Terms of Engagement: Measuring the Active Consumer

Mark Ghuneim, with contributions from Seth Salomon and Mari Katsunuma

I. Introduction

For more than a decade, web users have actively bookmarked their favorite websites and forwarded interesting articles to their friends. These actions are a form of consumer engagement that has changed rapidly in scope, degree, and importance during the onset of Web 2.0. In the world of YouTube, MySpace, Second Life, and blogs, users are now more active and in-control than ever. Consumers can not only interact with brands, but also influence marketing strategies and performance. Users have been responsible for changing movies during production (Snakes on a Plane) as well as getting bands signed through MySpace engagement (Shiny Toy Guns).

Marketers and advertisers have struggled to define this behavior of engagement as well as assign a value to the various user actions associated with it. The desire for clarity and understanding has created the need for a methodology that can measure connected engagement and the varying levels of associated attention and interaction.

II. What Engagement Means

In the traditional sense, engagement is the period between proposal and marriage. This definition can also apply to engagement in terms of marketing and advertising. In an initiative conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation, the need for a measurement of engagement is described as the "search for the 21st Century gross rating points." The ARF later refined their definition. "Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding media context." I am more inclined to define engagement as, "a consumer based measurement that regards interaction with an aspect of a brand or media property."

Web 2.0 Engagement could include, but is not limited to:

* Publishing
* Creating and Publishing to a Group
* Posting
* Subscribing
* Favoriting
* Adding Friends
* Bookmarking
* Emailing
* Distributing
* Streaming
* Networking
* Creating Mash-up Content

When measuring engagement, the level of user interaction (i.e. 200 vs. 2,000,000 streams) is an obvious and important component. Yet engagement is complex in that it is not comprised solely by clicks, but also a range of involved user actions. The true measurement of this principle must factor in the saliency of each application in relation to other forms of engagement. For example, what is the importance of MySpace friend adds as opposed to YouTube views? Additionally, it must be noted that these metrics are goal-based in the sense that they will be of varying strengths and importance across different sectors (music, television, consumer products, etc.). This implies that in order to accurately derive a useful measure of engagement, one must not only possess the necessary Web 2.0 data, but also a unique understanding and perspective of each surveyed application by industry.

III. How We Measure Engagement

As we evolve our methodology and explore the determinants and ultimate value of Web2.0 engagement, we must look closer at the activities that help define engagement. We must also determine the level of attention and actionable experiences for each application once a user is engaged. These levels of engagement can be measured by the complexity and ultimate depth of user actions and the related amount of attention associated with each. This measurement also allows for the understanding of the time spent with the message or the causal action stemming from the attention. For example, a user might be engaged enough to read an article as well as related user comments following the text. But how is this situation different from a user that does the same, but also leaves a new comment of their own? The action of regarding content, followed by an action of engagement is the causal agent that defines this principal.

Also worth noting is that each user action can provide different levels of attention as well as influence further interactions. While the viewing of a video online is considered an impression, there are different and unique tiers of attention and engagement in each play such as the length of active viewing as well as subsequent sharing, rating, favoriting, forwarding, and adding which are all secondary interactions that form the engagement layer of behavior. These actions are also important as they involve users recommending and approving products which ultimately affects both their own reputations and levels of trust amongst peers.

This idea falls naturally into a formula of engagement being action over attention.
Measuring the levels of interaction surrounding the communication is one way to quantify this relationship.

Engagement = Interaction/Attention

This equation illustrates the combined activity of regarding; or paying attention to, and then acting on. While this is an important relationship to understand, one must remember the inherent limitation it presents in that each interaction is not as valuable as others.

IV. The Value of Understanding Engagement

Engagement is important as it can lead to web traffic, CRM, sales, and brand loyalty. These outcomes can be directly attributed to time spent and subsequent actions with a product's message, related media, and the Web 2.0 applications in which they are communicated. The ability of marketing to engage and endear consumers will ultimately determine whether a user digs deeper and/or engages friends.

In order to measure these factors, it might be beneficial to begin to with Web 2.0 services such as social networks and media sites. The functionality of these applications is ideal for generating data surrounding engagement activity. We can use benchmarking to create weights for each attention and interaction type. This is the trickiest piece of the equation as it requires both a strong understanding of Web 2.0 applications as well as all the industries in which a product lives. Yet when performed with precision, this method should allow for the understanding of online engagement value.

Engagement must be understood by type, and the value associated with each in terms of ultimate adoption, sales, and brand loyalty:

V. Conclusion

Once product owners understand the value of each type of engagement in their industries of play, they will know how to best market their products. By creating milestones and targets of user involvement in each application, performance can be measured actively and strategies can be altered during a campaign to meet ultimate goals. This creates the need for an owner to understand their marketplace and related Web 2.0 applications. Additionally, they must possess the capabilities to measure presence across related applications over time and the ability to enact marketing that will achieve desired results.

VI. Next Steps

* Top-20 engagement activities
* Further definition of engagement types
* Produce algorithm (compose related activity weights)
* Incorporate feedback/comments

Comments are welcomed and appreciated