How to measure brand sentiment effectively

Sentiment can be hard to define as there is no singular measure. We must look at various metrics when measuring brand sentiment as this will give us a better understanding overall. Sentiment refers to the emotions behind consumer engagement, so we must understand this to meet the customers’ needs. We will be looking at the importance of brand sentiment and seven ways for marketers to measure it within this blog.

What is brand sentiment?

Sentiment allows brands to understand how consumers perceive them. It gives them an insight into the consumer’s feelings about the brand and products, which can then be used to create messaging relative to their audience. Understanding why consumers feel the way they do about your brand will help you align your PR better and build brand purpose.

Sentiment allows your brand to build bonds with consumers. When the sentiment is positive, customers are more likely to purchase or review as they feel connected.

Why is it important to measure brand sentiment?

Sentiment varies according to circumstances, allowing marketers to work in real-time to deliver user-friendly materials. Your brand can consider consumer needs and act on these to deliver relevant content to show consumers your brand is reactive to helping them. Measuring sentiment will reveal key consumer insights and enable you to stay on top of your brand health. 

Brand health is a measure of how well your brand delivers on specific attributes of a product or service. It gives you a clear understanding of how well your brand is doing and indicates areas you need to improve. All of this helps to build brand sentiment. 

Seven ways to measure brand sentiment!

Whilst there is no set formula to measure brand sentiment, the following metrics can be used to understand sentiment:

Velocity of comments 

When launching a new campaign measuring the velocity of comments on your social media platforms will give you a good understanding of sentiment. A high number of comments would indicate that your campaign is engaging and has had the desired reach. This could be measured over time or through initial response, depending on the goals of your campaign. Setting clear and realistic goals will give your brand a better scope when comparing campaigns. 

Another thing to look at when measuring the velocity of comments is your brand’s social listening. It gives you a measure of the comments around your brand but also any outside mentions of your brand, competitors, or products. Measuring social listening also allows you to monitor the conversations around others in your industry. This gives you an added insight into what is and isn’t working; this can be used to your advantage to stand out from your competitors. 

Tone of comments 

Measuring the tone of the comments on your content or campaigns could go one of two ways. While floods of positive comments would show you an increase in sentiment as your campaign has proven to connect with your audience positively.  Equally, if negative comments bombard your brand, it would suggest that the campaign or content you have shared has offended or upset your audience. If this is the case, your brand will be able to retract the content or campaign; whilst this may not be an ideal situation measuring the velocity of comments allows your brand to damage control. 

Using sentiment analysis tools enables your brand to limit the damage a campaign could cause. It will also give you a quick insight into the success of your campaign, and this data can then be used to understand your consumers to ensure future campaigns align with their values.

For example, Expedia Canada saw a steady increase in negative feedback to the music used in one of its TV adverts. Their consumers headed to social media to share their thoughts and frustrations. A sentiment analysis revealed that the violin music played in the advert had become irritating after the audience had listened to it multiple times. As Expedia Canada was measuring sentiment, they could turn the campaign around by airing a new version that featured the offending violin being smashed.

Reactions

The reaction towards your campaign should be measured to understand brand sentiment clearly. Consumers can like your content across platforms, but Facebook users can choose from various positive and negative responses. Looking at this will allow you to measure brand sentiment. 

Users are typically quick to see the content we post online, so platforms such as Facebook give us a deeper insight into our audience's responses. Users will not always leave comments on posts, so sharing their opinions through likes or reactions is more appealing. 

Willingness

Another way to measure brand sentiment is to look at consumers’ willingness to review and share your products. When customers like a brand or product, they will be willing to share the information with friends or family. Some consumers will also want to publicly review the product online based on their experience. This is where sentiment comes into play; a customer may think your product is ok, but if they receive excellent customer service and your purpose aligns with their morals, they will feel obliged to give something back. A Net Promoter Score (NPS) will indicate the consumer’s willingness to share. 

Net Promoter Score, or NPS, gives your brand a measure of the recommendation for your brand’s product or service on a scale between -100 to 100. Higher scores indicate a positive effect for the product or service, while lower scores indicate negative affect.

The power of referrals is not something that should be overlooked. Loyal customers who are willing to be ambassadors for your brand create brand purpose. Consumers are more trusting of others’ opinions than the word of your brand, so a high number of positive, honest reviews will see an increase in conversions. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools, and this can be utilised in several ways. 

Share of voice

Measuring share of voice provides marketers with data and gives them an insight into brand visibility. When marketers look at share of voice, they can understand brand visibility within a market, which will provide them with an understanding of how consumers feel about them. A large share of voice would indicate your brand’s authority compared to your competitors. 

Both digital and traditional media need to be monitored to understand your brand’s place in the industry. Measuring your brands’ share of voice will help position the brand as it gives you a clear understanding of your brand popularity compared to your competitors. Unlike the other measurable metrics within this blog, share of voice does have a formula: 

Your Brand Advertising / Total Market Advertising = Share of Voice

Click-through rate 

CTR measures the number of people who click the link on a post that takes them to your website. A high CTR would suggest that your audience engaged with the content and would like to see more or make a purchase. Consumers with high brand sentiment will be more willing to follow links on your content as they have already made a connection with your brand. 

As your content can also grow sentiment with consumers, your brand can measure the click-through rate. This will allow you to see how well it was received by looking at levels of engagement. A sizeable CTR would suggest positive sentiment. 

Purchase behaviour 

Consumers will not buy from brands they dislike or cannot relate to. So, looking at the purchase behaviour of your customers will give you an indication of brand sentiment. This can be measured all year round and will allow you to compare data when a new campaign has been launched. 

Understanding brand sentiment will allow you to look at overall customer satisfaction, loyalty and engagement, visible through purchase behaviour. Taking a deeper look at the purchase behaviour of your clients will allow you to make changes to your marketing strategy and align them to suit the consumer. 

If your brand requires help understanding brand sentiment, then look no further! GottaBe! have a team of digital experts who are on hand to create tailored campaigns to suit your customer’s needs. We understand what consumers want and know exactly how to deliver this. It truly is your product, our people. Book in a chat today with one of our friendly experts.