TNS Rolls Out Social Media Tracking Model

In the US, TNS and its sister company Cymfony have partnered with Compete and Emory University to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new tracking model, designed to prove how including social media in the marketing mix can yield better results.

The model proposed is based on three S's: See, Seek and Say. The See component uses brand-generated media, while Seek is focused on the interactions between the brands and their target audience. The Say component reflects consumer-generated media (CGM), including traditional word-of-mouth and Internet postings through which consumers share their unfiltered product experience in real-time.

'The marketing landscape has fundamentally changed, which requires the paradigm for tracking research to change as well,' explained TNS Chief Research Officer Larry Friedman. 'As an industry, we need to come to grips with the rapidly-growing irrelevance of these models.'

To demonstrate how the new influence tracking model works in practice Friedman and his colleague North American Head of Branding & Communications Melinda Smith developed a case study based on how Tiger Woods' brand image has been impacted since his car accident last November.

The research looked at the effectiveness of two of Woods' Gillette ads which were run prior to the accident. Additionally the study examined the public's Internet 'Tiger Woods' searches, which it says eclipsed three million on a weekly basis, whereas no other athlete surpassed more than half a million a week for all of 2009.

'For the most part, the response of the tracking world to this new environment has been more of the same with clients adding separate research studies around social media listening and website traffic counts,' stated Smith. 'We believe that it is time to make observation the central focus of tracking.'

Web site: www.tnsglobal.com .