"Likes" Per Million in Revenue

Three experts from Booz & Co. recently took a fresh look at Facebook "likes" and company revenue, with an eye toward understanding competitive brand value. They wrote:

Every company can compare its brand value to that of its competitors based on a readily available scale: Facebook "likes," adjusted for company revenue (in millions).

Here's how to apply the likes per million (LPM) calculation for Whole Foods Market and Publix. Numbers are rounded off, and this is only a sample comparison--these aren't direct competitors.

Whole Foods has 777,000 likes, $10 billion in revenue. Its LPM is 777,000/10,000 = 77.7.

Publix has 357,700 likes and $25.3 billion in revenue Its LPM is 357,700/25,300 = 14.1.

The higher the LPM, the better the brand value (or, another way to look at it, is how engaging the brand is compared with competing brands--higher LPM is better). Whole Foods Market's LPM is higher than Publix's LPM, at least on this day. As Booz points out, LPM is a moving target because likes can change from day to day.