Brand share of voice in detail

share of voice in detail (click to enlarge)

The graph above reveals where in the social media landscape conversations are currently taking place. It is interesting to note how the various brands fare in the different types of media, with no single brand managing to effectively position itself across every site.

Google does, nonetheless, dominate many of the social media Categories, coming in the top three for MySpace, Digg, Del.icio.us, Twitter, as well as in forums and blogs. Technology companies do consistently well in all categories, which reflects how people like to discuss technology products and services, through posts, video and photography. Their success can also be explained by the fact that early adopters are a dominant Online presence in their area.

Media takes the lion's share of video sharing

The past year has seen a significant increase in video uploads, with 129 million people visiting YouTube every month. This important medium (video sharing) also shows very different results from the other Social media types, with large media companies dominating the chart. The top two positions are held by Disney and MTV, which reflects their respective areas of expertise - Disney's place can be attributed to uploaded Content from their films and cartoons and MTV features prominently thanks to its exclusive music videos.

Consumer electronics brands have also accumulated increasing levels of Buzz, with Nintendo coming in third - due to its range of content including console reviews, game clips, and user generated content (based on characters and in-game music). In fourth place, Sony also elicits a strong response from users, who are uploading videos of products and clips of the crtitically acclaimed BRAVIA advert series[1]. Consumer electronics brands are able to create a strong bond and brand loyalty amongst their consumers, which results in brand advocacy (as consumers want to show off their purchases and talk about them with others).

Camera tagging identifies brand mentions in photosharing

Flickr, the online photo sharing network, demonstrates the link between site relevance and brand sector. Camera manufacturers all do well in this category, especially compared to their overall rankings. Canon and Samsung come first and second respectively, Sony⁶ fourth, and Kodak, 38^th overall, reaches number seven. This is because people tend to either upload photos of the cameras themselves (as fans of specific products seem to be interested in sharing their own equipment experiences with others), or tag photos taken with cameras from these brands.

Disney also fares well in Flickr, as it is a brand which lends itself well to imagery. Many people upload photos of holidays to branded theme parks, alongside pictures of their favourite cartoon characters.

Audience is king for brand rankings on Social networks

The results surrounding social Networks reflect the age demographic of those using them. Bebo, whose core user base is made up of teens and young adults, sees a strong showing by brands who are active in that age demographic. Ford features very prominently, which could be explained by it being a make of car which proves very popular with young adults both in the US and the UK. Disney also holds a high ranking, as it has a similar  fanbase (in terms of age) as the Bebo audience.

Zara, the clothing company, also attracts chatter amongst younger networkers, coming ninth in the Bebo chart (compared to 56^th overall). Large technology brands, which dominate the other rankings, fare much worse here when exposed to a younger audience with just two brands making an appearance (Google, reaching number 22, and Microsoft, number 45).  Only Apple matches its overall ranking, possibly due to the fact that the teen market regularly discusses Apple's iPod and iPhone.

MySpace, whose age demographic is slightly older than Bebo, comes closer to the overall IF top 25 rankings, though the table still shows its own peculiarities. Whereas Disney drops a couple of places (when compared to the Bebo results), MTV, which reflects both MySpace's stated age demographic and its strong ties with the music scene, comes in fourth, compared to its 17^th position in the Bebo chart (and its 18^th position overall in the IF top 25).

Pepsi, which has low rankings across the board, ended up in fifth place on MySpace (whilst the comparatively poor showing of rival Coca-Cola could be explained by the fact that people do not always refer to it by its full name). eBay also returns a high ranking (third), especially when compared to its 30^th place in the Bebo rankings. This is most probably due to the fact that those too young to purchase from the site don't talk about it (though it does provide slightly older teens and young adults somewhere to find bargains to suit their finances!).

Aspirational luxury fashion brands also show up strongly in the MySpace rankings, with Gucci (15^th in the MySpace chart / 46^th overall), Prada (17^th/41^st), and Chanel (18^th/37^th) all appearing in the top twenty.

Facebook's rankings are most interesting when the lowest placed brands are considered. Despite all of them finishing in the top 40 in the Interbrand study, the big financial institutions - JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch - do not fare very well in the Facebook rankings. This is surprising, as the network still tends to attract an audience made up of young professionals, alongside students and graduates, many of whom work/aspire to work for such companies. All appear in the bottom 20 places of the Facebook rankings, with Morgan Stanley (in last position) inspiring no conversation whatsoever even though it has over 7,000 of its staff on the network! However, several corporations have introduced strict social networking policies over the last 12 months, which may explain their poor showing.

Digg can highlight the negative too

Digg also reflects the overall standings, with technology companies taking the top spots. However, higher rankings are not necessarily a positive sign, as people are just as likely to Digg negative stories as positive ones.

Even though Nike only reaches number 35 in this chart, the top stories Dugg about it are generally observed to be positive.

Contrast this, however, with clothing company GAP (11^th in the chart), whose most Dugg stories include "GAP Caught Using Child Labor To Produce ‘GAP Kids' Clothing" and computer manufacturer Dell (most of whose Dugg stories are also negative). However, Dell has actually dropped in this table, from 12^th position last year, which reflects the fact that fewer negative stories are being written about them in 2008.

Blogs don't care for car marques

As expected, technology brands continue to dominate the Blog rankings, though car brands do surprisingly badly, with Honda only reaching 66^th spot, Porsche 35^th, and BMW nearly failing to make the top 100, by coming in at no.95.

Tweeting hot on technology

Twitter returns results which also lean towards the technology sector, (as the microblogging network is mostly home to early adopters and the more tech savvy). Twitter has fast gained users (with visits to Twitter.com up eight fold over the equivalent figures last year), and its chart shows Google and Apple occupying positions one and two respectively. Starbucks also shows up very strongly (ranked at number six), but this could be explained by people writing ‘tweets' about where they are (e.g. "having great fun catching up with Rob in Starbucks").

[1] Sony is an immediate future client