score may be determined for any one or
more of the audience (step 840a), voice (step 840b), engagement
(step 840c), or reach (step 840d) associated with each asset of a
peer group. Such comparative scores may then be used to directly
compare and/or rank assets or entities within a peer group against
each other within the context of the corresponding aspect. In one
embodiment, a comparative score for each aspect of each asset's
social media performance may be determined using Equation (10),
above. In particular, Equation (10) may be used to determine a
percentile score for each aspect of each asset's social media
performance. As described above, there may be a number of
advantages to presenting and/or ranking a plurality of assets in
accordance with their respective percentile scores. For example,
such a scoring methodology yields an intuitive range of resulting
scores bound by 0 and 100, and it may be immediately recognized in
what percentile of the peer group the asset's performance falls.
This methodology also provides for easier movement of scores within
the mid-range of the peer group than at the tails or extremes. In
other words, an asset may find it easier to improve its percentile
score from 50 to 60 than from 60 to 70, and easier still than
improving from 70 to 80. In fact, improvement or degradation of a
percentile score becomes very difficult the closer the asset's
score approaches 100 or 0, respectively.
[0203] In another embodiment, a comparative score for each aspect
of each asset's social media performance may be determined using
Equation (11), above. In particular, Equation (11) may be used to
determine a T-score for each aspect of each asset's social media
performance. As described previously herein, presenting and/or
ranking assets or entities within a peer group in accordance with
their respective T-scores also has advantages. Like the percentile
scores, this methodology yields an intuitive range of resulting
scores bound by 0 and 100. Additionally, this methods affords a
wider range of resulting scores at the extreme ends of the
spectrum, as percentile scores may result in a score of 0 for all
entities with assessment scores falling more than 3 standard
deviations below the mean for the peer group and/or a score of 100
for all entities with assessment scores greater than 3 standard
deviations above the mean for the peer group.
[0204] Of course, other suitable methods and/or algorithms may also
be used to determine a comparative score associated with any one or
more aspects of each asset's social media performance and Equations
(10) and (11) are only illustrative of the possibilities. It should
also be noted that any one or more of steps 840a-840f may be
performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or additionally,
any one or more of steps 840a-840f may be performed in parallel,
simultaneously, or at overlapping times.
[0205] At step 850, any one or more comparative scores associated
with respective aspects of an asset's social media performance may
be combined into a single composite score. For example, a composite
score for an asset may be determined based, at least in part, on
any one or more of its comparative audience score, its comparative
voice score, its comparative engagement score, and/or its
comparative reach score. In one embodiment, a composite score may
be determined for one or more assets in the peer group using
Equation (12), above. In one aspect, either a percentile score or a
T-score (described above with respect to steps 830a-830d) may be
used to determine each component upon which the composite score may
be based (provided all components of the composite score are based
on the same scoring methodology).
[0206] In a further embodiment, the influence and impact
determinations for an asset (e.g., Equations (5) and (6)) may also
be taken into consideration when calculating the composite score
associated with one or more assets. In such an embodiment, the
influence and/or impact components may be afforded their own
respective weights when determining a composite score that includes
them.
[0207] In alternative embodiments, a composite score may also be
calculated based on the share of audience, share of voice, share of
engagement, and share of reach assessments described above and
depicted in FIG. 7. Such a composite score, in one embodiment, may
be determined using Equation (12) and may be based, at least in
part, on one or more share assessments determined using Equation
(7).
[0208] FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method for
determining the influence and impact associated with a social media
profile's or asset's social media performance. As described above,
the influence associated with a social media profile or asset may
reflect, among other things, an ability for the social media
profile to convert reach into engagement. In one embodiment, the
influence associated with a social media profile or asset may
represent a ratio of the engagement associated with the social
media profile or asset to the reach associated with the social
media profile or asset. Thus, and for example, assuming two social
media profiles having equal reach, the social media profile
associated with greater engagement may have greater influence.
[0209] On the other hand, the impact associated with a social media
profile or asset may reflect, among other things, an efficiency
with which the social media profile or asset may generate influence
and/or engagement. In one embodiment, the impact associated with a
social media profile or asset may represent a ratio of the
engagement associated with the social media profile or asset to the
reach associated with the social media profile (similar to the
influence) but further take into account the voice associated with
the social media profile. Thus, and for example, assuming two
social media profiles or assets having equal influence and/or
engagement, the social media profile or asset associated with less
voice may have greater impact, as less energy may be exerted while
achieving equal results as compared to the other social media
profile or asset.
[0210] In one aspect, at steps 910 and 920, the engagement and
reach associated with a social media profile or asset may be
determined. In one embodiment, the engagement and reach associated
with the social media performance of a social media profile may be
determined using Equation (1), described above, while the
engagement and reach associated with the social media performance
of an asset (comprising one or more social media profiles) may be
determined using either of Equations (4)(a) or (4)(b), also
described above. Of course, other suitable methods and/or
algorithms may also be used to determine the engagement and reach
associated with a social media profile or asset, and Equations (1),
(4)(a), and (4)(b) are only illustrative of the possibilities.
[0211] It should also be noted that steps 910 and 920 may be
performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or additionally,
steps 910 and 920 may be performed in parallel, simultaneously, or
at overlapping times.
[0212] At step 930, an influence associated with the social media
profile or asset may be determined based, at least in part, on the
engagement and reach determinations made at steps 910 and 920,
respectively. In one embodiment, the influence associated with the
social media performance of a social media profile may be
determined using Equation (2), described above, while the influence
associated with the social media performance of an asset
(comprising one or more social media profiles) may be determined
using Equation (5), also described above. Of course, other suitable
methods and/or algorithms may also be used to determine the
influence associated with a social media profile or asset, and
Equations (2) and (5) are only illustrative of the
possibilities.
[0213] At step 940, the voice associated with a social media
profile or asset may be determined. In one embodiment, the voice
associated with the social media performance of a social media
profile may be determined using Equation (1), described above,
while the voice associated with the social media performance of an
asset (comprising one or more social media profiles) may be
determined using either of Equations (4)(a) or (4)(b), also
described above. Of course, other suitable methods and/or
algorithms may also be used to determine the voice associated with
a social media profile or asset, and Equations (1), (4)(a), and
(4)(b) are only illustrative of the possibilities.
[0214] It should also be noted that steps 930 and 940 may be
performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or additionally,
steps 930 and 940 may be performed in parallel, simultaneously, or
at overlapping times. Moreover, steps 910, 920, and 940 may be
performed in any order, parallel, simultaneously, or at overlapping
times.
[0215] At step 950, an impact associated with the social media
profile or asset may be determined based, at least in part, on the
influence and voice determinations made at steps 930 and 940,
respectively. In one embodiment, the impact associated with the
social media performance of a social media profile may be
determined using Equation (3), described above, while the impact
associated with the social media performance of an asset
(comprising one or more social media profiles) may be determined
using Equation (6), also described above. Of course, other suitable
methods and/or algorithms may also be used to determine the impact
associated with a social media profile or asset, and Equations (3)
and (6) are only illustrative of the possibilities.
