A recent study by social brand consultancy Headstream identified the Top 100 Social Brands in the UK. You can download the full report here, but these are some of the findings that are most relevant:
A. THE TOP TWENTY SOCIAL BRANDS
B. THE INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
A collection of talking heads which will give you a bit of an introduction to the Social Brand 100.
C. TEN KEY LEARNINGS
And here, reported by WallBlog, are the ten key learnings from the Social Brand 100 study:
1. Social brands don’t just send messages, they create value for people and communities.
2 Social brands are happy to exchange rigid control of their brand for greater involvement with people.
3 Social brands manage their brands in a more human context. It is less about the word of the brand guidelines and more about the spirit of the brand, often replacing formality around tone of voice in favour of expressing brand character, values, purpose and cause.
4. The types of content that social brands can create categorised as providing information, utility, entertainment, reward, incentive or something that reflects a person’s character and what they value. Brands are still totems to what we believe, reflecting our personality.
5. Timeliness of response is a critical indicator of social enablement. Social brands are agile and responsive to the needs of people, relishing opportunities as they arise.
6. Being appropriate in social doesn’t mean using a lot of brand outposts. The use of brand outposts is driven by what is most relevant for the community.
7. Negative and positive sentiment is acknowledged and accepted by social brands
8. Social brands create, develop and encourage behaviors that mirror community or individual behaviors. They meet and exceed expectations, often delighting people in doing so.
9. Social brands are true, compelling, authentic and transparent.
10. Social brands simplify their intent and continually act to achieve it. They have established what they want to achieve and ensure everything builds towards this commitment. To be a social brand you have to be a good brand, a good employer, make good products, provide good customer service and have a moral centre to your purpose by those that represent you.
