Research: Ads, Social Presence, Vanity Make Starbucks #1 in Social Engagement

Research: Ads, Social Presence, Vanity Make Starbucks #1 in Social Engagement

Published 1 week, 5 days ago

More evidence for consistent cross-media campaigning. Between its traditional ads, social media ads and pages, Starbucks rated Number 1 in a study of the most socially engaged companies, reports the advertising research firm PhaseOne in a press release. Alongside Starbucks, the study's most socially engaged brands across three distinct engagement metrics are Audi, McDonald's, Red Bull and American Express. PhaseOne presented its findings at the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) Re:Think event in New York City on March 27, 2012.

PhaseOne conducted its study of 75 top brands across six vertical markets, between July 2011 and January 2012; and analyzed the social media engagement of 22 top brands. The goal of PhaseOne's study was to determine what drives social media engagement (measured by earned media) across the primary consumer touch points of paid media (the brands' TV ads) and owned media (the brands' own Web pages and Facebook page).

"Idealized Self" vs. "Private Self" in Driving Social Engagement

In looking for the commonalities between the most socially engaged brands, PhaseOne researchers found that social media users are drawn to brands that convey a social benefit. When the user affiliates with the brand, the user is sending a message to those in his or her social network about how he or she wants to be perceived. In this way, the brand reflects the user's idealized self -- the "Me Statement."

This very public aspect of social media can be quite different from the private self: those aspects of one's self that, while true, are not for public broadcast. Marketing messages that tap into the private self may drive sales, but they won't drive social media engagement.

"In PhaseOne's study, none of the brands that tapped into users' private selves scored in the top category of social media engagement," said Dr. Lisa Allard, vice president of...