According to a research carried out by NM Incite, a Nielsen-McKinsey firm, Ford and Samsung Mobile enjoy more popularity on social networking sites than competitors like Maruti and Nokia, respectively.
Ford India is on the second position in the overall list of the Social Media Brand Equity Ranking (SMBER). Ford became the leader in the auto segment in terms of popularity on social media and was ahead of the five popular car brands that were in the top 20. Maruti is on 3rd position, Mahindra & Mahindra is ranked 6th, Volkswagen India on 8th, Hyundai Motor India on 11th, and BMW India came on 19th position in the list of top 20.
The survey said, "Automotive's prominent showing is driven by large number of followers on social media platforms, lots of product reviews and consumers sharing photographs and tips related to their experiences." Ford India received a lot of encouraging comments from consumers on social networking sites, mainly for its after sale services.
In the category of Smartphones, Samsung Mobile captured the consumers' attention on several social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, to name a few. In the category of Android phones, Samsung is leading the platform as per the study by NM Incite.
However, Apple iPhone presently has the 61st position in the study. In the report, NM Incite commented, "As per parameters, one key criteria was fans and followers on official social media pages, and it was observed that the iPhone did not have an official page to accurately measure this number."
Telecom brands in the top 20 list of SMBER include LG Electronics on 7th position, Sony Ericsson on 10th, Nokia on 13th, and HTC on 17th position. On the other hand, telecom service providers Airtel, Vodafone and Tata Docomo ranked 14th, 15th and 16th respectively in the list.
Popular sportswear brand Nike grabbed the 4th position and ecommerce website Flipkart was ranked 5th in the first-ever SMBER index. Nike was able to get 4th position because of positive response and for its 'Bleed Blue' movement for ICC World Cup 2011. Flipkart was ranked 5th due to the tremendous amount of buzz about it on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Channel V, the only brand from entertainment industry in list, came on 9th position in the SMBER list. Nestle's Maggi made it up to the 12th position in the study, the sole Fast Moving Consumers Good (FMCG) brand among the top 20.
The analysis of SMBER envelops the social media buzz for 400 brands among consumers in India from 1st January to 31st December 2011. Farshad Family, Managing Director, Nielsen Media said, "The SMBER index answers some critical questions for a brand, based on engagement with company owned social media platforms, as well as the consumer's conversation on the brand across the platforms."
The survey includes everything that describes a brand's presence on social networking sites. However, brands in sectors like quick-serve restaurants, financial and banking services, airlines, and insurance were not able to come into the top 20 list. It was because of consumer’s disappointment with the services, which they discussed on the social networking sites.
