The Scoop Behind our infographic - Social Testimonials for 20 Retailers Attending Shop.org, 2012

• 1. How did we pick the retailers?

  We chose 20 retailers attending Shop.org event in Denver based on the size of the ecosystem (number of FB page fans), the engagement rate (how many fans interact with either the brand or with each other), how much content is posted by the fans (user generated content) and finally the number of social testimonials (positive brand expressions in all mediums such as photo, video, and text).

• 2. What do we consider a testimonial?

  We take ‘testimonial’ from a social sense, instead of literal sense. In this age of visually rich communication, an expression doesn’t need to be only text-based to qualify as a testimonial. We consider all positive brand expressions as testimonials. These expressions can come via a photo, video, or text or a simple comment as a response to a brand’s post. Social testimonials are visually rich content that differ from ratings and text-based reviews.

• 3. How do we define an engaged fan?

  ReadyPulse measures audience behavior within brand social pages. We track over a dozen engagement metrics, broadly within contribution types, consistency of interactions, length of time within community, and engagement of user posts.

• 4. How do you calculate the number of testimonials for each brand?

  We look at all user generated content and score the content (testimonial score) based on the audience engagement, content engagement, content type and sentiment. We included all content that had a certain testimonial score.

• 5. More questions?

  We would be happy to answer. Contact Rachel Carson at rachel@readypulse.com.