[0216] It should also be noted that steps 930 and 950 may be
performed in any suitable order. Alternatively, or additionally,
steps 930 and 950 may be performed in parallel, simultaneously, or
at overlapping times.
[0217] FIG. 10 depicts illustrative examples of how one asset's
social media performance may impact other assets' social media
performance within entity peer group, however that peer group may
be defined. In particular, examples of both vertical and horizontal
goodwill are shown.
[0218] In one aspect, a hierarchical structure 1000 is depicted
that may be substantially similar to structure 100 depicted in FIG.
1. In one embodiment, structure 1000 may comprise four vertical
tiers, each tier representing one or more subsets or groupings
within the hierarchy. Of course, in alternative embodiments,
structure 1000 may comprise additional or fewer tiers. In
particular, the first tier may represent a peer group or asset that
may comprise every other asset within the hierarchical structure.
Each subsequent tier, i.e., tiers 2, 3, and 4, may comprise
progressively narrower subsets or groups than the previous tier
and/or represent one or more subsets or groups of the assets
belonging to the previous tier in the hierarchy. At tier 4, the
lowest tier in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 10, each asset may
represent an individual or even a subset of an individual's
responsibilities.
[0219] In another aspect, any or all assets within structure 1000
may be associated with one or more social media profiles. The
profiles may comprise platform-specific user profiles and may be
used to, among other things, communicate announcements, politicize
events, advertise products, disseminate news stories, or otherwise
reach customers, consumers, or the public. For example, one or more
assets of structure 1000 may be associated with one or more of a
FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, and INSTAGRAM profile.
[0220] In a further aspect, where the audience, voice, engagement,
and/or reach associated with an asset's social media performance
may be determined using Equation (4)(b), each social media profile
upon which the determination may be based may be afforded its own
weight, c. In this manner, and in one embodiment, social media
profiles more closely related to an asset and/or more reflective of
the asset's social media activity may be afforded greater weight
than other social media profiles that are more tangentially related
to the asset. In other embodiments, the weighting of the various
social media profiles to be included in a performance assessment
may depend upon other factors, such as the particular social media
platform associated with the social media profile.
[0221] In one embodiment, each asset within a peer group may have
one or more social media profiles for which it is responsible for
placing content and/or engaging with the public. Thus, when
assessing the social media performance of an asset, any such social
media profiles for which the asset is directly responsible, i.e.,
"primary social media profiles," may be included in the assessment.
However, social media profiles for which the asset may not be
directly responsible, i.e., "secondary social media profiles," may
also be included in the assessment. For example, and again where an
assessment of an asset's performance weights the various social
media profiles that may be taken into account, primary social media
profiles may be afforded greater weight than secondary social media
profiles.
[0222] Moreover, depending upon whether the entity that is directly
responsible for a secondary social media profile may be classified
as within the same tier of structure 1000 as the asset being
assessed or a different tier than the asset being assessed, the
effect that a secondary social media profile may have upon the
asset's performance assessment may be deemed horizontal goodwill or
vertical goodwill, respectively. Thus, an assessment of the social
media performance of each asset within hierarchical structure 1000
may account for the contributions, both positive and negative, of
other entities within the same structure.
[0223] In one aspect, the arrows depicted in FIG. 10 may represent
examples of the effect one asset's social media performance may
have on another, i.e., horizontal and vertical goodwill. More
precisely, the arrows depicted in FIG. 10 may represent the effect
that a secondary social media profile directly maintained by one
asset has on the social media performance of another asset that
does not have direct responsibility for the secondary social media
profile.
[0224] In one embodiment, each of asset 1040a and 1040b may be
associated with one or more social media profiles that they
maintain, or are directly responsible for, independent of one
another (i.e., respective primary social media profiles).
Nonetheless, when assessing the social media performance of asset
1040a, the primary social media profile of asset 1040b may be
included in the assessment as a secondary social media profile
associated with asset 1040a. In a further embodiment, a portion of
asset 1040a's assessment attributable to, or based on, that
secondary social media profile may be afforded less weight than the
portion attributable to, or based on, a primary social media
profile. Moreover, because asset 1040a and 1040b may belong to the
same tier of peer group 1010, any effect that a social media
profile maintained by asset 1040b may have on the performance
assessment of asset 1040a, positive or negative, may be deemed
horizontal goodwill.
[0225] In another embodiment, any similar effect that a social
media profile maintained by asset 1040b may have on a performance
assessment of 1040c, positive or negative, may also be deemed
horizontal goodwill. As depicted in FIG. 10, though assets 1040a,
1040b, and 1040c each belong to a common tier of peer group 1010
(i.e., a fourth tier), assets 1040a and 1040b may belong to a
common asset 1030a of tier 3. Asset 1030a may be, for example, a
department, section, division, or local office of peer group 1010.
Asset 1040c, on the other hand, may belong to an asset 1030b, which
may belong to a same tier of peer group 1010 as asset 1030a (i.e.,
the third tier). In such an embodiment, when assessing the social
media performance of 1040a, not only may an assessment of any
social media profiles maintained by asset 1040b be taken into
consideration, but any social media profiles maintained by asset
1040c may also be taken into consideration. Further, any effect
that a social media profile maintained by asset 1040c may have on
the performance assessment of asset 1040a, positive or negative,
may be deemed horizontal goodwill. However, because assets 1040a
and 1040b may belong to a common tier 3 entity (i.e., asset 1030a)
and asset 1040c may belong to a different tier 3 entity (i.e.,
asset 1030b), a portion of asset 1040a's assessment attributable
to, or based on, a social media profile maintained by asset 1040c
may be afforded less weight than a portion attributable to, or
based on, a social media profile maintained by asset 1040b.
[0226] Similar instances of horizontal goodwill, i.e., the effect
one asset's primary social media profile's performance may have on
the performance assessment of another asset belonging to a same
tier, may also be present at other tiers of peer group 1010. For
example, any effect that the primary social media profile of asset
1030a may have on an assessment of the social media performance of
asset 1030b may be deemed horizontal goodwill, and vice versa.
Comparable instances of horizontal goodwill may also be present
within the second tier of peer group 1010 where the performance of
a primary social media profile of asset 1020 may affect a
performance assessment of another entity belonging to the second
tier (not shown in FIG. 10).
[0227] In another aspect, examples of vertical goodwill are also
depicted in FIG. 10. For example, a social media performance
assessment of asset 1030a may not only take one or more primary
social media profiles into consideration, but also one or more
social media profiles maintained by asset 1040a or 1040b. Because
asset 1030a belongs to a different tier of peer group 1010 (i.e., a
third tier) as compared to assets 1040a and 1040b (i.e., a second
tier), any effect that the social media profiles maintained by
asset 1040a or 1040b may have on a performance assessment of asset
1030a, positive or negative, may be deemed vertical goodwill. It
should be noted, however, that a weight afforded each of the social
media profiles maintained by assets 1040a and 1040b may not
necessarily be the same.
