Chapter 12
APPLES TODAY, WITH ORANGES TOMORROW – MEASURING SOCIAL CAPITAL
The prospect of measuring social capital – and the effects of social capital – is quite daunting, primarily because it is something that has not really been measured before.
Actually, that’s not strictly true. Social capital – in the context of firms and their brands – has never been the main focus of any research or measurement, but we believe it has, and does, regularly pop up in various guises in and amongst a wide range of metrics and results. As we said right back at the beginning, social capital swirls around brands and indeed business, so it’s not surprising bits of it show up in our peripheral vision here and there when we’re focused on something else. For example, many of the key indicators of brand health are linked to social capital – word of mouth, trust, advocacy and loyalty for example. And Corporate Communications lifts the lid on certain aspects of social capital when entering into dialogue with various stakeholder groups.
But these fragmented, often accidental glimpses of social capital and its consequences will do nothing to help brands become Social Equity Brands and maximise their impact on society and their guardians. For this to happen, we need to have more focused and tailored approaches to research and measurement. We need to be looking specifically for social capital.
Bringing social capital to the centre of a research and measurement process is complex for a number of reasons.
