top brands in social media - CBS MoneyWatchi.bnet.com/blogs/top-50-social-media-companies.pdf · CASE STUDIES .....08 OTHER NOTABLE WINNERS ... 47 16 LOUIS VUITTON 68.02 68.03 58.89

top brands in social media(and why some are doing so much better than others)

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50 top brands in social mediaSUBHEADING

03

INTRODUCTIONSocial media has transformed the online landscape.It’s also starting to transform marketing. Andnowhere is marketing’s shift from one-waybroadcast to two-way conversation more palpablethan in the social media realm. This isn’t just aboutFacebook, Twitter or the latest internet darling tograb the headlines. It’s a revolution in how peopleare living their online lives and it’s crucial yourmarketing strategy evolves to match this shift inconsumer behaviour.

As much as it throws up new opportunities forbrands, it also presents a whole new range ofchallenges. A brand’s welcome is far fromguaranteed in social media and working out thenew rules is a significant challenge for advertisers.Get it right and the strength of relationship withyour customer is unparalleled. Get it wrong and thedamage to your brand can be instant and brutal.

TOP 50 TABLE .......................................................04

COMMENTARY .....................................................07

CASE STUDIES ......................................................08

OTHER NOTABLE WINNERS ...............................12

VIEWPOINT ...........................................................13

METHODOLOGY ..................................................14


04

YOMEGO INTERBRAND BRAND REACH RECENCY SATISFACTION RECENCY OVERALL RANK RANK SMR SCORE

1 43 EBAY 98.65 98.78 85.6 86.12 92.29

2 17 APPLE 98.22 99.15 88.98 81.51 88.61

3 4 GOOGLE 97.82 96.22 84.22 83.11 87.00

4 54 BLACKBERRY 95.13 94.52 76.09 75.26 85.25

5 36 AMAZON.COM 94.25 97.12 80.12 78.96 83.58

6 44 GUCCI 82.94 83.37 82.47 85.43 83.55

7 50 FORD 97.68 98.01 81.55 81.78 81.67

8 55 MTV 90.58 91.96 71.45 72.21 81.55

9 19 SAMSUNG 89.99 89.74 70.96 69.56 80.06

10 66 YAHOO 93.78 95.03 74.22 73.99 79.18

11 8 NOKIA 83.90 84.29 70.32 76.91 78.86

12 41 DELL 84.33 85.15 72.59 72.39 78.61

13 3 MICROSOFT 94.98 95.22 71.21 74.32 78.35

14 9 DISNEY 95.09 95.19 61.51 59.13 77.73

15 38 NINTENDO 87.61 88.18 65.38 67.86 77.26

16 11 TOYOTA 86.55 84.41 69.13 68.74 77.21

17 97 STARBUCKS 88.68 89.47 65.56 63.86 76.89

18 20 HONDA 76.07 79.19 75.34 76.62 76.81

19 34 SONY 76.79 76.12 63.64 65.36 70.48

20 91 FERRARI 76.59 75.78 78.67 73.68 76.18

21 65 HYUNDAI 71.39 71.18 82.20 79.28 76.01

22 25 NIKE 84.09 84.84 62.81 65.07 74.20

23 2 IBM 80.34 78.14 68.45 69.38 74.08

24 1 COCA-COLA 81.62 79.23 67.55 66.61 73.75

25 6 MCDONALD’S 79.78 80.15 65.34 68.61 73.47


05

YOMEGO INTERBRAND BRAND REACH RECENCY SATISFACTION RECENCY OVERALL RANK RANK SMR SCORE

26 88 ADOBE 84.49 83.13 56.72 69.21 73.39

27 10 HP 69.49 70.22 73.61 75.32 72.16

28 12 MERCEDES-BENZ 70.84 71.16 72.27 72.83 71.76

29 23 PEPSI 77.58 76.90 66.34 65.99 71.70

30 98 HARLEY-DAVIDSON 67.36 66.90 73.89 76.99 71.28

31 100 BURBERRY 67.19 67.59 70.95 75.78 70.38

32 15 BMW 86.84 83.82 54.50 55.89 70.26

33 63 AUDI 79.67 80.21 60.84 60.08 70.20

34 7 INTEL 62.67 62.34 78.87 76.59 70.12

35 33 CANON 87.86 87.75 53.11 50.28 69.75

36 73 PANASONIC 75.89 76.10 62.78 62.98 69.44