[0228] In another embodiment, the performance of a social media
profile maintained by asset 1040b (a fourth tier asset), for
example, may be taken into consideration when assessing the social
media performance of asset 1030b (a third tier asset), despite the
fact that asset 1040b may not belong to an entity subset or group
of asset 1030b. In such an embodiment, the performance of a social
media profile maintained by asset 1040b may be weighted in a manner
reflective of the tangential relationship between asset 1040b and
asset 1030b. For example, where an assessment of the social media
performance of asset 1030b may take into consideration the
performance of social media profiles maintained by both assets
1040b and 1040c, the performance of the social media profile
maintained by asset 1040c may be afforded more weight than the
performance of the social media profile maintained by asset 1040b.
Of course, these examples are only illustrative of the
possibilities, and any suitable weight may be afforded the
performance of any social media profile in structure 1000.
[0229] In a further aspect, vertical goodwill may not necessarily
extend only one vertical tier. In one embodiment, not only may the
performance of a social media profile maintained by asset 1040a (a
fourth tier asset) be taken into consideration when assessing the
social media performance of asset 1030a (a third tier asset), but
the performance of the social media profile maintained by asset
1040 may also be taken into consideration when assessing the social
media performance of asset 1020 or 1010. In such embodiments, a
weight afforded the performance of a social media profile
maintained by asset 1040a may be reflective of the degrees of
separation (i.e., the organizational or structural distance)
between asset 1040a and the asset whose performance is being
assessed. In other words, the weight afforded the performance of a
social media profile maintained by asset 1040a may be greater when
assessing the performance of asset 1030a than when assessing the
performance of asset 1020, and greater still than when assessing
the performance of asset 1010.
[0230] Though the foregoing examples of vertical goodwill
demonstrate how the performance of a social media profile
maintained by an asset may be taken into consideration during a
performance assessment an asset belonging to a higher tier,
vertical goodwill may also flow in an opposite direction. For
example, the performance of a social media profile maintained by
any one or more of asset 1010, asset 1020, asset 1030a, and asset
1030b may be taken into consideration when assessing the social
media performance of asset 1040a, 1040b, or 1040c. Moreover, a
weight afforded the performance of a social media profile
maintained by an entity belonging to a higher tier may reflect the
degrees of separation, or structural distance, between the
maintaining asset and the asset whose performance is being
assessed.
[0231] In addition to assessing the performance of one or more
assets and/or social media profiles, the "velocity" of a content
item published on a social media platform may also be assessed. As
described above, the engagement associated with a social media
profile may indicate whether members of a social media platform are
interacting with content published by an asset maintaining the
social media profile. As described above, and depending on the
nomenclature used by the respective social media platform, the
engagement associated with a social media profile may be based, at
least in part, on one or more components, including but not limited
to, "shares," "likes," "comments," "mentions," "re-tweets,"
"favorites," and "replies," and may also include, but may not be
limited to, hashtag mentions and/or search term/keyword matches
within a public conversation.
[0232] Velocity, as used herein, may represent a derivative, or
rate of change, of one or more engagement components with respect
to a content item. As such, a high velocity may be associated with
a popular or quickly-disseminating content item. Identification of
such content items may be useful to a user for a variety of
reasons.
[0233] FIG. 11 depicts one illustrative embodiment of a method for
determining the velocity associated with a content item. At step
1110, engagement of a content item may be detected. As described
above, engagement may refer to any interaction that a member of a
social media platform may have with a content item published via a
social media profile maintained by an asset.
[0234] In one embodiment, detection of an engagement of a content
item may be based, at least in part, on data retrieved from one or
more social media platforms by the host server. The retrieved data
may be transmitted to any one or more of a data retrieval module, a
streaming module, a supplemental data module, or an assessment
module, as described above with respect to FIG. 4. Any or all of
these modules may be further configured to detect a new engagement
not previously retrieved from the one or more social media
platforms.
[0235] Upon detection of a new engagement with respect to a content
item, an initial velocity for that content item may be determined
at step 1120. In one embodiment, the initial velocity for a content
item may be determined by the total number of engagements to-date,
with respect to that content item, divided by the period of time
that may have lapsed since the content item was initially published
via the respective social media profile. In some embodiments, the
period of time that may lapsed since the content item was initially
published may be considered in terms of seconds, microseconds,
minutes, hours, or days. Of course, these units of time are only
illustrative of the possibilities.
[0236] In one example, where a new engagement, for example a
re-tweet, is detected with respect to a content item published via
a respective social media profile on the TWITTER platform, the host
server may retrieve information indicative of the total number of
engagements associated with that content item to-date. Such
information may be retrieved from the TWITTER social media platform
or it may be stored in a database associated with the host server.
The total number of engagements associated with the content to-date
may reflect a running total of, for example, all re-tweets,
favorites, mentions, and hashtag mentions, as well as any keyword
matches within a public conversation associated with the content
item since the content item was first published. This total number
of engagements may then be divided by the time that may lapsed
since the content item was published, for example x seconds. The
resulting quotient may represent the current or initial velocity
associated with the content item.
[0237] At step 1130, this current or initial velocity may be
compared to a threshold velocity. In one embodiment, the threshold
velocity may be some predetermined velocity value above which a
content item may be said to be "trending" or otherwise quickly
disseminating over the respective social media platform. For
example, the threshold may be y number of engagements per second.
It should be noted, however, that the threshold may be any suitable
number of engagements over any suitable period of time.
[0238] Where the current or initial velocity of the content item is
below the threshold, no further immediate action may be necessary
with respect to the content item until another new engagement is
detected. Upon detection of a new engagement associated with the
content item, the aforementioned process may repeat itself,
beginning with step 1110.
[0239] On the other hand, where the current or initial velocity of
the content item is above the threshold, the content item may be
transmitted or otherwise written to a list of trending content at
step 1140. In one embodiment, the list of trending content may
comprise one or more content items, each associated with a velocity
deemed reflective of relatively quickly disseminating content. The
list of trending content may be maintained in a database associated
with host server, or within storage associated with any module of
the host server, including but not limited to, the assessment
module or the presentation module.
[0240] At step 1150, upon the addition of the content item to the
trending content list, the present velocity of each content item on
the trending content list may be determined. In one embodiment, the
velocity associated with each content item on the trending content
list may be determined in a fashion substantially similar to the
method employed for determining the initial velocity of a content
item at step 1120. In other words, for each content item in the
trending content list, a total number of engagements to-date may be
determined and that number may be divided by the time that may have
lapsed since the content was first published.
