Research: Which brands ‘get’ social media?

2 August, 2009

Lists are always fun, but this recent study by analyst the Altimeter Group not only ranks the top 100 brands by social media engagement, but also carries some interesting finds for brands not on there – yet :)

The Most Engaged Brands On The Web study scores the engagement level of each of the top 100 brands across more than ten social media channels, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter and discussion forums.

These are companies that are open to the audience, that facilitate the conversation with their customers, that actively listen to the audience, that talk and take feedback about everything from strategic decisions to processes and product features. In short, companies that “get it”

According to the research, the top ten brands are:

1. Starbucks (127)
2. Dell (123)
3. eBay (115)
4. Google (105)
5. Microsoft (103)
6. Thomson Reuters (101)
7. Nike (100)
8. Amazon (88)
9. SAP (86)
10. Tie – Yahoo!/Intel (85)

Theory?

The definition of engagement is always a tricky thing, and handling this in a really scientific way is hard. You can always debate the methodology. Nevertheless, there is value in the findings, and the 8 page section on best practices from Starbucks, Toyota, SAP and Dell has some very concrete and practical pointers. Especially Starbucks stands out, as this Seattle-based company managed to get to the top of this list with a social media team of only 6 people. Impressive.

Maven or Wallflower?

I like the distinction between the most being “mavens,” & the least engaged being “wallflowers” (McDonalds and BP as examples). Wallflowers typically use few channels and manage them with a rather limited effort. How many social media channels brands participate in and the depth of engagement in the companies determine in which category a company ends up. Because one intern managing 10 social channels does not make an engaged company, the amount of manpower dedicated and the level of support from senior management are factored in.

Social brands make more money?

The study claims a correlation between social media engagement and revenue and profit growth. The “mavens” saw revenues grow an average of 18 percent over the past 12 months, while the Wallflowers saw revenues drop 6 percent. I think claiming that having an engaged audience will make you profitable is a pretty wild claim, and this is where the report goes overboard IMHO. I guess they were trying just a little too hard to look for a big headline. However it is clear that the strongest brands are the most engaged – which shows that for them, social media are an established part of their business today.

You can find the full 32 page report here on Docstoc.com.

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