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© immediate future Ltd.2008immediate future Ltd, The Loft, Vine House, 143 London Road, Kingston upon Thames KT2 6NA t: 0845 408 2031 f: 0208 549 2605 m: 07803 898 511 e: info@immediatefuture.co.uk 
 VAT registration No. 786 8830 62: Company No. 4709287 Registered office: 135 Notting Hill Gate W11 3LB
 
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The top 100 brands in social media
The impact of online conversation on the Interbrand Top 100 global brand survey 
The immediate future (IF) ‘brands in social media’ research document, now in its secondyear, looks to offer topline insight into the growing impact of social media and onlineconversation on leading brands. Using the Interbrand Top 100 and Millward BrownBrandZ rankings as reference points, the IF report represents a snapshot (accurate toJune 2008) of online discussions, sentiment and visibility of some of the world’s largestbrands.It is increasingly clear that the level of a brand’s engagement with the ever growingonline community is beginning to have a direct correlation with that brand’s reputation.This document aims to explore how brands have addressed the growing presence andimportance of consumers’ opinions and how the birth of social media has forced brandsto adapt (in response to such a rapidly evolving medium).
The Online Landscape 
Social media is booming. Every day new statistics, white papers and articles appeardiscussing its continued growth. Independent market analyst Datamonitor has revealedhow quickly the number of people participating in online social networking is growing: theUK currently leads Europe, in terms of membership, and is expected to reach 27 millionusers – a threefold increase on today’s figures – by 2012
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.Across the globe, consumers are more connected than ever before, thanks to easierinternet access, the rise (and reduction) in price of broadband and an increase in homeusage. With the continual development of tools to aid communication, including blogs,social networks and photo/video sharing sites, this trend looks set to continue.But what exactly is social media? The term reflectsthe sharing of information, experiences andopinions through a series of widely available, easy-to-use tools. Very simple, very public, very hard toignore.Social media encourages the building ofcommunities; groups of people with commoninterests who are keen to interact with one anotheron matters important to them, from daily musings tovery specific subject matter.More importantly, anyone can participate in thesecommunities. Finding a group and joining in theconversation is very easy thanks to the wide varietyof online tools available (which facilitate the findingand sharing of information).
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DataMonitor’s "Online Social Networking"
 
Research -http://www.datamonitor.com 
“Social networking is reallyrecommendation betweenpeople about the things thatthey are interested in and theylike… this has stimulatedpeople’s attention in terms of the importance of PR. Thepeople who are going on thesesites didn’t want to bemonetised, they didn’t want tobe advertised to, so againeditorial communication is sopowerful, they would rather becommunities that can exchangeviews that are untarnished.”
Sir Martin Sorrell
 
 
© immediate future Ltd.2008immediate future Ltd, The Loft, Vine House, 143 London Road, Kingston upon Thames KT2 6NA t: 0845 408 2031 f: 0208 549 2605 m: 07803 898 511 e: info@immediatefuture.co.uk 
 VAT registration No. 786 8830 62: Company No. 4709287 Registered office: 135 Notting Hill Gate W11 3LB
 
3But what does that mean for brands? Quite simply, the balance of power has shifted – with control passing from the brands themselves to the consumers. Online audiencescan choose the content they want to view and are free to comment on/share it withwhomever they like, whenever they wish to do so. Brands must accept that they need toembrace this shift, rather than shy away from it, as this is a trend that looks set tocontinue.
Social Media Grows Up 
According to VNU.net, nearly half of the online adult population around the world is amember of at least one networking site, with Facebook and MySpace between themhousing over 170 million monthly active users
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.Other social media activity is also continuing to grow at a frenetic pace. According toWave3 research of active users
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:- 394m watch video clips online- 346m read blogs- 321m read personal blogs- 307m visit a friend’s social network page- 303m share a video clip- 272m manage a profile on a social network- 248m upload photos- 216m download video podcasts- 215m download podcasts- 184m start their own blog- 183m upload a video clip- 160m subscribe to an RSS feedBlogging, and the reading of blogs, is now such a widespread activity it is impossible toignore. Those who choose to do so are taking a risk, as people will talk about brandswith or without that company’s permission (in recent research, 34% of bloggers revealedthey currently post opinions about products and brands on their blog
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). It is thereforevital to be part of those conversations, or even to initiate them (such as through acompany blog, with 36% of online users stating that they think more positively aboutcompanies who actually run their own blog
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).In Britain, users spend the majority of their time online on social media sites, spendingfour billion minutes on consumer generated content sites in April 2008 (up 47% year onyear, according to Nielsen Research).Content itself is also evolving, as users are no longer just logging on for relevant news.According to new research, 62% of people are more likely to trust and use onlinereviews written by fellow shoppers before making a purchase, whilst time spent onsearch sites has also increased by 13%, to 1.3 billion minutes
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. This has led to an overalldecrease in the amount of time spent on traditional news sites.
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Forrester Research
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Wave.3 Social Media Tracker – Universal McCann
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immediate future/Logan Tod/e-consultancy joint report April 2008
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