• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 3, 2014

IPG Mediabrands has unveiled a new platform that is designed to measure social media ROI in terms of hard currency. It is calling the new platform Performly. 

The firm said the platform automatically values a marketer’s social media activities by examining all brand-sponsored Facebook and Twitter activity. It measures earned media inspired by the activity, calculates the value of the earned media against both the client’s paid media pricing as well as industry benchmarks, and aggregates the overall value into a currency dashboard. 

“For years, marketers have questioned the financial impact of their social efforts, and management teams have struggled to prove the true value of a ‘like’ or a ‘re-tweet,’ ” says Eric Weaver, chief social officer for IPG Mediabrands’ G14 cluster. “Equally puzzling has been the impact of social in the overall marketing mix.” Performly, he asserted, “answers all of these questions, by showing the financial payoff of social programs and allowing social to be measured in comparison to other traditional media channels.” 

Performly will help social teams to manage social content based on audience interest -- and now, fiscal value. A daily dashboard will show aggregated earned media value by page, by country or by region. Monthly reports will outline paid social and content optimization. The platform will also enable clients to compare paid to organic activity as well as engagement versus acquisition versus exposure figures. 

“Our clients can tell their management teams the real financial impact of their social media programs,” said Weaver. “This is becoming increasingly important, as content proliferates and organic reach continues to drop, giving marketers an even greater need to prove which content and approach really works."