37 53 VOLKSWAGEN 70.65 69.87 68.11 66.67 68.82

38 24 AMERICAN EXPRESS 70.30 68.19 66.50 69.78 68.69

39 72 PORSCHE 78.38 78.81 55.48 56.64 67.33

40 62 ADIDAS 70.11 70.37 61.47 64.92 66.72

41 48 ZARA 68.24 68.77 65.61 64.28 66.72

42 46 HEINZ 64.03 63.29 68.23 68.65 66.05

43 28 IKEA 71.59 71.61 60.04 60.92 66.04

44 13 GILLETTE 64.52 71.26 62.74 60.98 64.88

45 89 SMIRNOFF 48.45 51.56 80.04 75.64 63.95

46 77 CARTIER 56.08 57.06 71.95 69.22 63.58

47 16 LOUIS VUITTON 68.02 68.03 58.89 59.10 63.51

48 45 L’ORÉAL 46.81 47.34 76.61 77.81 62.16

49 85 CORONA 40.05 38.83 83.72 85.9 62.12

50 82 VISA 58.97 59.22 64.37 64.28 61.71


07

MAKING SENSE OF SOCIALBY STEVE RICHARDS, MD, YOMEGOHundreds of social media monitoring tools exist. Some are stat-tastic. Many are free. A few even paint pretty pictures. But it’s tricky to gauge performance against others in your sector. The amount of data is often inaccurate and baffling.And it’s often left to the client to derive any meaningful insight. So we set out to find a service that did all these things.We couldn’t find one, though, so we created one.

Our Social Media Reputation (SMR) score provides a benchmark to gauge brands’ respective popularity that transcendssectors. Sentiment analysis is vetted by an expert team briefed on your particular marketing objectives. The score is thenderived by averaging the noise around a brand (‘reach’) with its popularity (‘satisfaction’). We then compare the numbersfrom the last month to the previous three months to apply a topical adjustment (‘recency’). An algorithm and some morehuman analysis (eg “shit hot”=good) later and an SMR score is born. See page 14 for a full methodology.

But beyond the scoring, Yomego’s SMR service provides clients with a monthly report containing analysis of the stats,edited highlights from key influencers in your sector and a prioritised list of recommendations. Opportunities and threatsare spotlighted and findings can be aligned with your wider marketing KPIs.

This is the first Yomego 50 Top Brands in Social Media league table. It’ll need some refinement over time but it doesreveal some real and useful insight into the performance of the UK’s biggest brands in social channels. Over the followingpages we’ve asked contributors to highlight reasons why some brands have done better than others.

The league table will be updated regularly at mysocialmediareputation.com, together with some mini-leagues forspecific sectors. If your brand isn’t mentioned and you’d like a trial run, please drop me a line.

[email protected] • @Chips11 • @YomegoSocial

TAKING A LONG VIEW SECURES SUCCESSBY VIKKI CHOWNEY, EDITOR, REPUTATION ONLINEThe biggest surprise in Yomego’s 50 Top Brands in Social Media is that the top spot hasn’t gone to either of the mostlikely candidates: Apple and Google. In almost every other league table that tracks consumer perception of brand equity,these two are seen to be the most respected and credible. Even Interbrand ranks them highly.

Ebay’s leap to the top is interesting, therefore. Perhaps it’s because of the popularity of sharing news of bargains withfriends via social media; maybe it’s something more integral to the site’s openness in terms of how it conducts itselfonline. Either way, the fact that Ebay’s reach exceeds that of Steve Jobs’ mighty empire is astonishing.

