Electronic Arts has been named the number one brand in the Social Brands 100. EA won for its 'Battlefield 3' first-person shooter game and beat American Airlines, Innocent, Argos and Tesco, who all made the top 10.
The 2013 ranking has been dominated by the retail industry, making up 25% of the list overall. However, travel brands have made their mark as well, with four featuring in the top 10. Lufthansa, Thomson Holidays and Thomas Cook joined the second-placed US airline.
The number of entries in 2013 has reflected the growth of the social media industry over the past 12 months, with 715 brands being nominated, compared to 300 last year.
The top 10 in full:
- EA Battlefield
- American Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Thomson Holidays
- Thomas Cook UK
- Innocent
- Argos
- Seat Mexico
- Tesco
- Dr Martens
The research by social agency Headstream found that the use of social media for customer service has moved on in leaps and bounds since last year. Many brands scored well here, but scores were on average lower for engagement metrics. This suggests that more could be done to better connect with people and create long-term loyalty.
Although there was very little dividing many of the brands, EA scored highly for its use of all three platforms.
Simon Stokes, director of web and communities for Europe, says that in the 'Battlefield 3' cycle, it is the social channels where the game has exploded.
He said: "That's where the fans are doing their engagement. We want to be part of the conversation. Trying to stimulate that as much as possible."
Video is a huge part of what EA does in social media and it is a big part about why it has been successful over the past 12 months.
With fans producing their own video content based on in-game action, EA launched the 'Only in Battlefield' (OIB) challenge to encourage that activity. It asked fans to produce videos that summed up moments that could only be found in the game. It received more than 1,200 entries.
Stokes said: "We realised we wanted to be part of that activity and we have done all we can to encourage users to create this content and share these OIB moments."
Where the community has produced brilliant work, EA uses that to share with the community thus rewarding fans for their creativity and promoting the game at the same time.
Argos
Argos secured its place as the top retail brand in this year's Social Brands 100 by combining effective customer service with social media branding.
It was one of the first retail brands to use TV ads to drive competitions on Twitter. In the spring of 2012, Argos ran a TV ad that incorporated the hashtag #WinDadsCamera. It was a great example of how to bring traditional TV advertising together with social media to drive conversation.
Emily Lewis, social media manager at Argos, said it highlighted for Argos how social media could open up new opportunities and compliment existing channels.
She said: "The #WinDadsCamera campaign was one of the first Twitter promoted contests on TV. We are proud of that and the recognition we got through it. It was something we did that worked really well and we would look to do it again."
Lewis added that campaigns such as #WinDadsCamera, and its real-time customer service response, showed Argos was using social media in ways it was meant to be used in terms of social interactions and engagement with customers.
Steve Sponder, managing director at Headstream, said: "With Social Brands 100 research showing an average of 10% of marketing budgets assigned to social media activity, it’s firmly part of the mix now.
"It also feels like more brands are getting to grips with engagement in social spaces than a year ago. The challenge is not only getting customer service right in social spaces, but creating content which creates a loyal community of advocates in the long term."
Socialbakers measured brand engagement on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube during a six-week period using a set of key performance indicators to create a data score. Headstream additionally surveyed a cross-section of brands involved in the research to identify trends in social media.
Jan Rezab, chief executive of Socialbakers, said: "When social media is used to its full potential by companies, it’s the perfect platform for, among other things, engaging with customers, providing customer service and raising brand awareness."
You can see the full list of the