It’s hard to deny that social media is essential for business that want to promote meaningful dialogue with their customers. But a new study goes further, claiming to have found a direct correlation between financial performance and clever use of social media.

‘Significant positive financial results’ are seen for companies measured as having the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement, says the study, by Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group.

The study took a list of the top most valuable brands and reviewed their use of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums. It scored them on the depth of their engagement for each, ranging from a top score of 127 to a low of 1. The top ten were:

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)
Tie – Yahoo!/Intel (85)

These brands, say the study, generally have dedicated teams active in the social media channels they utilize. Most of them evangelise social media across the entire organisation and view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results. Their approach is conversational, unlike traditional communications and even the early use of blogs by businesses, which were more about issues messages and talking points.

On average the most successful users of social media grew revenues by 18% over the last 12 months, while those who cared least about it saw revenues sink 6%.

Altimeter’s founder Charlene Li thinks the results are a good guide for corporations and brand marketers in every industry. “The success stories we have uncovered provide a blueprint for companies making decisions about how to best apply their marketing and consumer relations resources,” she says.

More about the study here.