[0241] After a present velocity has been determined for each
content item in the trending content list, the list may be sorted
based, at least in part, on the respective velocity determinations.
In this manner, content associated with the highest velocity may be
presented at the top of the trending content list and content
associated with the lowest velocity may be presented at the bottom
of the trending content list.
[0242] In one aspect, as content gains traction over a social media
platform, its associated velocity may increase and, assuming the
velocity associated with the content item was greater than a
predetermined threshold, that content item may rise within the
trending content list. Conversely, as content grows stale and/or
loses traction within a social media platform, its associated
velocity may decrease and that content item may fall within the
trending content list. Further details regarding the content list,
including how the list may be presented to a user within a GUI, are
described below with respect to FIGS. 12-17.
[0243] FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a GUI 1200 for
presenting social media performance assessment and/or score
rankings to a user. In one aspect, one or more assets 1210 may be
presented and/or ranked in ascending or descending order based, at
least in part, on their respective social media performance
assessments 1220. In one embodiment, in addition to information
identifying each asset and corresponding performance information,
information 1230 indicative of any recent change in an assessment
over a predetermined time period, such as an hour, day, or week,
may also be presented. Of course, these predetermined time periods
are only illustrative and a recent change in an assessment may be
determined based on any reasonable or desirable time period.
[0244] In another aspect, information 1240 identifying the most
engaging social media content items associated with each asset may
be presented. In one embodiment, the social media content may be
content placed on a social media platform by the asset.
Alternatively, the social media content may reflect a conversation
started by an entity or platform member other than the asset, but
otherwise associated with the asset, e.g., the asset may be
mentioned by name in the conversation. Ancillary information 1250
pertaining to the most engaging social media content for each asset
may also be presented. In some embodiments, the original content
and/or a most recent engagement with the original content may be
presented. Additionally or alternatively, further information
indicating how members of a social media platform have interacted
with the most engaging social media content may be displayed. For
example, information may be displayed indicating how many members
have viewed the content and/or how many members have engaged the
content. Of course, additional or alternative information
indicative of members' interactions with the content may also be
displayed and the aforementioned examples are not intended to be
exhaustive of the possibilities.
[0245] In a further aspect, information 1260 indicative of a
sentiment surrounding each presented asset may be displayed. In one
embodiment, social media content associated with each asset may be
analyzed over a predetermined time period and it may be determined
whether the general sentiment surrounding the content is favorable
or unfavorable, and to what extent. Sentiment may be determined
through analysis of text, keywords, or character strings associated
with the content item and/or asset. Systems and methods for
analyzing social media content and calculating a sentiment
associated with the content are known, and any such system or
method is suitable for use in the GUI described herein.
[0246] A user presented with data reflective of an asset's
performance assessment within the content of a peer group, the
assessments of one or more entities within the peer group,
information indicative of any recent changes in the assessments,
and/or the sentiment surrounding content items associated with each
asset or entity may gain an appreciation not only for how the
asset's social media performance currently compares to its peers,
but whether the asset is engaging in behavior likely to result in a
future rise or fall in performance with respect to the peer group.
A user may also appreciate, apart from an asset's performance
assessment, whether the asset's recent efforts are outperforming or
underperforming those of its peers.
[0247] In another aspect of the GUI presented in FIG. 12, one or
more drop-down menus or selectable filters 1270 may be presented to
the user for manipulation. These filters may correspond, in some
embodiments, to information tagged or otherwise associated with one
or more assets, entities, social media profiles, and/or peer
groups. Information tagging is discussed in more detail above with
respect to FIG. 4. Moreover, because a user may select or otherwise
determine the types of information with which to tag one or more
assets, entities, social media profiles, and/or peer groups, the
user may also select or otherwise determine the types of
corresponding filters are displayed within the GUI. For example,
where a user elects not to tag any assets, entities, social media
profiles, and/or peer groups with geographic data, or otherwise
indicates that geographic considerations are unimportant, a
geographic filter may not be present or displayed within the
GUI.
[0248] In one embodiment, a user of the GUI may select from which
social media platforms data is to be analyzed and/or presented. A
user may further select a tier within a peer group for which the
user desires to receive information and/or a subset of entities
within a tier. Moreover, each the options available in any one or
more menus may be responsive to input received at another. For
example a user's selection within a "vertical tier" drop-down menu
or filter may have an effect on the options available under the
"peer group" drop-down menu or filter.
[0249] Additional drop-down menus or filters may also be present
for limiting and/or refining the presented assessment information.
For example, using a market size drop-down menu or filter, a user
may be able to select between a "small," "mid-size," "large" and/or
"mega" market. Alternatively, a user may be able to select all
markets or a subset of markets. In this manner, the user may
dynamically define a peer group within which an asset may be
assessed.
[0250] A user may further define a peer group using geographic
filters. For example, a user may limit a peer group to entities
located in the same country, time zone, state, zip code, county,
school zone, or voting precinct. The user may also select no
geographic restraints. Of course, other geographic restraints are
also possible and the aforementioned list is only illustrative of
the possibilities.
[0251] In a further aspect, the user may also select a time frame
over which to collect and analyze social media data. The time
frames may be, for example, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, or a
month. Of course, these examples are only illustrative and other
suitable time frame may be possible, including but not limited to a
real-time stream of all available data that may or may not include
all or a subset of historical data. In any such embodiments, and as
described above in more detail, different time intervals within the
selected time frame may be weighted in some suitable fashion. For
example, more recent activity may be weighted more heavily than
relatively old or stale activity. Using the selectable time frames
in this manner, in instances where the impact of an event, report,
story, or activity is of particular interest, a user may select a
time frame such that only data collected since the occurrence of
the event, report, story, or activity may be analyzed and/or
presented within the GUI.
[0252] A user may also be afforded an opportunity to define a
demographic subset of social media users from which to analyze
and/or present assessment information. For example, a user may be
interested in an asset's social media performance and that of its
peers among a particular demographic such as, for example, men
between 25 and 50 years old or women over 50 years old.
[0253] Using any combination of the one or more filters 1270, a
user may define, re-define, or customize a peer group and/or the
presented assessment information to best suit the user's needs. For
example, the user may view relatively high-level performance
assessments for a large or loosely defined peer group by applying
few if any filters, or the user may view relatively micro-level
assessments corresponding to a narrowly tailored peer group by
applying a number or all of the available filters.
[0254] GUI 1200 may further present information indicative of a
"Historical" record 1280. Among other things, this feature may
present information pertaining to each presented asset indicative
of: (1) the asset's identity; (2) the asset's current assessment
rank within its peer group; (3) the asset's highest rank to-date;
(4) the date on which the asset achieved its highest rank; (5) the
date on which the asset first entered the ranking; and/or (6) the
number of places the asset has risen or fallen since any preceding
assessments were conducted. Of course, these examples only
illustrative of the possibilities and any other useful or desirable
data may also be presented within the Historical record.
