Measuring Social Media Values in Sponsorship - Part 1

As a company committed to the sponsorship industry, we have a great deal at stake. Over the past decade or so, we have developed and implemented proprietary metrics and valuations for measuring sponsorship asset values. Along with IEG standard metrics and other companies dedicated to this industry, these valuations have become industry standards. When a sponsorship selling property is having an inventory asset identification and valuation audit (IAV) done by the Partnership Group - Sponsorship Specialists™ or others, the pinpointed value of each asset can be determined. Likewise, when a brand hires the Partnership Group - Sponsorship Specialists™ or others to value the assets in a sponsorship proposal they have been presented, the exact value of that package can be determined. We can tell you the value of the sponsor logo on the composite signage at the event or the name mention on the radio commercial. We can pinpoint the value of a speaking opportunity, sampling opportunity, or program ad. Yes, for every single asset that can be bought or sold, we can isolate the real market value based on a three-step proprietary process. We have been doing so for over a decade.

Then along came this new thing-social media. We have always been able to consult and advise on it, but how effective really were we and others? Web site assets were identified in our existing metrics with identifying assets and valuing them against real market values for everything from logo inclusion to branded or unbranded content-from pop ups to banner ads. We had those covered. But what about Facebook and Twitter? What about Pinterest and Foursquare? Could all those assets be identified within a sponsorable property such as a charity, a gala, a pro or amateur sports team? And once they were identified, how could we place values on them?

As an industry leader and the company in the forefront of social and digital media specifically in the sponsorship industry, we set out to tackle these questions several years ago. Ongoing research and periodic reviews and collaboration along with information gathering have been undertaken since just before the turn of this decade. Then late last year, all this information was assimilated. In February, the Partnership Group - Sponsorship Specialists™ took the next step in the fully collaborative undertaking. At that point, we took all we knew and had developed and tested and built a system for identifying and valuing social and digital media in relation to sponsorship.

The outcome from beta testing, industry input, and senior level industry collaboration is a clear and concise set of industry metrics to ensure that our clients have leading edge information and metrics in order to successfully identify and value sponsorsable assets to measure against results.

Today, in addition to the IAV work we have always delivered as the most comprehensive and detailed in the industry for asset identification and valuation, we can also provide these same services specifically for social and digital media. Through the results of this work, our proprietary systems can now pinpoint the value of a "like" from a sponsor property's Facebook page or the value of a re-tweet by a property. Our team of senior level consultants and advisors, along with a dedicated sponsorship social media department, can identify these social media assets when building an inventory of assets. Furthermore, we can pinpoint the values of those assets for the IAV as well as for our brand clients who need to know the true value of the social media sponsorship assets.

The industry continues to mature. It grows in size thanks to the research provided by the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study. Our professional development opportunities such as the SMCC Western Sponsorship Congress™, Canadian Sponsorship Forum, Atlantic Sponsorship Forum, the SMCC One Day Workshop Series, and others ensure that the educational development of our industry is leading edge. Now the industry can also deliver industry accepted and tested social and digital media asset valuations and property asset identification. As an industry, we continue to evolve. As we do, so do our metrics and systems. Once again, we have taken a huge step forward in the credibility of our industry.

Brent Barootes