Scores aside, when you look at the top 20 brands, it’s quite difficult to tell them apart. The success of almost all of them isnot based on flashy creative or digital campaigns (although that’s not to say they haven’t done those), but is rooted in aconsistent and longer-term approach to social media. It’s the integration between various online channels, greatproducts, proactive engagement with customers and a sense of responding to the desires of fans.

At the other end of the spectrum we see brands like Smirnoff failing to hit the mark, as discussed in the brand’s casestudy on page 8. Brands that haven’t done so well have simply missed the opportunity to connect the dots between veryloyal fans and strengthening a relationship with them online. Visa, for instance, could reap a lot of benefit by creatingsomething similar to Dell’s Ideastorm, the site set up to crowdsource ideas for product development.

There’s obviously still a disconnect between what some of the biggest brands in the world are doing offline and what’shappening in social media. While some companies are pushing forward, those missing the point are still lagging behind.Maybe this will be the year we see the gap close slightly, or perhaps it’ll carry on expanding as it has done so far.

reputationline.co.uk • @rep_online


08

1 EBAYBY KIRSTY BELL, INSIGHT MANAGER, YOMEGOEbay tops our social media league table, galloping up from its 2010 Interbrand ranking of 43. The company mayappear a surprising winner, but Ebay introduced community forums in the late 1990s and can rightfully beregarded as one of the pioneers of social interaction. It takes social media seriously and has a full-time corporateblogger, Richard Brewer-Hay, who has served as its social media voice for more than three years.

Ebay has also embraced social media for internal communications, with an intranet featuring blogs, forums anddiscussion boards. Each employee reportedly has their own landing page which can be customised. Ebay wasalso among the first to start a social media corporate disclosure program, with earnings, published via Twitter, forinstance. It has also been quick to integrate with the major platforms. Its new social commerce tool, Ebay GroupGifts, uses Facebook’s Open Graph to allow users to split the cost of a gift, with each paying their share throughPayPal. With more than 400,000 fans on its largest Facebook page, the app has a massive potential audience andcould become a future case study in delivering social media ROI.

Ebay’s success is also amplified by highlighting the success of its users. The Ebay Ink Social Media Sellersprogramme showcases sellers who have harnessed social media platforms to greatest effect to boost their sales.

Satisfaction around the Ebay brand is remarkably high, driven by the natural instinct of telling others when you’vegrabbed a bargain. But strict procedures and new technologies are used to quell worries around fraud anddisputes to keep advocacy high, drowning out the odd moan. The brand has established a level of trust thatmeans the community largely polices itself, making it easier to focus resources in the right areas.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Ebay, one of the first to make user reviews integral to the shopping experience, hasbeen fighting the rise of independent etailers and group-buying networks over the past year. After many brandsturned their backs on Ebay for allowing the sale of counterfeit goods, it extended an olive branch with the launchof several pop-up stores in its fashion section. But its reputation still centres around low cost instead of quality.

92.29

98.65

98.78

85.60

86.12

92.29

45 SMIRNOFFBY MARK WHITMORE, CEO, IKONTAKTSmirnoff’s use of social media is interesting in that it markets offline events, bringing communities togetheraround the brand both in the real and online worlds. Much of its social media activity centres around the SmirnoffNightlife Exchange parties, which showcase the nightlife of cities around the world. In some ways this is theultimate in ‘social’ media – campaigns that bring people together around a specific theme that’s relevant to thebrand but which doesn’t have an overly pushy marketing feel to it. Social media mentions peaked around thetime of the Nightlife Exchange event in November and have tailed off a bit since.

Smirnoff’s reach is surprisingly low, however. This might be a deliberate strategy to control where the brand ismarketed on social media. The Smirnoff Ice brand, which still generates more coverage on Facebook than anyother Smirnoff brand, suffered reputationally after scandals of under-age binge drinking and ‘icing’ hit last year.Smirnoff managed this well and seems to have upped its responsible drinking message as a result.