[0255] In some embodiments of the GUI, such as the embodiment
depicted in FIG. 13, a "Most Recent" record 1290 may be displayed
or presented. This record may comprise a list of the most recent
social media activity of all assets for which assessment data is
presented within the GUI. This listing may be presented in
ascending or descending order, and may provide a user with
information regarding which assets have most recently been active
within a social media platform. Among other things, this feature
may present information pertaining to: (1) an asset's identity; (2)
the time elapsed since the asset's most recent social media
activity; and/or (3) information indicative of the content
associated with the asset's most recent social media activity. Of
course, these examples are only illustrative of the possibilities
and any other useful or desirable data may also be presented within
the Most Recent record.
[0256] FIG. 14 depicts another illustrative embodiment of a GUI for
presenting social media performance assessment information to a
user. In one embodiment, social media performance assessment
information for a peer group 1405 may be presented. Peer group 1405
may comprise a plurality of assets 1410. In the depicted
embodiment, peer group 1405 may comprise a plurality of television
networks. In alternative embodiments, however, peer group 1405 may
comprise a plurality of any type of entities.
[0257] In one aspect, performance assessment information may
accompany each asset 1410 within peer group 1405. In one
embodiment, the performance assessment information may comprise
performance assessment share information 1420 and performance
assessment composite information 1422. Systems and methods for
determining the share information 1420 and composite information
1422 is described above.
[0258] In another aspect, the share information may comprise any
one or more of a share of audience, a share of voice, a share of
engagement, and a share of reach associated with each asset 1410
within peer group 1405. In one embodiment, the share information
1420 may further comprise a graphical representation 1424 of share
information. For example, graphical representation 1424 may
graphically depict any one of the share of audience, voice,
engagement, or reach associated with an asset 1410. In further
embodiments, the overall size of graphical representation 1424 may
reflect the market size of peer group 1405 or the market size of a
corresponding asset 1410. Market or filter information 1426
substantially similar to that described with respect to FIGS. 12
and 13 may also be displayed within the GUI.
[0259] In a further aspect, the GUI depicted in FIG. 14 may
comprise a chart 1430 graphically depicting the performance
assessments of each asset 1410 in peer group 1405 over time. In one
embodiment, chart 1430 may comprise a line graph depicting
performance assessments 1432 along a y-axis over time 1434 along an
x-axis. Moreover, a user may navigate to different time frames
using an element 1436 of the GUI. Of course, other charts or
graphical representations of performance assessment information
pertaining to one or more entities may also be presented, and chart
1430 is only illustrative of one possibility.
[0260] In particular, performance assessment information may be
charted for each asset 1410, represented by lines 1440a, 1440b,
1440c, 1440d, and 1440e, respectively. More detailed information
regarding performance assessment information at a selected time may
also be depicted at chart 1430. For example, a user may select a
point 1452 in time at which to view performance assessment
information 1450 corresponding to each asset 1410. Performance
assessment information 1450 may comprise any type of assessment
information corresponding to point 1452 in time, including but not
limited to, composite information, share information, and
comparative score information.
[0261] In one aspect, not only may assessment information be
presented for each asset 1410 within peer group 1405, but
performance assessment information may be presented for associated
assets belonging to lower or higher tiers of peer group 1405. In
one embodiment, one or more assets 1410 may be selected from peer
group 1405 (a selection may be indicated by the grayed out area
1460a surrounding the ABC asset in FIG. 14). One or more associated
assets 1460 belonging to a higher or lower tier of peer group 1405,
and associated with any selected assets 1410, may then be
presented. In this manner, a user may simultaneously view
performance assessment information pertaining to multiple tiers of
a peer group or an industry as a whole. Such a multi-tier view
affords the user a great deal of context within which to assess the
performance of one or more assets, and intuitively decipher how the
social media performance of one or more assets within a first tier
of a peer group may affect the social media performance of one or
more assets within another tier of the peer group.
[0262] These one or more associated assets 1460 may represent
assets whose primary social media profiles were taken into
consideration when assessing the social media performance of an
asset 1410 of peer group 1405. In such an embodiment, the one or
more associated assets 1460 may represent their own peer group
(i.e., a plurality of assets, each of which contributes to the
social media performance of an asset 1410.)
[0263] In one embodiment, performance assessment information may
accompany each of the associated assets 1460 and reflect the social
media performance of those associated assets 1460. For example, one
associated asset may be accompanied by a composite score rank
information 1462 indicative of where the respective associated
asset ranks among its peer group with respect to social media
performance. As discussed above, the composite score rank may be
based on various composite scores, including but not limited to, a
percentile score, a T-score, or a share assessment.
[0264] Alternatively, or additionally, each associated asset 1460
may be presented in conjunction with share information 1464, 1466,
1468 comprising any one or more of a share of audience, a share of
voice, a share of engagement, and a share of reach for each
associated asset 1460. Additional composite score information 1470
may also be presented, upon which rank information 1462 may be
based.
[0265] In a further embodiment, each associated asset may be
further accompanied by an indicator 1472 indicating one or more
social media platforms from which data may have been retrieved
and/or analyzed for assessing the performance of the respective
associated asset 1460.
[0266] In another aspect, the GUI depicted in FIG. 14 may further
comprise a list of social media content items 1480. In one
embodiment, the content items may be content items published to one
or more social media platforms by any one or more of assets 1410.
In an alternative embodiment, the content items may be content
items published by any one or more of associated assets 1460. In
other embodiments, the content items may be content items published
by any or more of a combination of assets 1410 and associated
assets 1460.
[0267] Among other things, the list of content items 1480 may
present information comprising: (1) information identifying the
asset that published the respective content; (2) information
identifying the social media platform at which the content was
published; (3) the published content or a portion thereof; (4) the
time and/or date on which the content was published; and/or (5) a
link for accessing additional information associated with each
content item. Of course, these examples only illustrative of the
possibilities and any other useful or desirable data may also be
presented within the list of content items 1480.
[0268] In a further aspect, content list 1480 may comprise a
plurality of selectable lists (selectable using, for example, tabs
at the top of content list 1480). In one embodiment, content list
1480 may comprise, for example, a "live stream" list, a "top
content" list, and/or a "trending content" list. A live stream list
may comprise a list of content items as they are published over one
or more social media platforms. Such a list may be updated in
real-time, as content items publish, or as new content items are
retrieved from the one or more social media servers. In a further
embodiment, the newest or most recently published content items may
appear at the top of the list, while older content items move
progressively further down the list as new content items
appear.
[0269] A top content list may, among other things, rank content
items based on one or more criteria. For instance, content items
retrieved from the one or more social media servers may be ranked
according to any one or more of their respective audience, voice,
engagement, reach, influence, or impact. As an example, content
items at the top of the list may reflect those content items with
the highest engagement (as described above). As additional data may
be retrieved from the one or more social media platforms, whether
in real-time or otherwise, engagement information may be updated
with respect to each content item and the top content list may be
updated accordingly.
