Demonstrate ROI through Earned Media Value (EMV) | Sprout Bites

Hi, I'm JL Calian, Senior Onboarding Consultant at Sprout Social. In this Sprout Bites video, I'll show you how to use Employee Advocacy reporting to demonstrate ROI through Earned Media Value and highlight the impact of your advocacy efforts. EMV, or Earned Media Value, estimates the dollar value of your posts based on impressions and the cost of equivalent paid media — in other words, it's an estimated ROI number for your advocacy program. EMV estimates how much the exposure you generate would have cost in paid advertising. For example, if your advocates share 500 total posts and gather 10,000 impressions, that reach has a dollar value assigned to it. Admins can go to Company Settings to set the CPM value for each network. EMV is calculated using CPM, which stands for cost per 1,000 impressions. Since advertising is priced per 1,000 views, Sprout uses that same standard to estimate how much your organic reach would have cost if it were paid. If needed, admins can edit this value in Company Settings to better reflect your actual advertising costs or industry benchmarks. This is important because CPM rates can vary by network, audience quality, country, and region — so keeping these values updated ensures your EMV stays realistic and aligned with your business goals.