Despite that, it’s a hugely well-recognised brand and the high satisfaction score reflects that. But given theamount it spends on advertising – which all drives traffic to its Facebook pages – its social media activity comesacross as a bit fragmented. There’s an opportunity to do more to interact with consumers through social media ina more sustained way, rather than relying on the peaks of activity around events.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Smirnoff is all about the experience, and of late it has been very successful by holdinginternational offline events. It has been using Facebook as the main channel to promote this, and for the mostpart has been doing it well (apart from the TV ad that gave out a URL that didn’t exist). There just isn’t a sense ofinvestment – in either planning or spend – in social media activity from the brand, which is a shame as there’s somuch potential to do something really special.

63.95

48.45

51.56

80.04

75.64

63.95


09

2 APPLEBY KATE HARTLEY, PARTNER, CARROT COMMUNICATIONSApple’s avoidance of engagement with social media is legendary. But does it need to get involved? Its SMR scoreis enviably high with minimal official input. Its success is down to two main advocates: Steve Jobs and Apple fans.

You could say that Apple’s social media strategy is to create great products and let people get on with talking toeach other about them. Apple products are disruptive. Other companies may produce products as good or evenbetter, but they’re playing catch-up to a brand that reportedly has its product pipeline agreed until 2013. Appleisn’t known for its transparency – the buzz that precedes a major product launch is fuelled by rumour, not by anyofficial marketing communications. The lack of official communication helps to build the hype.

But what happens if the halo loses its shine or there’s a major product issue? Apple doesn’t have officialpresences on many of the channels that consumers use to talk about it, most notably Facebook. It doesn’trespond quickly, either; it took three weeks for Jobs to address customer complaints about the signal issue on theiPhone 4. This wouldn’t matter if there were no representation of Apple on Facebook, but there is. There aremillions of consumers signing up to be fans of the brand on hundreds of unofficial accounts.

Is this a problem? Not at present; the financial results speak for themselves. But it could cause problems in thefuture. We’ll probably only find out if something goes very wrong, and Jobs’ absence could leave it vulnerable.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Steve Jobs’ empire is a force unto itself. Breaking almost every marketing rule in thebook, you just can’t compare the rules of best practice to anything Apple does. With a very controlled but smartcommunications strategy, the brand focuses on peer advocacy and product placement, shunning more traditionalPR. Quality of product and ease of use makes this hugely successful. And let’s face it, a desirable product can getaway with an awful lot.

30 HARLEY-DAVIDSONBY TAMARA LITTLETON, CEO, EMODERATIONIt’s no surprise that Harley-Davidson does better in the SMR index than it does in the Interbrand list. It’s a greatexample of a brand that inspires real passion, and that’s what leads to word of mouth (which is what positivesocial media is really all about). It’s arguably one of the world’s most iconic and aspirational brands.

Harley owners have a real sense of community (through the Harley Owners Group) so translating this to the onlineworld is a natural progression. Its Facebook presence lets fans get news as it breaks and they respond in thecomments section, as well as uploading photos and videos. It seems to focus more on letting fans talk to eachother in the comments section than in engaging with them, but maybe the beauty of a brand like this is that itdoesn’t really need to do much more. It’s pretty engaged and conversational on Twitter but it seems to be moreinterested in pulling fans into its own community at harley-davidson.com, where they can get exclusive content,can create and share ride routes and share experiences.

Whether a Harley is ridden by an old-school biker or a 50-something going through a mid-life crisis, it has for itsfans what many brands aspire to but few attain: a gut association with spirit and the possibilities of the open road.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Harley doesn’t shout about what it does online, but it doesn’t really need to. The brandknows that its customers aren’t just fans, they live and breathe the biking lifestyle. Launched in the middle of lastyear, Harley’s Free Country website leverages this, with a tongue-in-cheek tagline and allowing people to expresstheir love of ‘living free’. This is a targeted, message-perfect campaign from the legacy brand, and shows trueunderstanding of just what its fans want from it.

