As more attention than ever focuses on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, a new study examines whether those sites help business by ranking the internet’s top brands.
The report, which was released by analyst Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint, places Starbucks first on a scale that ranks the top 100 global brands based on their use of the different channels.
The coffee conglomerate earned a spot in the “maven” category, the best of four possibilities. “Mavens” use seven or more different channels and use social media as a key part of their business strategy.
Trailing just behind Starbucks, which earned 127 points, are Dell and eBay with 123 and 115 points respectively.
In the report, Li finds a correlation between companies taking advantage of social media and revenue growth as “mavens” averaged sales gains of 18 percent over the last year.
The next most engaged are “butterflies,” which use seven or more channels but without the depth of “mavens.”
Companies in each of the final two categories, “selectives” and “wallflowers,” use six or fewer channels, but the “selectives” does so more intensively.
Duracell, Gillette, Kellogg’s and Mercedes-Benz were among those “wallflowers” at the bottom of the list.
