• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, September 30, 2014

Following social can be a real problem for big brands because scientists have already uncovered the near worthlessness of a Facebook "like" -- and to be honest, the value of a Twitter mention has come into serious doubt too.

So when the latest figures from Brandwatch were announced today, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought a record-setting 160,000 social mentions sounded a tad low -- particularly when the two teams have circa five million Twitter fans between them. I'm also positive that I can't be the only person out here wondering whether receiving 450 social mentions for the lead sponsor of the tournament is a little underwhelming. That would mean if you made a back of an envelope -- very rough calculation -- the various sponsors of the event were mentioned in just 1 percent of social activity.

It surely reaffirms that when we talk about a two-way conversation on social, and particularly on Twitter, what we really have is broadcasters and listeners. Five million people signed up to the two teams of Twitter alone, meaning (very roughly) one in thirty got involved in any type of conversation. Let's face it -- that's a bad calculation because it would rely on people mentioning the event just once and some will have followed both teams. So, considering that most people who did mention the tournament would have done so few times, we're getting dangerously near a similar engagement level of around one percent, or low single-digit levels, even among those who actively chose to "follow" either team.

The value of measuring social was also brought into sharp focus by the revelation that such a huge golfing event as the Ryder Cup saw a near even split between the genders. Turns out, Brandwatch cautions, that a lot of young women were joining in the conversation around the event because a member of One Direction was there live tweeting.

So I am not saying for a moment that sponsoring a fantastic event such as the Ryder Cup is worthless. Far from it. BMW, Rolex, Johnny Walker and others will have received a lot of brand exposure around the world. They will each have been associated with the fun, boisterous event that many sports fans will see as a refreshing change to the normally quiet, understated sport. Let's not forget that they will also have had some wonderful hospitality opportunities behind the fairways to reward clients and staff.

I don't know how much stock these brands will place in the number of social mentions they received because most will probably know they can get more by releasing some engaging content. I follow BMW on Twitter and Facebook and know a picture of a new car will get a lot more engagement than 450 or so mentions that Brandwatch has credited for its Ryder Cup activity.

So I guess brands are going to have to decide. When social activity will be a byproduct of some other activity, such as sponsoring the Ryder Cup, then being mentioned in social is nice -- but is very much secondary to the branding and association opportunity.

Measuring success or failure through the level of social mentions is a very slippery slope because the vast majority of social media users around an event such as this are clearly listening to people who are broadcasting their views. Paying attention to any unusual skew in gender or age can be countered by the simple fact that a pop star pin-up was live tweeting.

So unless it's you as a brand talking directly to your followers and promoting content to prospects, then social media is very much a background metric that marketers should learn to treat with extreme caution.