88.61

98.22

99.15

88.98

81.51

88.61

71.28

67.36

66.90

73.89

76.99

71.28


10

24 COCA-COLABY MARSHALL MANSON, MD OF DIGITAL EMEA, EDELMANIt wasn’t that long ago that marketing and communications professionals were trying to understand what a blogwas, and even more recently that they started wondering whether social networks held any promise for theirbusinesses. Today, of course, that debate is settled. Few would argue that social media doesn’t have a role in thecommunications and marketing mix. And it’s brands like Coca-Cola that have helped demonstrate the value ofengagement, community and conversation for building and maintaining a brand’s reputation.

But what’s particularly striking about Coca-Cola’s activities is how it’s connecting with audiences through socialplatforms across the whole of the business. Initiatives like Expedition 206, in which two brand ambassadorsselected through social media engagement visited (nearly) all 206 countries where Coke is sold, don’t shy awayfrom reputational questions. Corporate initiatives like the Coca-Cola Conversation blog, which gives visitors adeep dive in Coke’s treasure trove of archives, drive brand values. Meanwhile, the company is inviting consumersto shape the future of its business by helping to develop a new flavour of vitamin water.

All of this leads to a deeper connection between consumers and the company’s brands while empowering andequipping advocates to drive word of mouth. So it’s no surprise that in Yomego’s rankings, which look primarily atvolume and positivity of conversation about the brand, Coca-Cola scored well. It’s worth observing that its topcompetitor (and Edelman client) PepsiCo isn’t far behind. There’s something inherently social about drinksbrands, and with social platforms giving them the opportunity to interact directly with customers, it’s clear thatsocial interaction must remain a key aspect of their communications efforts for a long time to come.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Coca-Cola hasn’t had a bad year by any stretch. Like a dependable uncle, it has beenchurning through campaigns with relative success. But Pepsi, with its Refresh project and the integration ofStickybits to provide additional content to its labels, has been the one pushing the boundaries of exciting newuse of interactive technology.

25 MCDONALD’SBY MARK STUART, INSIGHT EXECUTIVE, YOMEGOFast-food giant McDonald’s takes 25th place in our SMR league table. When compared to its 6th place in theInterbrand Top 100 Brands list, this might be seen as a poor performance, but its SMR score reinforces itsposition as market leader in its sector, with nearest rival KFC sitting just outside our top 50 (at 54th).

McDonald’s appointed Rick Wion as its first director of social media in April 2010, having joined in 2006. Creationof the position underlined the company’s commitment to social channels and Wion’s first move was to reach outto mummy bloggers, an interesting approach considering the upcoming World Cup in South Africa (sponsoredby McDonald’s for a fifth time). The official McDonald’s Facebook presence doesn’t appear to be a major priorityyet. Twitter (@McDonalds) is regularly updated by the in-house team, with a link to each contributor revealing apersonal profile on the McDonald’s website (aboutmcdonalds.com). With 80,000 followers, the content is startingto gain some traction but it’s fair to say the brand is still finding its feet in social spaces.

This is perhaps unsurprising as McDonald’s has plenty of potential detractors, all hungry for it to make a mistake(see mcsucks.com). But ignoring social media isn’t an option for a consumer-facing brand of this size. Negativesentiment is already out there. If strong content, transparency, responsiveness and effective communitymanagement are combined with clever monitoring, McDonald’s can expect a jump in next year’s league table.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS McDonald’s approach so far has been to listen, making the brand a willingconversationalist while activating engagement, but not attempting to become an overnight hero in launching thenext Whopper Sacrifice campaign or Ikea’s work on Facebook. There’s still a long way to go, however, as itrecently made a claim that a Foursquare promotion resulted in a 33% increase in store traffic, whereas in fact itwas just a surge in check-ins. Those who love McDonald’s will happily click a ‘like’ button for a specific product,but whether that’s truly valuable is up for debate.

73.75

81.62

79.23

67.55

66.61

73.75

73.47

79.78

80.15

65.34

68.61

73.47


11

6 GUCCIBY BOB BARKER, VP OF CORPORATE MARKETING AND DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT, ALTERIANLuxury brands will always have a strong following because of the lifestyle affinity they promise. Many companiesmove into social media to protect their brands, but Gucci realised it’s another channel to connect with customers.Its high ranking offline is magnified online because of the social web’s ability to allow people to gather aroundwhat they love, whether they can afford it or not.

