brandstation

User Activity Insight with Polestar

2009-04-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

Brandstation site owners now have access to powerful User Activity Reports which are integrated with SAP BusinessObjects Polestar!

As a site owner you in the Admin > Activity Report page, there are two new links.
“Export User Activity Report” allows the latest social network activity to be saved as an excel file.

“View User Activity in Polestar” adds a powerful visualisation to network activity.

image: most active participation around a tagged topic

As we have created enterprise social network applications we understand that typically the larger the organisation the more perspective is needed to visualise usage and behavior statistics to highlight the big picture and drive business value.

image: relationship between members around activities

By integrating the brandstation User Activity data with Polestar ondemand, you can now get an in-depth understanding of the behavior and participation on your social network. For example you might want to highlight where focused conversations are happening, who is having those conversations, which users have the strongest relationships or predict what activities will be the most popular amongst different users.

image: event search with member trends

Integrating brandstation with SAP BusinessObjects Polestar means you now have simple, rapid analytical power to provide immediate answers to business questions. You can use keyword searches to explore information in business intelligence, problem solving and communications.

The real time nature of social networking presents a problem in understanding how business processes are solved. So far this has remained untouched by social network applications. With Polestar we’re now able to mashup data from disparate data tables of social network user behavior into a new fluid and rich interface, representing member engagement activity and conversation participation. Further, we’re able to drill into specific topics and with date/time stamping to find emerging trends.

image: visualise contribution of tagged content and user activity

Possible usage scenarios:
Wanting to know which people are likely to be the most active contributors around a specific topic and to engage and participate in conversation.

image: which are the most active members

We’re also able to select specific activities and topic areas to further focus on active members in those areas.

image: contribution of activity tagged topics

What are the most used interaction methods and social network site features by people in the network to know what to promote for highest adoption in your network.

image: most popular activities

The User Activity reports include:
Username – unique for person identification
User activity – currently covering these functions: created a blog post, updated a blog post, created an event, updated an event, logged in, logged out, wrote a comment on a blog, wrote video comment, updated their status, updated their profile, joined a Team, left a team, accepted an event, declined an event, added a friend, uploaded a File, created a new team, updated a team, added a new forum topic, added a new forum reply, updated a new forum topic, updated a new forum reply, added a new RSS feed, updated an RSS feed, added a new bookmark, updated a bookmark, added a new video, updated a video
Date and time – reference to specific localised region
Participation points – points attributed to user activity where the point rules are defined by the site owner
Relationship – indicates the other users who have also made a contribution to the conversation
Site – indicates the social network site where the user activity was recorded
Tags – based on the submitted content tags or keywords of the related activity item

image: correlation graph of activity spread

Credit to infolinks

2009-04-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

We joined infolinks back in October 2008
How did you hear about Infolinks?
We found out about Infolinks by actively looking for advertising partners
How did you integrate Infolinks? Was it easy or difficult?
It was very easy to add infolinks to our initial site, only a few lines of code
Did you have to change your website to use Infolinks?
No changes were needed on our site to use infolinks, just simply adding the infolinks code
Are you happy with Infolinks earnings?
The infolinks earnings have been to our expectations and we are rolling out the ad format to other new sites
If you worked with in-text before, how would you compare Infolinks and your previous provider?
When we started using infolinks we had tried other ad networks and formats before but this was pretty much the easiest one to implement and again the easiest way to make money.
Did you get payments on time?
Payment terms are as expected and fair.
Is the Infolinks support responsive?
I’m the CTO of a company looking after 150+ sites, some we create for clients and some we run ourselves, can you imagine how many emails / developments / issues I have to deal with everyday! Well I remember our Account Manager and Support at Infolinks, she’s called Sarah. I remember this not because we’ve had to be in contact much but because she has been so super quick and helpful. We now have bigger plans and Infolinks we have a place with us as we go forward. Viewmy.tv develops cutting edge social media technology to create communication and collaboration tools that are easy to access, use, manage and moderate with user-friendly interfaces. The company runs a portfolio of online community based properties including www.viewmy.tv, a free live Internet TV aggregation service (getting over 1 million impressions per month) providing access to thousands of free streaming TV channels from all over the World. Brandstation is the outstanding product of Viewmy.tv Ltd, a London based social media company focusing on innovative social network technology. Brandstation sites are created instantly as soon as you sign up, with no downloads, or installations, or technical experience needed, which makes it easy for anyone to have a live social network and start building a community.