[0270] Similarly, a trending content list may, among other things,
rank content items based on one or more criteria. In one
embodiment, content items presented in the trending content list
may be ranked based, at least in part, on the velocity associated
with each content item. Systems and methods for determining a
velocity associated with a content item are presented in more
detail above. Content items at the top of the trending content list
may represent those content items associated with the highest
velocity, while the content items lower on the list may be
associated with progressively lower velocity. As additional data
may be retrieved from the one or more social media platforms,
whether in real-time or otherwise, the velocity associated with
each content item may be updated and the trending content list may
be updated accordingly.
[0271] FIG. 15 depicts another illustrative embodiment of a GUI for
the presentation of social media performance assessment
information. Like the GUI depicted in FIG. 14, the GUI depicted in
FIG. 15 may display multi-tier information, i.e., assessment
information pertaining to one or more assets belonging to different
tiers within a peer group or an industry/marketplace.
[0272] In one aspect, an asset 1510 may be identified and presented
in conjunction with performance assessment information 1512, 1514,
and 1516. In one embodiment, assessment information 1512 may
reflect one or more composite scores associated with asset 1510,
including but not limited to, a composite share score, a composite
T-score, and/or a composite percentile score. Assessment
information 1514 and 1516, on the other hand, may reflect social
media platform-specific information, such as but not limited to,
one or more of a composite share score, a composite T-score, and/or
a composite percentile score with respect to a specific social
media platform. Selection or identification of asset 1510 may be
performed, among other ways, using a drop-down menu or filter 1518.
In one embodiment, selection of an asset filter such as 1518 may
present a list of one or more assets within a common tier of a peer
group. An asset to be featured within the GUI may then be selected
from filter 1518 (here, as an example, New York Channel 4 has been
highlighted and/or selected).
[0273] In another aspect, associated assets 1520a, 1520b, and 1520c
may be presented in the GUI in conjunction with assessment
information associated with each respective associated asset. As
described above with respect to FIG. 14, associated assets 1520a,
1520b, and 1520c may represent assets within the same peer group,
but belonging to a different tier, as compared to asset 1510. For
example, assets 1520a, 1520b, and 1520c may be assets the social
media performance of which affect (or otherwise taken into
consideration when determining) the social media performance of
asset 1510. In the particular embodiment depicted, asset 1510 may
be a local news station (e.g., New York Channel 4) and assets
1520a, 1520b, and 1520c may be television personalities or news
anchors appearing on the local news station.
[0274] In conjunction with each associated asset, performance
assessment information pertaining to the respective asset may be
presented. In one embodiment, each associated asset may be
presented in conjunction with rank information 1522, score
information 1524, and/or an assessment graph 1526.
[0275] In one embodiment, rank information 1522 indicative of where
an associated asset ranks among its peer group with respect to
social media performance may be presented for one or more
associated assets. As discussed above, the rank information may be
based, at least in part, on any performance assessment information,
including but not limited to a composite score. In further
embodiments, such a composite score may be based, at least in part,
on any one or more of a percentile score, a T-score, or a share
assessment/score. Moreover, each associated asset may be displayed
in a list sorted in accordance with its corresponding rank within a
peer group.
[0276] Score information 1524 may represent any suitable assessment
information pertaining to an associated asset. For example, score
information 1524 may comprise any one or more of a composite score,
such as a composite percentile score, a composite T-score, or a
composite share assessment/score. Additionally, or alternatively,
score information 1524 may comprise any one or more aspects of a
composite score, including but not limited to, an audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach associated with the respective asset.
Score information 1524 may also comprise influence or impact
assessment information.
[0277] In another aspect, in addition to presenting rank
information 1522 and score information 1524, the GUI may also
comprise a graph 1526 reflecting assessment information for a
corresponding asset over time. The assessment information
represented within the graph may be any suitable assessment
information, including but not limited to, a composite percentile
score, a composite T-score, a composite share assessment/score,
audience assessment information, voice assessment information,
engagement assessment information, reach assessment information,
influence assessment information, and/or impact assessment
information. In one embodiment, as was the case with the GUI
described with respect to FIG. 14, a time 1528 within graph 1526
may be selected by the user in order to present a "snapshot" of
assessment information at that time. Moreover, the time frame
represented in graph 1526 may be shortened or lengthened using a
drop-down menu or filter 1530. In one embodiment, selection of
filter 1530 may bring up one or more selectable time frames over
which to display data at graph 1526. For example, filter 1530 may
comprise an hour time frame, a day time frame, a week time frame, a
month time frame, a year time frame, and/or an all-time time frame.
It should be noted, however, that these examples are only
illustrative of the possibilities, and any suitable time frame may
be included in filter 1530.
[0278] It may be appreciated that using a GUI such as the GUI
depicted in FIG. 15, not only may a user view social media
performance data associated with asset 1510, but the user may also
gain an understanding of which associated assets within a peer
group or hierarchical structure are bolstering or hindering the
social media performance of asset 1510. Moreover, a user may
understand whether each such associated asset's performance is
trending upward or downward. In one embodiment, an associated
asset's score information 1524 may comprise a plurality of score
types, and each may be based on a unique time frame. For example,
score information 1524 may comprise both a composite percentile
score and a composite share assessment score. In particular, the
composite percentile score may take into consideration social media
data collected over a longer time period than the data upon which
the share assessment score is based. In this manner, the user may
be presented with one score (e.g., a composite percentile score)
reflective of an asset's social media performance established over
a relatively long time period and a second score (e.g., a share
assessment score) reflective of more recent social media
performance. Viewing the two scores simultaneously may facilitate a
determination as to the direction in which the asset's social media
performance may be trending. The same multi-time frame scoring
assessments may also be displayed with respect to asset 1510. Of
course, these examples of the types of information that may be
interpreted from viewing the GUI of FIG. 15 are only illustrative,
and a user may derive many other insights from the GUI.
[0279] In another aspect, the GUI depicted in FIG. 15 may further
comprise a list of social media content items 1540. In one
embodiment, the content items may be content items published to one
or more social media platforms by asset 1510. In an alternative
embodiment, the content items may be content items published by any
one or more of associated assets 1520a, 1520b, 1520c. In other
embodiments, the content items may be content items published by
any or more of a combination of asset 1510 and associated assets
1520a, 1520b, 1520c.
[0280] Among other things, the list of content items 1540 may
present information comprising: (1) information identifying the
asset that published the respective content; (2) information
identifying the social media platform at which the content was
published; (3) the published content or a portion thereof; and (4)
the time and/or date on which the content was published (or some
indication as to how long ago the content was published). Of
course, these examples only illustrative of the possibilities and
any other useful or desirable data may also be presented within the
list of content items 1540.