Gucci has an excellent start with its foray into social media marketing. Its Facebook page has attracted 3.7mfriends, its Twitter feed has over 34,000 followers and its YouTube channel has had nearly 300,000 views. This isn’tnecessarily a measure of success but does point to the affinity consumers have with the brand. If you look beyondthe number of friends and followers, however, you can see Gucci is primarily providing content rather thanengaging in two-way communication. It’s not clear whether a third party has executed this for the brand, but whatit does indicate is the huge online potential it has if it were to grow its presence organically by hiring a communitymanager. This would allow it to personalise the engagement and humanise the brand.

The advantage of having conversations directly with consumers is that Gucci can extend its online engagementto supporting its customers, seek product innovation at the same time as fostering and utilising productadvocacy. It would also help it grow its following and introduce the brand to new customers. Another advantagewith social media is the opportunity to engage with brand advocates. As an established brand, Gucci probablyhas many fan-based communities that would welcome its joining them and supporting their celebration of Gucciproducts and the lifestyle it represents. This is the opportunity that social marketing offers.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS In the luxury fashion market, Gucci is top of the pile for digital engagement. It recentlyremodelled its main website to emphasise iPad functionality, social media and video content, and has built afollowing of 3.7m on Facebook (packed with relevant, two-way conversation and exclusive content). Hats off tothe team behind these developments as it’s a far cry from the brand’s previous belief that the web was only achannel to reach customers who lived in areas without Gucci stores or who only shopped online.

15 NINTENDOBY STEVE RICHARDS, MD, YOMEGONintendo’s prominent position in the SMR league table helps to prove that all social media strategies don’t haveto revolve around Facebook. Despite being highly engaged in social media, Nintendo doesn’t actively managean official brand presence (a Nintendo Wii page exists but it’s inactive).

So how has Nintendo outperformed the likes of Sony, Coca-Cola and Adidas in our rankings? First, it has playedto its strengths. Its products are very visual so, as you might expect, the company’s focus for social is YouTube.Quality content is segmented via sub-branded channels and regularly updated. The most popular, ExperienceWii, has achieved more than 8m views and has 33,000 subscribers. Nintendo also uses Twitter (@nintendoamericahas 50,000 followers), principally as a news and views channel.

In common with our overall SMR champ, Ebay, Nintendo attracts very little negative sentiment, leaving resourcesfree to deliver attractive content rather than fight fires. This shows that an effective performance in social media isvirtually impossible if a brand’s products don’t deliver. Nintendo’s success can also be attributed to theprevalence and positivity of blog references. It’s obviously part of Nintendo’s engagement strategy, and buildingstrong relationships with key influencers in social channels is really paying off. This delivers a dual benefit: drivingwidespread advocacy in the good times and building a bank of goodwill if anything goes awry.

Nintendo for number one in next year’s SMR league table? I wouldn’t bet against it.

NEW MEDIA AGE SAYS Nintendo, like many other games companies, already has an engaged community offans. It comes with the territory. However, in all honesty, it’s the unofficial forums and sites that create most noise.That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it means the company can (as it has done) plough more money into broadcastadvertising and celebrity endorsement. In terms of social interaction online, there’s nothing that stands out asparticularly impressive and there’s much more that could be done. But while your fans are doing the hard work foryou, why try to fix something that isn’t broken?

77.26

87.61

88.18

65.38

67.86

77.26

83.55

82.94

83.37

82.47

85.43

83.55


12

OTHER NOTABLE WINNERSBY HARI RAMACHANDRAN, INSIGHT EXECUTIVE, YOMEGO

9 SAMSUNGThe brand has garnered praise for launching the first YouTube takeover game, using interactive technology toturn the video experience into a game where viewers are turned into players and can win prizes. It has also beenat the forefront of 3D projection mapping.