Moderation tools in the Brandstation platform

2009-04-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

Moderation tools in the Brandstation platform

Viewmy.tv fully understands the issue of moderation and security of websites after building and running many communities in our network of 150+ sites.

Brandstation provides a moderation toolset/ range of moderation tools that are ready to go/available to on demand social networks, while bespoke solutions can be developed.

Brandstation aims to enable owners to have full control over their site.

Moderation tools allow site content to be managed by site owners and other admin members with assigned access permissions (multiple site moderators are possible).

Moderation rules are configurable by the admin staff.

Content items can be reported on by all members of a brandstation social network.

Components may also be configured in such a way that make it mandatory that only content items that have been approved by a moderator will appear live.

Moderators may assign content items to another moderator.

The moderation summary page provides a simple reporting feature that allows printed or filed references to be made by showing todays date, the start date and end date range of the content items that need to be moderated.

The total number of content items is listed versus the number of content items that have been flagged or reported.
The number of active versus inactive items is displayed.

Also noted on the moderation page are the number of moderation comments made on the reported items, the number of content items reassigned to another moderator and the number of users who have been made inactive due to moderation.

The Content made inactive vs Content reported as abuse is also shown as a percentage of rejections.

For every reported item, the following information is available:

User → User that has been reported
Reporter → User that reported the content
Reason→ reason why the content item has been reported
Comments → additional comments by the moderator(s)
Content Title → item/type of content item that has been reported
Content → more detailed information about the content item
Content Abuse Count→ shows how many content items have been reported
Date Reported → date when the content item was reported
Moderator → moderator the content item is assigned to. By default content items are not assigned to any specific moderator.

brandstation development

2009-03-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

Some of the recent changes to the brandstation platform

Front-end > Profile pages > Have a link to invite contacts
Front-end > Network > Have a link to invite contacts
Front-end > Forums > Only allow registered users to post topics and replies
Front-end > RSS import > tags to be imported
Front-end > All Teams > Team summary info changes
Front-end > RSS import > RSS top checkbox to select all
Front-end > Forums > remove image option from forum wysiwug
Front-end > Forums > new design
Front-end > Search engine optimisation (SEO) > sitemap + robot.txt files added
Front-end > Forums > remove the message type options
Front-end > Blog > Automated content reformatting to fit our template
Front-end > Bookmarks > Allow folders to be added
Front-end > Bookmarks import / export
Front-end > File Sharing > Allow multiple teams to be selected
Front-end > RSS import and edit issues
Front-end > Profile > Invite friends / Import contacts
Front-end > Team Details > Add "Invite others to this team" (link)
File Sharing > folders for files
Front-end > Front-end > Events (start and end date)
Front-end > Events > Time picker
Front-end > Video - full description needs to show
Front-end > Profile > Allow user to press enter and not have to click button

Admin > Manage Video > Export and Import option needed
Admin > bookmark folders need to be managed in admin
Admin > Manage Themes
Admin > Moderation Summary Page > link to content
Admin > Manage RSS > import / export ability
Admin > After "Next payment date due by" has passed show reminder
Admin > Up and Down Sorting of RSS + Bookmarks + Videos
Admin > Billing page (allow users to top-up credit or change price plans)
Admin > Manage Teams
Security > Create "honey pot" folders to detect and deter

Currently the dev team have a list of 80 issues to develop :)

Brandstation team at Technology For Marketing & Advertising

2009-02-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

The brandstation team recently attended the Technology For Marketing & Advertising show in London as as usual we'd like to point out a few companies that caught our eye this year:

www.1000mercis.com
www.adfero.com
www.calteq.co.uk
www.communicatorcorp.com
www.ecircle.com
www.netbenefit.com
www.dotmailer.com
www.it.resi.it

Brandstation Social Media Networks - Platform Product Map

2009-01-29T03:22:00.001-08:00

Brandstation Social Media Networks - Platform Product Map v2 (click to enlarge). Also on our flickr page.