[0281] In a further aspect, and like content list 1480 described
with respect to FIG. 14, content list 1540 may comprise a plurality
of selectable lists (selectable using, for example, tabs at the top
of content list 1540). In one embodiment, content list 1540 may
comprise, for example, a "live stream" list, a "top content" list,
and/or a "trending content" list. In one embodiment, these lists
may be substantially similar to those described above with respect
to content list 1480. In alternative embodiments, these lists may
incorporate additional, fewer, or alternative features as compared
to the corresponding lists described above with respect to content
list 1480.
[0282] FIG. 16 depicts another illustrative embodiment of a GUI for
the presentation of social media performance assessment
information. In one aspect, the GUI depicted in FIG. 16 may display
detailed assessment information associated with an asset 1610. In
one embodiment, asset 1610 may be identified and presented in
conjunction with performance assessment information 1620, 1622,
1624, and 1626. Assessment information 1620 may represent, among
other things, one or more composite scores associated with asset
1610, including but not limited to, a composite share score, a
composite T-score, and/or a composite percentile score.
Additionally, or alternatively, assessment information 1620 may
comprise any one or more aspects of a composite score, including
but not limited to, an audience, voice, engagement, and/or reach
associated with asset 1610. Assessment information 1620 may also
comprise influence or impact assessment information.
[0283] Rank information identifying a rank associated with asset
1610 within a peer group may also be presented at assessment
information 1620. As discussed above, any such rank information may
be based, at least in part, on any performance assessment
information, including but not limited to a composite score. Such a
composite score may be based, at least in part, on any one or more
of a percentile score, a T-score, or a share assessment/score.
[0284] In another aspect, assessment information 1622, 1624, and
1626 may reflect social media platform-specific information, such
as but not limited to, one or more of a composite share score, a
composite T-score, and/or a composite percentile score with respect
to a specific social media platform. Selection or identification of
asset 1610 may be performed, among other ways, using a drop-down
menu or filter 1612. In one embodiment, selection of an asset
filter such as 1612 may present a list of one or more assets within
a common tier of a peer group. An asset to be featured within the
GUI may then be selected from filter 1612.
[0285] In a further aspect, the GUI may also comprise an assessment
graph 1628 reflecting assessment information associated with asset
1610 over time. The assessment information represented within the
graph may be any suitable assessment information, including but not
limited to, a composite percentile score, a composite T-score, a
composite share assessment/score, audience assessment information,
voice assessment information, engagement assessment information,
reach assessment information, influence assessment information,
and/or impact assessment information. In the embodiment depicted in
FIG. 16, social media platform-specific assessment information may
be represented at graph 1628, such that a user may determine how
asset 1610 is performing on each social media platform with respect
to the others.
[0286] In a further embodiment, as was the case with the GUI
described with respect to FIGS. 14 and 15, a particular time within
graph 1628 may be selected by the user in order to present a
"snapshot" of assessment information at that time. Moreover, the
time frame represented in graph 1628 may be shortened or lengthened
using a drop-down menu or filter 1629. In one embodiment, selection
of filter 1629 may bring up one or more selectable time frames over
which to display data at graph 1628. For example, filter 1629 may
comprise an hour time frame, a day time frame, a week time frame, a
month time frame, a year time frame, and/or an all-time time frame.
It should be noted, however, that these examples are only
illustrative of the possibilities, and any suitable time frame may
be included in filter 1629.
[0287] In one aspect, the GUI may further comprise asset-specific
content lists, including but not limited to, a "live stream" list
1630, a "top content" list 1632, and a "trending content" list
1634. In one embodiment, asset-specific, live stream list 1630 may
comprise a list of content items published by the asset, the
content items appearing on the list as they are published over one
or more social media platforms. Such a list may be updated in
real-time, as content items publish, or as new content items are
retrieved from the one or more social media servers at
predetermined intervals. In a further embodiment, the newest or
most recently published content items may appear at the top of the
list, while older content items may move progressively further down
the list as new content items appear. Each content item within the
live stream list may also comprise additional details regarding the
content item, including but not limited to, an indication of when
the content item was published, all or a portion of the content,
and/or a link to additional information associated with the content
item.
[0288] Asset-specific, top content list 1632 may, among other
things, rank content items published by asset 1610 based on one or
more criteria. For instance, content items retrieved from the one
or more social media servers may be ranked according to any one or
more of their respective audience, voice, engagement, reach,
influence, or impact. As an example, content items at the top of
the list may reflect those content items published by asset 1610
associated with the highest engagement (as described above). As
additional data may be retrieved from the one or more social media
platforms, whether in real-time or otherwise, engagement
information (or other criteria used) may be updated with respect to
each content item and the asset-specific, top content list may be
updated accordingly. Each content item within the asset-specific,
top content list may also comprise additional details regarding the
content item, including but not limited to, an indication of when
the content item was initially published, all or a portion of the
content, and/or a link to additional information associated with
the content item.
[0289] Similarly, asset-specific, trending content list 1634 may,
among other things, rank content items published by asset 1610
based on one or more criteria. In one embodiment, content items
presented in the trending content list may be ranked based, at
least in part, on the velocity associated with each content item.
Systems and methods for determining a velocity associated with a
content item are presented in more detail above. Content items at
the top of the trending content list may represent those content
items published by asset 1610 that may be associated with the
highest velocity, while the content items lower on the list may be
associated with progressively lower velocity. As additional data
may be retrieved from the one or more social media platforms,
whether in real-time or otherwise, the velocity associated with
each content item published by asset 1610 may be updated and the
trending content list may be updated accordingly.
[0290] In another aspect, the GUI depicted in FIG. 16 may further
comprise a list of social media content items 1640. In one
embodiment, the content items may be content items published to one
or more social media platforms by asset 1640, as well as other
entities within asset 1640's peer group. Thus, while lists 1630,
1632, and 1634 may reflect content items and social media activity
specific to asset 1610, content list 1640 may reflect content items
and social media activity within the asset's peer group.
[0291] Among other things, the list of content items 1540 may
present information comprising: (1) information identifying the
asset that published the respective content; (2) information
identifying the social media platform at which the content was
published; (3) the published content or a portion thereof; and (4)
the time and/or date on which the content was published (or some
indication as to how long ago the content was published). Of
course, these examples only illustrative of the possibilities and
any other useful or desirable data may also be presented within
content list 1640.
[0292] In a further aspect, and like the content lists described
above with respect to FIGS. 14 and 15, content list 1640 may
comprise a plurality of selectable lists (selectable using, for
example, tabs at the top of content list 1640). In one embodiment,
content list 1640 may comprise, for example, a "live stream" list,
a "top content" list, and/or a "trending content" list. In one
embodiment, these lists may be substantially similar to those
described above with respect to content lists 1480 and 1540. In
alternative embodiments, these lists may incorporate additional,
fewer, or alternative features as compared to the corresponding
lists described above with respect to content lists 1480 and
1540.