21 HYUNDAIHyundai’s Uncensored campaign on Facebook effectively handed over the keys to its customers. It selected 50people to drive the 2011 version of the Sonata for 30 days and share their views of their experience on Facebook.Yes, it might have followed Ford’s lead, but what’s that phrase about the sincerest form of flattery?

31 BURBERRYThis Christmas, Burberry let its customers share the festive spirit at holiday.burberry.com. Fans could send a videoof Razorlight performing a Christmas song with a personalised message to friends and family. A donation wasmade to the Burberry Foundation each time the card was sent. This promotion ran until 31 December 2010.

47 LOUIS VUITTONIn 2008, Louis Vuitton launched a personalisation service called Mon Monogram. The brand has now taken thisservice to Facebook by introducing an app that allows users to customise their bag by adding stripes and theirinitials. This gives customers a touch of exclusivity in keeping with the brand’s high-end positioning.

AND LOSERS

CORONACorona Light is currently running a campaign to become the most liked beer on Facebook, giving away brandedprizes at each milestone. This is comparable to a child giving their classmates lollipops in an attempt to get themto like them. What happens when all the sweets run out? Giving away free stuff is not a social media strategy.

JOHNNIE WALKERIn the UK, despite the ongoing Walking With Giants campaign featuring major names including Jenson Buttonand Robert Carlisle, precious little has been done to capitalise on the valuable content.

MOËT & CHANDONThere’s so much scope for luxury brands to go to town with their social media efforts, from Dita Von Teese in thePerrier mansion to Gucci’s live streaming of fashion shows via Facebook. Moët & Chandon has a website that’ssparkling and luxurious, yet its Facebook page is drab, lacking the slightest element of customisation.

80.06

89.99

89.74

70.96

69.56

80.06

76.01

71.39

71.18

82.20

79.28

76.01

70.38

67.19

67.59

70.95

75.78

70.38

63.51

68.02

68.03

58.89

59.10

63.51


13

BRANDS AT RISKBY DAVID ELDRIDGE, CEO, ALTERIANThere’s a major social change taking place and now is a prime time forbrands to respond to the opportunities and challenges this presents.

The time of the mass empowerment of the individual is upon us.Consumers are no longer a passive audience waiting to be communicatedwith. The traditional methods of mass audience segmentation followedby broadcast communication employed by the marketing industry overthe past 50 years are no longer sophisticated enough. The emergenceof digital channels and internet-based social media has created a newworld of communication and technology has equipped individuals withplatforms to voice their opinion and influence their peers.

Consumers are increasingly marketing savvy and empowered. Thismeans companies are no longer in an age where they can control theirbrand reputation. Although this is a little scary, the flipside is that theynow have the ability to be able to understand what’s being said abouttheir business and what their target customers want.

Companies have so much more information at their fingertips than everbefore, yet so many don’t know how to harness it. Social data collectionand analysis now enables businesses to respond to and build a newform of more personal, individualised engagement, yet Alterian’s report‘Your Brand: At Risk or Ready for Growth?’ found that over 60% oforganisations don’t have a social media strategy in place, which meansmany of them aren’t even listening to, let alone communicating withtheir customers online.

Successful brands are pushing the boundaries of marketing andadvertising, riding a wave of social change that has driven consumers todemand more from the companies they buy from than ever before.New business ventures can search out and tap into relevantconversations to test ideas and garner feedback in an incrediblypowerful way. The Brand at Risk report showed that 82% of peopleexpressed a positive interest in being involved by companies indeveloping products and services. Furthermore, 82% thought thatbeing involved in this way would make them more likely to tell othersabout the company. It’s clear that brands must now learn to interactwith individuals, to listen, understand and engage with them.

Technology is changing the game, both in the way consumers interactwith brands and brands’ ability to respond. Engaging with customers ina two-way dialogue, connecting online and offline channels within ananalytics framework, and fully recognising the value of each customer isthe way of the future. Alterian’s pioneering technology helps brands totruly engage with the individual at every step of their customer lifecycle.


