Top 100 Social Media Brands

Ive been searching for this for ages; a list of the biggest brands making the most of social media. It has been compiled by Vitrue and posted on their blog.

The list includes all the names that you would expect (Apple, Disney, MTV) and heavily features all American brands. I don’t have a problems with this. After all, the worlds biggest brands are from the USA as are the worlds biggest social media brands (Digg, Facebook, Techcrunch). I’m not sure whether Vitrue chose which brands they wanted to monitor (include list) or monitored different social media channels to find the most talked about? Surely brands who’s demographic are also the bulk of social media users will be the most talked about? Brands whose target market is the over 5o’s will never have as much online chatter about them but surely this doesn’t make them any less of a brand? They say “We apply a series of algorithms to reflect the frequency of usage, the size of the social media environment, and the magnitude of the conversation. The result is a single numeric score for each brand: the Vitrue Social Media Index (SMI).”

I’d like to have actually seen each brand’s SMI. Crucially, we don’t know if this is positive or negative chatter which only adds to the slight ambiguity of this study. See my post on Buzzdaq which was an attempt to dynamically monitor brand names. However everyone likes a good list and this one has been a long time coming.

Enough already – heres the list (top 50) – For the full top 100 visit Vitrue

For more insight read Adage’s blog

1. iPhone
2. CNN
3. Apple
4. Disney
5. Xbox
6. Starbucks
7. iPod
8. MTV
9. Sony
10. Dell
11. Microsoft
12. Ford
13. Nintendo
14. Target
15. PlayStation
16. Mac
17. Turner
18. Hewlett-Packard
19. Fox News
20. BlackBerry
21. ABC
22. Coke
23. LG
24. Best Buy
25. Honda
26. eBay
27. Sharp
28. Lincoln
29. NBA
30. Pepsi
31. General Motors
32. McDonald’s
33. General Electric
34. Walmart
35. NFL
36. Mercedes
37. BMW
38. Samsung
39. Nike
40. Subway
41. Dodge
42. Pandora
43. CBS
44. Mercury
45. NBC
46. Disneyland
47. Last.fm
48. Toyota
49. Cadillac
50. Chevy

social media blog

Make money from your Twitter account…again?

I was afraid that headline might look slightly spammish but then I though ah forget it yo home to Belair!

Look it up yourself. Ad Cause is the slightly schizophrenic site that is half aimed at money grabbing Tweeters and half at charitable folk.

The site is pleasing to the eye with clear initial instructions on how to sign up and make money. The page seemed to show the main content out of the page area on the right so frustratingly to view any info I had to keep scrolling over to the page. Also, when signing up and choosing my country, I was given the options of living in Great Britain or United Kingdom….hmmm

How it Works:

It’s not a way of monetising your Twitter background, its about showing ad’s in your Twitter stream for companies who have signed up.

1) Visit AdCause and sign up. Write a bio about yourself to attract advertisers and make sure you’re signed up to Paypal beforehand as this is how you’ll get paid.

2) Choose how much you charge per ad and how long you want the ads to show for.

3) (and here’s the catch) Wait for an advertiser to select you to advertise through. You’ll need to be a poplular fellow with plenty of followers in their target market. I would estimate you’d have to have over 500 relevant followers (don’t quote me!).

4) Sit back and wait for the dollar bills to start pouring through the letterbox.

See what you think

social media blog

What EXACTLY is Social Media…really… when you get down to it?

Social Media as a viable commercial option has arrived on the scene so quickly that I believe those that are not intimately connected with it, don’t really understand what it is. Then there are the people who think they know what it is eg. Oh yaaa lets put that on Twaddle and Facespace lets embrace Social Media (and look good in front of our peers/bosses)…don’t even talk to me about THEM. I’m not a social media SNOB but it annoys me in any walk of life when people jump on the bandwagon and the gravy train or just do things to look cool. Rant over.

Firstly to deal with the definitions:

Social – Some definitions ;

• relating to human society and its members; “social institutions”; “societal evolution”; “societal forces”; “social legislation”

• living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups; “a human being is a social animal”; “mature social behavior”
  

Media – Some definitions;

• In communication, media (Singular: Medium) are the storage and transmission tools used to store and deliver information or data. It is often referred to as synonymous with mass media or news media, but may refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose.
  

And finally social media;

• Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words …

• A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.
  

source: wikipedia (of course!)

Here’s 5 steps to get you on your way to a great social media campaign:

1) Choose the right people

If setting up a campaign, you should make sure that the primary research and finished product(s) is centered around the community. And any community is made up of individuals so you must ensure that any campaign appeals to your target tribe (thanks Seth)

but…you must also ensure that it appeals to each indiviual. If you can identify the individual that is the tribe’s ‘leader’ then so much the better. They are the online gatekeeper to your brand.

2) Choose the right technology (right)

Like else where in life; its not what you’ve got its how you use it. The aim isn’t to use the newest or most expensive technology. The aim is to get your target audience to engage with your brand. Now innovative technology may well do this but just using it for the sake of it won’t help anyone. A place for everything and everything in its place.

3) Give people a reason to interact with you

Why should anyone want to join your community. Just because you think your company/product/service is the bees knees, to everyone else you are just another soulless company trying to sell stuff. Give them a reason to love you and your product! Then if they love you they’ll tell their friends about you…which leads me on to…

4) Spread the word

Use all of the seeding channels you possibly can. Chat in forums, write in blogs, create groups on social networking sites. Get online editorials to review your campaign, bloggers to link to you. Identify key influencers and bloggers to make them aware of you. DON’T try and bribe them to write about you…they will probably write about it!

5) Be honest and transparant

Internet users are not dummys. They’ve been clever enough to find your video/game/application/widget so don’t insult them by trying to pull the wool over their eyes. You’ll give the impression of being a wolf in sheeps clothing…or a cat amongst the pigeons…

Never, ever pretend that you are doing anything other than that which you are doing i.e. trying to get their attention. In fact if following the AIDA model you should be trying to stimulate:

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

No-one likes fake people and no-one likes companies who pretend to be their best friend.

social media blog