[0293] FIG. 17 depicts another illustrative embodiment of a GUI for
presenting social media performance assessment information to a
user. In one embodiment, social media performance assessment
information for a peer group 1705 may be presented. The peer group
may comprise a plurality of assets 1710. In the embodiment depicted
in FIG. 17, assets 1710 may comprise a plurality of television
networks. In alternative embodiments, however, assets 1710 may
comprise a plurality of any type of entities.
[0294] In one aspect, performance assessment information may
accompany each asset 1710 within peer group 1705. In one
embodiment, the performance assessment information may comprise
performance assessment information 1720 and performance assessment
graphs 1730 and 1740. Assessment information 1720 may represent,
among other things, one or more composite scores associated with
each corresponding asset 1710, including but not limited to, a
composite share score, a composite T-score, and/or a composite
percentile score. Additionally, or alternatively, assessment
information 1720 may comprise any one or more aspects of a
composite score, including but not limited to, an audience, voice,
engagement, and/or reach associated with asset 1710. Assessment
information 1720 may also comprise influence or impact assessment
information.
[0295] Rank information identifying a rank associated with each
asset 1710 within peer group 1705 may also be presented at
assessment information 1720. As discussed above, any such rank
information may be based, at least in part, on any performance
assessment information, including but not limited to a composite
score. In further embodiments, such a composite score may be based,
at least in part, on any one or more of a percentile score, a
T-score, or a share assessment/score.
[0296] In another aspect, the GUI may also comprise assessment
graphs 1730 and 1740 reflecting performance assessment information
associated with each of assets 1710 over time. In one embodiment,
the assessment information represented within graph 1730 for each
asset 1710 may be any suitable assessment information, including
but not limited to, a composite percentile score, a composite
T-score, a composite share assessment/score, audience assessment
information, voice assessment information, engagement assessment
information, reach assessment information, influence assessment
information, and/or impact assessment information associated with
each asset. In particular, the type of assessment information
presented in graph 1730 may be selected by a user using, for
example, a drop-down menu or filter 1732.
[0297] In one embodiment, graph 1730 may comprise a line graph
depicting performance assessment information. In particular,
performance assessment information within graph 1730 may be
represented by a plurality of lines 1734, each line corresponding
to performance assessment information for one of the assets 1710.
In one embodiment, each of the plurality of lines is color-coded to
a corresponding indicator 1736 associated with each of the assets
1710. Of course, other graphs, charts, or graphical representations
of performance assessment information pertaining to assets 1710 may
also be presented, and graph 1730 is only illustrative of one
possibility.
[0298] More detailed information regarding performance assessment
information at a selected time may also be depicted at graph 1730.
For example, a user may select a point in time 1736 at which to
view a snapshot of performance assessment information 1738
associated with one or more assets 1710. Performance assessment
information 1738 may comprise any type of assessment information
corresponding to time 1736, including but not limited to, composite
information, share information, comparative score information,
and/or any aspect thereof.
[0299] In the embodiment depicted at FIG. 17, assessment
information 1738 may comprise asset-specific information, i.e.,
assessment information specific to one of the assets 1710 within
peer group 1705 (as shown, assessment information 1738 may depict
assessment information associated with a CBS Channel 2 television
station). Assessment information 1738 may comprise any additional
or suitable assessment information, including but not limited to, a
composite percentile score, a composite T-score, a composite share
assessment/score, audience assessment information, voice assessment
information, engagement assessment information, reach assessment
information, influence assessment information, and/or impact
assessment information. Assessment information 1738 may further
include content items associated with an asset at time 1736. The
content items may comprise, among other things: (1) information
identifying an asset that published the respective content; (2)
information identifying the social media platform at which the
content was published; (3) the published content or a portion
thereof; (4) the time and/or date on which the content was
published (or an amount of time that may have lapsed since the
content was published; and/or (5) a link for accessing additional
information associated with each content item. Of course, these
examples are only illustrative of the possibilities and any other
useful or desirable data may be presented within the content
items.
[0300] In another aspect, the GUI may comprise graph 1740. In one
embodiment, graph 1740 may convey any previously-described
assessment information associated with any one or more of assets
1710, including but not limited to, a composite percentile score, a
composite T-score, a composite share assessment/score, audience
assessment information, voice assessment information, engagement
assessment information, reach assessment information, influence
assessment information, and/or impact assessment information
associated with each asset. In particular, like the information
presented in graph 1730, the type of assessment information
presented in graph 1740 may be selected by a user using, for
example, a drop-down menu or filter 1732. In one embodiment, the
type of information presented in graph 1740 may be specified
independent of the type of information presented in graph 1730. In
an alternative embodiment, specifying a particular type of
information for presentation in one of graphs 1730 and 1740 may
automatically determine the type of information to be presented in
the other graph.
[0301] As shown in FIG. 17, graph 1740 may also comprise a graph
depicting the volume of some aspect of social media activity
associated with assets 1710. The aspect depicted may be any
suitable aspect described previously herein, including but not
limited to an audience, voice, engagement, or reach associated with
each of assets 1710.
[0302] Moreover, where a user has selected a time 1736 overlaying
both graphs 1730 and 1740, more detailed information 1744 regarding
the depicted performance assessment information within graph 1740
at time 1736 may be displayed. For example, detailed information
1744 may present a snapshot of the volume for some aspect of social
media activity associated with assets 1710 at time 1736.
[0303] In a further aspect, a time frame represented in graphs 1730
and 1740 may be shortened or lengthened using a drop-down menu or
filter 1750. In one embodiment, selection of filter 1750 may bring
up one or more selectable time frames over which to display data at
graphs 1730 and 1740. For example, filter 1750 may comprise an hour
time frame, a day time frame, a week time frame, a month time
frame, a year time frame, and/or an all-time time frame. It should
be noted, however, that these examples are only illustrative of the
possibilities, and any suitable time frame may be included in
filter 1750.
[0304] Additional features may also be incorporated into the
described systems and methods to improve their functionality. For
example, systems and/or methods may be devised for allowing a user
to input rules for identifying both good social media performance
and poor social media performance. Such rules may be based on any
one or more of the social media performance assessment information,
scoring, or ranking described herein. In one embodiment, excellent
social media performance may trigger a congratulatory alert to the
one or more assets associated with the social media performance.
Alternatively, poor social media performance may trigger an alter
to the one or more assets associated with the social media
performance, informing those assets as to the performance
assessment(s) and/or recommending steps that may be taken to
improve future performance.
[0305] The systems and method described herein may also be used to
survey the social media performance of a plurality of assets across
an industry. Such a survey may then be used to benchmark an asset's
social media performance against that of the industry and/or
develop best practices for improving social media performance.
[0306] Other embodiments of the aforementioned systems and methods
will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of
the specification and practice of this disclosure. It is intended
that the specification and examples be considered as illustrative
only, with the true scope and spirit of the disclosure being
indicated by the following claims.
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