Two Swedish Eyes on Media and Public Relations
Thomson Reuters just released a new report that presents the world leaders in innovation. Companies with more than 100 innovative patens from the last three years were analyzed and six Swedish companies are among the final Top 100 Global Innovators:
Sweden is only lagging behind the US, Japan and France when it comes to number of companies included in the list. No companies from our neighbours Denmark, Norway or Finland are included.
The concept of social media releases and social media newsrooms is not new. By adding photos, videos and audio and easy sharing functionality, the chances that the content is spread across different social media channels increase. At least, that’s what we have been arguing for several years. Now there is also a study that confirms this notion.
PR Newswire and Crowd Factory looked at tens of thousands of press releases, to analyze where, when and how news releases were shared across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The findings are really interesting and I include the key conclusions from the analysis below:
1. Each press release share generates 2 new views; expands total audience by 70%.
Creating shareable content and enabling sharing capabilities through the relevant channels can dramatically increase the number of views for releases. PR Newswire and Crowd Factory found that each share generates an average of nearly 2 click-backs to the original press release. Additionally, sharing of press releases across social networks increases the total audience, or social reach, for this content by nearly 70 percent.
2. Press releases are shared more on Facebook, but Twitter sharing drives more traffic.
Among the three largest U.S. social networks, Facebook is tops when it comes to sharing of press releases: 48 percent of press release sharing happens on Facebook, 37 percent of sharing happens on Twitter and 15 percent happens on LinkedIn.
But not all shares are created equal: in spite of Facebook’s greater popularity for sharing, each share on Twitter actually drives about 30 percent more press release views than a share on Facebook.
3. Multimedia press releases generate 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.
Not surprisingly, multimedia press releases that include photos, videos or audio generate more views, shares and clicks than text-only press releases. Adding a photo to a press release increases engagement by 14 percent; adding a video and a photo actually doubles the engagement rate. Press releases that contain photos, video and audio generate the most engagement, with 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.
A new study from Conversocial describes how the largest US retailers use Facebook for customer service. The white paper, entitled Who’s Ignoring Their Customers?: A Survey Of The Largest US Retailers and Their Use of Social Media, includes findings such as these:
– Walmart, the largest retailer, was missing 41% of all customer service enquiries. Costco, Kmart and Kroger missed 100%. Safeway were doing relatively well, missing only 5%. Overall, 65% of all complaints and questions were missed by the sample group.
– Safeway was given praise for dealing with the full complaint on the wall. Safeway redirected some complaints to a Facebook dedicated email and a Freephone number, but a significant number of conversations about customer satisfaction are handled on social media outlets which means the solutions are visible to everyone.
– US retailers are generally slower at responding to customers than UK retailers. None of the ten in the US study were averaging at under an hour, compared with two retailers in the UK sample achieving a quick average time.
Read the full report below, it is worth the time.
The Ignite Social Media Blog tracks the most popular branded pages on Facebook. In the September update, two Swedish brands are ranked among the top 50 pages. With 8.3 million “fans”, H&M moves up one spot to #32 and Sony Ericsson stays at #50 (with 5.7 million).
Top 10 branded Facebook pages (Sept 2011):
China became the world’s second largest luxury goods market in 2010, according to consulting firm Bain & Company. It is estimated that China will account for about 20%, or $27 billion, of the total global luxury sales in 2015, so this is the market to watch if you are a luxury brand. And social media is on the rise in China: micro blogs Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo both have in excess of 200 million users, social network Renren has some 120 million users and there are about 300 million blogs in China. No wonder brands are turning to social media sites to engage in conversations with potential customers.
L2 is a think tank which has just released a report on the top luxury brands in China and how they are performing in social media. The L2 Prestige 100®: China IQ study attempts to quantify the digital competence in China of 100 iconic brands. The one brand with the highest overall score is Audi, followed by Burberry and BMW. Seven of the top ten are car brands, and four of these are German brands.
1. AUDI – Innovation in technology: maintains presence on six different social media sites in addition to its own OurAudi.com
2. BURBERRY – Luxury’s digital darling doesn’t disappoint. From Jiepang VIP guest passes for Beijing grandopening to Christopher Bailey soundtrack on Youku, Burberry claims the fashion crown.
3. BMW – From “beasts to joy”—sheer social pleasure; great translation of a global campaigns for the Chinese market.
4. VOLVO – C70 Sina Weibo challenges consumers to design the plot for the next Volvo commercial.
5. BENEFIT COSMETICS – Local e-commerce launch caters to consumers with samples and gift-with-purchase offer; Sina Weibo and Kaixin “Benefit Beach Honey” contests delight.
6. CADILLAC – Recently released Route 66 short film starring Karen Mok across site and social media.
6. ESTÉE LAUDER – EL-Lady BBS includes videos, games, Q&A, and link to purchase.
8. LAND ROVER – “The Evoque Effect” sets the standard for multichannel digital campaigns.
8. MERCEDES-BENZ – SLK Mask Party contest provides winners tickets to China Fashion Week and site visitors an opportunity to create their own virtual mask.
10. PORSCHE – Innovative comparison tool and stunning microsites for each model are the engines of their online presence.
L2 also compiled a list of the brands with most followers on Sina Weibo in which the ex-Swedish, now Chinese brand Volvo is at #8:
The top brands regarding organic buzz (mentions on Sina Weibo & Qzone and videos on Youku & Tudou):
Swedish brands on Twitter are getting more and more followers. Now there are more than 100 brands or businesses that have 1,000 followers or more, (currently 103 accounts). In January 2011, only 60 accounts had that many followers. Some of them, like H&M, are growing with amazing speed, adding about 70,000 new followers per month to its main corporate account (H&M also have several local accounts).
The top 10 Swedish brands on Twitter in terms of number of followers, are (as of Aug 25, 2011, compared to May 3):
A fast mover above is Pingdom, which is new on the top ten list. The number of followers have almost tripled since May, 2011.
For a full list of more than 540 Swedish corporate Twitter accounts, check this list.