It pays to be social
Knowing that other companies are doing a good job at something – and others failing dismally – can be a spur to action. On that score alone, Altimeter’s new list of rankings of the level of businesses’ engagement with social media should attract interest.
But what should really get marketers’ attention is evidence that use of social media as a marketing tool boosts profits.
The study by Wetpaint and Altimeter Group, led by Charlene Li, investigated 100 of the brands acknowledged to set standards in marketing, to evaluate how well they engage with their customers using social media. It also shows how that engagement correlates with revenue and profit. It concludes that the most successful brands demonstrate a direct link between top financial performance and deep social media engagement.
Here are the top ten performers:
Starbucks
Dell
eBay
Google
Microsoft
Thomson Reuters
Nike
Amazon
SAP
Intel
The study provides quite a bit of detail about how some of these brands engage with social media. Starbucks, for instance, started with the advantage of a CEO who was into it from the start, and personally championed a site that promotes dialogue with consumers, MyStarbucksIdea.com
There are also useful tips for how to succeed. You can download the whole study here.
Some other posts you'll find interesting:
- Yes, use of social media impacts on the bottom line
- Social media users want deals
- Brands losing control through social media