A recent study looked at how the 100 most valuable brands — as identified by the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking — engaged in 11 different online social media channels. They ranked the top 10 companies based on their social media engagement with their customers, and came up with this amazing statistic:
“The above companies on average grew 18% in revenues over the last 12 months, compared to the least engaged companies who on average saw a decline of 6% in revenue during the same period. The same holds true for two other financial metrics, gross margin and net profit.”
As far as I know, this is the first study directly linking social media engagement to financial performance. It is well known that social media can drive traffic and increase leads – but the connection between social media and more traditional financial measurements such as revenues, gross margin, and net profit were previously unclear.
It is important to note that I do not claim that social media is the SOLE reason for the companies’ financial performance; simply that those companies who are highly engaged in social media also have superior financial performance when compared to their peers.
Source: Study by the Altimeter Group titled “ENGAGEMENTdb: Deep Brand Engagement Correlates with Financial Performance.”
Tags: Advertising, marketing, Social Media
