And, by the same measure, could McDonald’s Facebook fan page only be worth $260,000, or about 1/100th the value of Starbucks? That’s the lopsided assessment of Atlanta-based Vitrue, a social media marketing agency that has developed a whizzy calculator that spits out a value for a brand’s social media presence. We decided to take the Vitrue Social Page Evaluator through a test spin this morning, selecting, naturally, some of the top coffee chains in the U.S., measuring the Facebook fan pages for Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s (which now sell McCafe). Each of the three we compared have amassed an impressive million-plus Facebook fan base and each uses its Facebook feed to pump out details on their latest offers. Starbucks is the king here, with 7.1 million fans followed by McDonald’s at 2.2 million and Dunkin Donuts at 1.4 million. But when we ran the groups through the Vitrue meter it revealed a real social media mismatch, as the chart below shows.

Vitrue explains it bases its valuations on “a calculation that factors in fan count, customer activity, brand activity, and a proprietary engagement multiplier.” The fan count would explain, in other words, only part of the gap in Starbuck’s dominance. The extra value Starbucks gets out of its Facebook page comes down to the extra effort it puts into it. Fans interact here more simply because Starbucks gives them more to discuss in the way of videos, photos and special offers posted to the wall on a daily basis. McDonald’s in contrast has only posted three bulletins to its Facebook page this year, and it doesn’t invite the public to post freely to its Wall.

The Vitrue valuation may not be perfect, but it does reveal some interesting observations about how brands are utilizing their social media presence to generate conversation, and, ultimately buzz.

Editor’s Note: Want to learn more about social media best practice? Join our LinkedIn Group and enjoy a great discount on attending the Social Media Conference, June 22. Starbucks’ Alexandra Wheeler, director of digital strategy for Starbucks, will be delivering one of the keynote presentations.