Social-media marketing success is about more than just numbers of followers a brand has on Facebook, Twitter and the like — it's about engagement. What do fans do or not do, say or not say as a result of a brand's prompting via some social medium?

And measured that way, argues the social-marketing company Socialbakers, some brands rise surprisingly to the top. They include Audi, the German luxury-car marque that blew away nine other major brands selected by Socialbakers in a comparison of social-engagement rates. The also-rans included not only Audi rival Mercedes-Benz — which did finish second among the 10 — but also BMW, Taco Bell, Disney, McDonald's, Samsung Mobile USA, Walt Disney World, Skol and Starbucks Frappucino.

"We put a premium on engagement," Joe Quattrone, vice president of M80, Audi's social-marketing agency, confirmed to brandchannel. "We've developed the idea of what kind of content really resonates with fans. We understand what fans and followers want to talk about and we give that to them time and time again."Continue reading...

In a bid to set a new standard for “Socially Devoted” companies, a new Socialbakers study identifies businesses that succeed with open and responsive social communications, creating a benchmark for how businesses can drive customer engagement through such social media strategies.

“By defining Socially Devoted companies, we wanted to start a discussion in the industry,” said Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab. “Socially Devoted companies communicate openly, actively respond to fans and make sure customers receive a quick answer to feedback or questions. Socially Devoted companies set a new global standard that other businesses can adopt to improve their social media marketing strategy.”Continue reading...

Socialbakers claims it's #1 source for global Facebook data (other than Facebook, of course) with more than 10 million Facebook pages and places indexed.

The social media analytics company just launched its AnalyticsPRO product designed to enhance social media performance through competitive insights, engagement and influencer identification.

The proprietary technology tracks Facebook and Twitter campaigns for any company, enterprise to small business, while monitoring industry competitors. It’s currently the most utilized social media analytics platform in Europe, with 250,000 users across 75 countries.Continue reading...

Socialbakers, the most cited source for global Facebook data with over 5 million Facebook pages and places indexed, has just released a study highlighting social media effectiveness, coinciding with LeWeb’11, Europe’s premiere tech conference in Paris (taking place December 7-9).

Since its 2008 launch, Socialbakers has become the “most widely visited site for Facebook statistics and brand metrics,” and is now adding to its portfolio YouTube analytics and monitoring for Google+ brand page.

Findings showcase the companies with the largest social media presence across the major social networks. Topline observations include:

• Google on Facebook has a 2X higher engagement rate than Facebook itself.
• Facebook, Best Buy, Google, Nokia and Intel have the highest engagement rates in social and digital media.
• Foursquare made the top 15 but has an unexpected low user engagement against its competitors.
• Intel, Dell, Nokia, Foursquare, Facebook and Google are with engagement and adoption of Google+.

“From the findings, we see that companies need to think more about engagement and Google+. Little steps like posting once a day to Facebook will give optimal engagement. Companies need help understanding the data, what works and how they can improve,” said Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers in a release.Continue reading...