Quick update that with our brandstation on-demand service we’ve recently implemented new features such as contact importing from yahoo, google, hotmail, msn. Friend request notifications. RSS import / exporting of OPML files. Video channel list import / exporting as XML. Folders for shared files. Customer changeable design templates.

We’re now running ads across most of the 150+ sites in our network and have some powerful tools that allow us to bulk manage publishing ads from our own ad marketplace or external networks. We expect to be running over 1000 sites this year and are very keen to work on more social media projects. Please contact the brandstation team if you have some social media project work.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing all a Happy New Year and great 2009.

We've had a really good Q4 2008 with the launch of our brandstation on-demand service and we're always excited when someone signs-up for a new site and we're still super busy behind the scenes developing new components and making the site management more intuitive and easy to use.

We've got some great plans for 2009 and really looking forward to increasing our network of content publishing sites.

At the start of 2008 we were managing about 10 sites. Now crossing over into 2009 we're managing over 150 sites !

Thanks to all our partners for the great service and useful feedback. Together we'll be powering some of the most networked social community sites in 2009.

About viewmy.tv

2008-12-12T07:33:00.001-08:00

Viewmy.tv design and build innovative social media technology.

Viewmy.tv provide expertise in social media with ready built core social networking functionality. Their brandstation social network solution has been already implemented for leading global industry blue-chip clients such as Diageo Plc (UK) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK).

Viewmy.tv have ready built on-demand social networking functionality and are able to offer customers compelling solutions with proven engaging features. Viewmy.tv also develop customised innovative social media widgets, gadgets, applications and ad technology. Viewmy.tv fully understand the complex issues around building community web 2.0 social networking platforms, as this is their core business.

Brandstation Video Widget

2008-11-25T03:19:00.000-08:00

Recent press

2008-11-20T08:08:00.001-08:00

Industry news

2008-11-16T14:43:00.001-08:00

DeSilva+Phillips, media investment bankers, announces that its client Ripple6, Inc., a leading provider of social media services, has been sold to Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI). Ripple6 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett and will continue to offer its best of breed social media technology and analytics not only to Gannett but also to an array of top tier marketers and Web publishers.

The Brandstation on-demand platform created by viewmy.tv is able to support multiple social network sites. The on-demand social networks are created with no setup fee and simple low cost hosting options and we're soon going to release an online payment system to allow sites to be created even quicker.

Brandstation on-demand social networks with no setup fee

2008-11-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

Brandstation social network .Net system architechture diagram

2008-10-25T01:25:00.001-07:00

brandstation on-demand social network vendor

brandstation widgets

2008-10-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

We're making widgets for the brandstation social networking application.

This one will show your friends and their status once you've got login details from the brandstation demo site.

Some of the other widgets we've made have been super successful, like the first version of the apple tv widget that became the top 25th most downloaded widget on apple.com last year!

measuring social media effectiveness

2008-09-29T13:44:00.001-07:00

We're looking again at this topic so wanted to post some links to other companies in this space:
http://www.mediamiser.com/
http://www.attentio.com/
http://www.marketsentinel.com/
http://www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/
http://www.biz360.com/
http://www.jdpower.com/
http://www.buzzlogic.com/
http://www.cymfony.com/
http://www.motivequest.com/
http://www.onalytica.com/
http://www.wavemetrix.com/
http://www.cicdata.com/
http://www.radian6.com/
http://www.relevantnoise.com/
http://www.unica.com/
http://www.millwardbrown.com/
http://www.lotame.com/
http://www.converseon.com/
http://www.visibletechnologies.com/
http://blog.collectiveintellect.com/
http://www.corextech.com/
http://www.blogscope.net/
http://www.sentimentmetrics.com/
http://www.socialtarget.com/
http://www.measuresofsuccess.com/
http://www.umbrialistens.com/
http://www.factiva.com/

IAB Social media council elects Lloyd Salmons as new chair

2008-09-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

The newly launched IAB Social Media Council have elected Lloyd Salmons, founder of digital communications agency Outside Line as its chair for the next 12 months. Lloyd will act as the key spokesperson of the council and chair the monthly meetings as well as shaping their agenda for the next year. The council is attended by a range of specialist and traditional agencies within the IAB membership, as well media owners and advertisers who are experts in the field.

Good luck Lloyd, it'd be nice to see more social media related articles from the IAB.
(I've only seen 1 this year!)