14

SMR INDEX METHODOLOGYOur SMR scoring system consists of two elements: reach and satisfaction. Reachis calculated based on the number of references made to the brand across29,000+ social spaces, weighted by the influence of each of these references.The raw data, sourced via keywords, is taken from Alterian’s SM2 platform. TheReach score provides a measure of how many users are discussing the brandonline, and the potential audience that these references are reaching. Reach ismeasured over three months, and then over one month to give the Recencyscore, indicating whether the brand’s performance is improving or declining.

The second component of the SMR score is satisfaction. This is attributed as aresult of sentiment analysis, and is where SMR differs from nearly every othermonitoring tool. Automated sentiment analysis is a much-maligned technology,and with due reason – machines simply can’t yet understand the nuances ofhuman semantics. Our social media analysts provide human validation of thedata to ensure that the results are accurate. Satisfaction is also analysed over athree-month period, and then over the last month to give a Recency score.

Combining the Reach and Satisfaction components gives a Social MediaReputation scorecard, which provides a benchmark for the brand’s performancein social media to be quantifiably tracked over time.

The original list of brands has been taken from the Interbrand Top 100 Brandslist, last updated in September 2010.

This is the first time the Yomego 50 Top Brands in Social Media has beenproduced. Adding human analysis turns the raw data into something that canbe tailored and integrated easily into a wider strategy. We’ll continue to refinethe accuracy and credibility of the methodology used to deliver the indexscores. Your feedback and input is welcomed. Please email [email protected] comment via mysocialmediareputation.com. If you’re a brand owner andwould like us to calculate an SMR score for your brand and its two closestcompetitors, please email [email protected] or call 0141 582 0600.

DISCLAIMER The SMR scores expressed in this publication and on the

mysocialmediareputation.com website are for reference only. The scores have been

calculated in good faith and are as accurate as possible as of 25 January 2011. None of the

brands are Yomego clients. Logos, trademarks and any other copyright materials remain

the property of their owners. Yomego is a trading division of DA Group (UK) Limited.

85 Strand London UK WC2R 0DW

T +44 207 554 1000 F +44 207 554 1001

www.interbrand.com

Interbrand UK Ltd 239 Old Marylebone Road, NW1 5QT Registered number 1703469

Each year social media continues to grow more integral to a brand’s ongoingstrength and value. That’s why, when Interbrand updated its Best GlobalBrands Brand Strength Score in 2010, it made to sure that social media was akey component when measuring a brand’s value.

Whether a consumer facing or B2B brand, it is essential to be listening to theconversations happening online and engaging with consumers as necessary.Social tools should be built into all channels and forms of communication, butalways follow the larger business and brand strategy.

Take Starbucks. The brand faced a tough 2009, but has since seen a twopercent increase in brand value in 2010’s Best Global Brands. The brand hasworked hard to create an engaging and positive online presence around thedialogue it builds with customers on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, mobile andits blog. It has representatives in every department that quickly and proactively react to what’s happening online. Ranking 17th in Yomego’s Top 50Social Media League Table it is clear that Starbucks’ efforts are improvingbrand perceptions and allowing them create deeper connections withcustomers.

Still, while Starbucks’ efforts have clearly boosted the brand’s customerperception, it is clear the importance of a strong brand when building value –hence Starbucks’ Best Global Brands rank of 97 in overall brand value versus17 for social media only. This means that brand managers also need to bethinking about how their organisation’s brand story is developed, how tocontinually evolve products and services, and how to empower employeesinternally. In the end, there’s no such thing as a social media strategy – socialmedia needs to be an integral part of the way an organisation operates,integrating each and every component of a brand. Tina LouiseSenior Consultant, Digital StrategyInterbrand

Documents

top brands in social media - CBS MoneyWatchi.bnet.com/blogs/top-50-social-media-companies.pdf · CASE STUDIES .....08 OTHER NOTABLE WINNERS ... 47 16 LOUIS VUITTON 68.02 68.03 58.89