Online auctioneering and shopping website eBay has been named as the brand with the most engaging and interactive global social media presence
Online auctioneering and shopping website eBay has been named as the brand with the most engaging and interactive global social media presence, according to a survey published on 18 February by Yomego.
The Social Brands Index charts the performance of the top 50 brands with the most engaging social media presence.
The index, which ranked the reach and satisfaction of social media marketing to consumers, was conducted by marketing technology shop Alterian and social media agency Yomego in a four-month range between September 2010 and January 2011.
Reach was calculated from the number of references made to a brand across 29,000 social spaces weighted by the influence and each brand was given a ranking based on its social media reputation (SMR) score. A comprehensive list of all the scores can be accessed via MySocialMediaReputation.
The top performing brands in social media, based on their SMR scores
1. eBay
eBay received an extremely high customer satisfaction score, suggesting that consumers cannot resist a good bargain.
2. Apple
Despite Apple’s notorious non-participation in social media, it has the highest satisfaction score of any brand on the top 50 list, proving that the first rule of social media is to have a great product.
3. Google
Google’s dominance continues; is there no stopping this monster brand?
4. Blackberry
Blackberry has revived its reputation via social media in a clever marketing strategy which moved away from the ‘Blackberry Dad’ image and towards a younger, more social audience.
5. Amazon
Amazon has always led the way in word of mouth and recommendation marketing, and its social reputation score reflects this.
How the index works
The index calculates the social media reputation of brands by measuring the social media ‘noise’ around a brand (how many people are talking about it) with its popularity (whether what those people are saying is positive or negative). It then adds a ‘recency’ score, which provides a topical adjustment (so a brand that is being talked about now has a higher recency score than one talked about last six months ago). Importantly, human analysis is applied to each score to ensure it is accurate (to take into account sentiment such as sarcasm or slang that could be wrongly interpreted by an automated system) and to analyse relative influence of different channels. The brand is then given an overall Social Media Reputation (SMR) score out of 100.
Steve Richards, MD, Yomego, says: “There are some real surprises in the brand index. Brands that people are talking about online are not always the top value brands. Harley-Davidson , for example, has some of the most loyal fans online, ranking it at number 30 in the top 50 social brands. On the other hand, there are some brands that you might expect to being doing better. Smirnoff does some fantastic social media work but it is really inconsistent, which means it ranks lower than it could in the top 50 list.”
The full list of the Top 50 Social Brands Index, by SMR score, is below
1. eBay
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Blackberry
5. Amazon
6. Gucci
7. Ford
8. MTV
9. Samsung
10. Yahoo!
11. Nokia
12. Dell
13. Microsoft
14. Disney
15. Nintendo
16. Toyota
17. Starbucks
18. Honda
19. Sony
20. Ferrari
21. Hyundai
22. Nike
23. IBM
24. Coca-Cola
25. Macdonald’s
26. Adobe
27. HP
28. Mercedes-Benz
29. Pepsi
30. Harley-Davidson
31. Burberry
32. BMW
33. Audi
34. Intel
35. Canon
36. Panasonic
37. Volkswagen
38. American Express
39. Porsche
40. Adidas
41. Zara
42. Heinz
43. Ikea
44. Gillette
45. Smirnoff
46. Cartier
47. Louis Vuitton
48. L’Oreal
49. Corona
50. Visa