The viewmy.tv team would be glad to talk about their brandstation social networking platform.

Brandstation on-demand platform

2008-09-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

Brandstation on-demand platform is to soon be released as software as a service (SaaS) model which will mean a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the same benefits of commercially licensed, internally operated software without the associated complexity and high initial cost. The main difference being that the functionality of the features available are limited to the component version offered at that time, whereas bespoke client solutions are fully customised for their business needs.

social media and social network platform news

2008-08-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

Mothercare social network Gurgle provides content for MSN channels 24/07/08
Mothercare owned parenting social network Gurgle has signed a content partnership deal with MSN to provide original content and tutorial videos for the portal.

New Look to use online club to shape business 31/07/08
High street fashion retailer New Look has launched an online community with limited membership to give consumers a say in its business strategy. Mylook allows customers to share their views, suggest improvements to the brand and give opinions on the latest trends through surveys and forums on the site.

Mastercard in social media play 07/08/08
Mastercard has unveiled a social media play as part of a significant strategic marketing shift to create bespoke branded content online.

Brandstation is a corporate social networking platform, created by viewmy.tv ltd, specialists in social media.

Roundup of brandstation related funding activity

2008-07-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Ning Raises $60M at $500M Valuation
Make-your-own-social-network company Ning has raised a $60 million fourth round of funding.
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/venture/story/2764874/

Meebo Funding Confirmed at $25M.
With 30 million users and advertising on the rise, social media messaging developer Meebo Inc. said Thursday it has landed $25 million in a Series C round of venture capital, bringing total investment in the three-year-old startup to $38 million.
http://technorati.com/posts/NFz3BtAULXAuB1sYeKeacPkJx1ahgdcPKkhyTGZMYBY%3D

LinkedIn networking site joins $1bn club
The biggest online social network intended for professional use has been valued at more than $1bn, putting it among a small group of private internet companies to have crossed that threshold before going public.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/446fef0a-3ca0-11dd-b958-0000779fd2ac.html

Bluepulse gets $6 million
Bluepulse, a mobile social messaging startup he founded in Australia four years ago, opened headquarters in San Mateo -- in YouTube's former offices, in fact -- last December. The company reeled in $6 million in its first funding round this April from San Bruno-based VantagePoint Venture Partners, a MySpace backer.
http://www.bizjournals.com/business_resources/tech_and_innovation/stories/2008/03/21/focus2.html

Social Games Developer Zynga Nabs $29 Million, Buys YoVille, a virtual world game on social networks.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/07/23/social-games-developer-zynga-nabs-%2425-million%2C-buys-yoville

Webjam Secures Further $1.9m For Branded Communities
London-based Ning-competitor Webjam has secured a further $1.9 million (1.2M Euros) in funding led by initial investor I-Source.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/09/webjam-secures-further-19m-for-branded-communities/

SocialMedia Raises $3.5 Million First Round Funding
Social network platform provider SocialMedia Networks has raised $3.5 million in its first round of funding. The round was led by Charles River Ventures that also included Marc Andreessen and Jeff Clavier (founder and managing partner of SoftTech VC)
http://venturebeat.com/2007/10/18/socialmedia-raises-35-million-to-sell-ads-across-social-networks/

BiteClub.com social network gets $500,000
Co-founded by Sonny Mayugba, Randy Paragary and Mark Braden, is a vertical social networking site for members of the restaurant and bar industry. The new venture, which launched in beta in May 2007, recently received a $500,000 investment from veteran restauranteur Larry Mindel, of Il Fornaio; Darius Anderson, of Kenwood Investments and Platinum Advisors; and select industry insiders for site improvements and custom software applications, as well as marketing and content acquisition.
http://www.blueriver.com/go/br/news/blue-river-to-build-niche-social-network-platform-for-the-new-biteclubcom/

LivingSocial.com Closes $5 Million in Series A Funding, Led by Grotech Ventures
LivingSocial, a social discovery and cataloging network poised for exponential growth with 6.4 million beta users, has closed more than $5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Grotech Ventures and includes a personal investment from Steve and Jean Case.
http://www.sociableblog.com/2008/07/22/livingsocial-closes-5m-series-a-funding/

Appirio get Series B, 5.6M, Sequoia Capital
They provide products and services to accelerate the adoption of on-demand solutions such as salesforce.com and Google Enterprise. Appirio delivers services and products that help companies more successfully adopt on-demand software (sometimes known as "Software as a Service"). 01/31/2008, Series A, 1.1M, Salesforce.com. 07/18/2008, Series B, 5.6M, Sequoia Capital, Stanford University

Monday, July 21, 2008. Qumu Raises $10.7M.
Emeryville-based Qumu said today that it has raised $10.7M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by Advanced Technology Ventures, and also included SAP Ventures, Storm Ventures, Garage Technology Ventures, Halo Opportunity Fund, and the Angels Forum. Qumu develops video publishing software used by companies to broadcast their multimedia publications.
http://www.silicontap.com/qumu_raises_$10.7m/s-0016460.html

Wednesday, February 21, 2007. PBwiki Raises $2M
San Bruno-based PBwiki, which develops wiki hosting software, said today in its corporate blog that it has raised $2M from Mohr Davidow.
http://www.silicontap.com/pbwiki_raises_$2m/s-0007686.html

Interactive Web Video Firm PLYmedia Raises $6 Million
Palo Alto, Calif. - PLYmedia, the developer of an interactive Web video platform that enables the addition of advertisements, subtitles, pop-up bubbles and other layered content to existing video, has landed $6 million to $6.5 million in new financing, TechCrunch reported, citing a source with knowledge of the deal.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/07/02/interactive-web-video-firm-plymedia-raises-%246-million

Mobixell Lands $6 Million for Mobile Multimedia, Advertising
Cupertino, Calif. - Mobixell Networks, a provider of mobile multimedia and advertising services, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in new funding from existing investors Apax, Intel Capital and smac partners. Founded in 2000, Cupertino, Calif.-based Mobixell provides tailored services to over 250 mobile operators and content providers, including multimedia processing and adaptation, and multi-channel mobile advertising.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/07/08/mobixell-lands-%246-million-mobile-multimedia%2C-advertising

Mobile Broadcast Software Firm Roundbox Gets $12 Million
Florham Park, N.J. - Roundbox, a provider of mobile broadcast applications, has called down $12 million of a $20 million third round of financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/06/17/mobile-broadcast-software-firm-roundbox-gets-%2412-million

WooMe Raises $12.5 Million for Online Video Dating Service
San Francisco - WooMe, an online video dating service that utilizes webcams, announced this week that it has landed a $12.5 million second round of financing, led by Index Ventures with participation from return backers Atomico and Mangrove Capital Partners. Founded in 2006 and officially launched six months ago, San Francisco-based WooMe now claims over 350,000 registered users in more than 150 countries.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/06/13/woome-raises-%2412.5-million-online-video-dating-service

Web CMS company Clickability raises $4M debt round
Clickability, a company that builds and hosts web-based content management software, has raised a $4 million debt round from SaaS Capital Inc, according to VentureWire.
http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/14/web-cms-company-clickability-raises-4m-debt-round/

What is Enterprise 2.0

2008-07-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Enterprise 2.0, enables you to know how people interact, two-way participation, enterprise architecture.
We create corporate social networks with proven technology used by blue-chip clients, skills, experience
Allowing users to rapidly organise their own space
Enterprise architecture
Two way participation and feedback
Taken up by early adopters ahead of the curve
Many hands do make light work e.g. Wikipedia
People like having groups and sharing, knowing who’s who, reading what and when
Our tools provide ways of working and social networking
We concentrate on building things customers want not things they don’t
We develop tools that solve a problem
We look at Why and What before How
We can tell you how people interact
The brandstation platform is moving to an ondemand enterprise architecture that will allow companies to organise their components and users to manage their own space

ROI from Corporate Social Network platform

2008-07-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

If asked for financial ROI by some senior manager, you could ask them: Would you rather our employees were connected or disconnected? Would you rather staff did things once and reused that effort or did it multiple times in different geographical locations? Did you measure the ROI of your telephone system or e-mail or were the benefits so blatantly obvious.

Senior managers who are afraid of social software hide behind ROI arguments. Senior managers who get it just make it happen without endless questions.

Some measure ROI in an more abstract way, by monitoring the amount of buzz or conversation in a community and the opinions of the public. What you choose to measure is dependent on your aims, or what you want to receive as a return.

One company has shown that by using an internal social network a company can have a dramatic impact on its operation. Since introducing its corporate social network for its staff, the retail giant "The Best Buy Corporation", which employs 140,000 staff, has seen a dramatic shift in employee engagement. Not only do 18,000 people use the system regularly - that's more than 10% of the workforce each day - the social network appears to have made people like the business more. So much so, that the company's staff retention rate has rocketed. Unlike other retailers, where staff turnover can approach 60%, Best Buy has seen its staff turnover drop to a mere 8%.

In summary:

1. Social Networks Build Better Customer Relationships,
2. Social Networks Improve Knowledge Management,
3. Social Networks Facilitates Recruiting and Retention,
4. Social Networks Increase Business Opportunities,
5. Social Networks Build Community.

For more information on Corporate Social Networks see brandstation.tv

venture beat

2008-07-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

LinkedIn gains 53 Million in new investing, valued at 1 billion + Lithium Technologies, which builds and operates social networks for enterprises, has raised $12 million in venture capital today.
brandstation owners viewmy.tv are in funding talks.

Awareness (White Label) partners with Sharepoint
Awareness is opening it’s doors, making it compatible with CMS/Collaboration tool Sharepoint, which needs ’social’ features to compete in this market. Expect large companies to make acquisitions in the white label space in the near future.
brandstation dev team are looking at web parts for sharepoint (more later) but the architecture is getting an upgrade

Visiblepath are all over the web
brandstation.tv SEO just completed so now we will be also.

Social Networking for Companies

2008-06-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

Recent view are that corporate social networking is still in its infancy. By this I mean the adoption of corporate collaboration and connecting platforms within organisations.

They are new to companies because they were previously the domain of social networks, though not exclusively.

Things are changing.

New software tools are being introduced to make social networking technology more easily available and adaptable by companies. This in turn allows those companies to enhance connections with employees, and customers.

Social networking tools are going to become increasingly important to companies because the technology can now be used in so many ways that affect corporations and those that they have some form of connection with – current/previous employees, customers, recruitment, branding, communications, etc.

We have already seen a few examples of how the users of certain networks are proving that their communities are contributing to, and enriching the lives of their communities – benefits.

In May 2008, a report by IDC, a global provider of market intelligence provided that social networking applications experienced a 191% growth, and predicts the market could reach $2 billion by 2012.

IDC added that there is an emergence of solutions which combine elements of web analytics, brand monitoring, and information within the corporation and outside of the corporation.
It warns however that companies that adopt social networking features without fully understanding the need for openness will see few benefits.

Consultants at brandstation advise clients about the need to understand social networking applications before implementation. As a result brandstation clients are experiences successes within their companies and have introduced innovative brand communications solutions.

viewmy.tv relaunches brandstation platform

2008-06-04T02:33:00.000-07:00

The brandstation platform enables companies to enjoy the functionality of a web 2.0 corporate social network for team collaboration and external brand promotion. Press feature by netimperative.

Customer Engagement

2008-05-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

What does this mean and how do you measure it?

Apparently the Cadbury “Gorilla” ad campaign was engaging, perhaps. I thought it was innovative.Orange says it measures a lot of other metrics but finds it difficult to measure the impact its activities have on brand perceptions. The general perception is that it is difficult to measure engagement with brands.

I don’t agree. I believe it could be easier.

This because in my view, the difficulty lies in silo based marketing. I believe the answers are already in the discriminatory choices that consumers make about brands, certain statements, and advocacy about their brands of choice, etc. So does this mean that these are measurable by increase in sales or other form of tangible evidence of engagement?

I think the measuring engagement is not too difficult if a set of non-traditional standards of measurement are used.

Imagine this. You have a platform where employees can collaborate – plan campaigns, discuss strategy, blog, etc. They can also invite some consumers to participate on that platform they can become internal and external influencers and champions of product launches, communication campaigns, etc. By choice these consumers become emotional involved with the brand.

Brands should employ this practice more and they would be surprised, pleasantly surprised. Because what it should mean is dialogue with the consumer to evolve brands that the consumer has already shown a propensity to consume by becoming emotionally involved.