bright edge social share (july 2012)

BrightEdge SocialShare

Tracking Social Adoption and Trends

July 2012 Update

3 out of 4 brands are now on Google+; Adoption rising but at a lower pace than before; 6X the number of Google+ pages showing in search results

BrightEdge Technologies - 1820 Gateway Drive - San Mateo, CA 94404 - Tel: 1-800-578-8023 - www.brightedge.com

http://www.brightedge.com


May-12Jul -12

7.9M12.2M

Google+ Adoption Growing Steadily

During the past two months, the number of people following the top 100 brands rose 54%, from 7.9M to 12.2M. This is much lower than the dizzying 1400% growth between December, 2011 and February, 2012, and the 150% growth between February, 2012 and May, 2012. The top 10 brands have over 9.2M followers accounting for 75% of the total followers on Google+.

Circles facts:


The top 10 brands collectively have thrice as many followers as brands 11-100, as opposed to ten times in February, indicating the rising importance of Google+ for marketers across the board.

Rank Brand Followers1 H&M 1262K

2 Toyota 1111K

3 Google 968K

4 Red Bull 964K

5 BMW 941K

6 Nissan 939K

7 Mercedes-Benz(US) 917K

8 Samsung 771K

9 Porsche 749K

10 Starbucks 572K

Total 9.2M

The past two months saw more top 100 brands joining the Google+ bandwagon. Notable brands who launched Google+ pages include Visa, Wells Fargo and fashion design giant Hermes. Three out of four brands now have Google+ pages which indicates that marketers see Google+ as an important forum for engaging users.

User Engagement Rising But At A Slower Pace

• Brazilian banking giant Bradesco’s followers leapt 66X from 1,800 to 119K

• Verizon, who had only 2.5K followers in May, now has 56K, a 22X increase

• Honda saw a 13X increase in followers

• Two brands have more than a million followers and five are close to breaking the one million mark

• H&M stays ahead of the pack with 1.2M followers• Toyota is second with 1.1M followers, up from 18K and

602K in February and May respectively• Google, which was #9 in February with 194K followers

shoots up to #3 with 968K followers• Red Bull enters the Top 10 at #4 with 964K followers, up

from 8.7K and 698K in February and May respectively

A Change Of Guard At The Google+ Top 10

• The Top 10 now has a distinct auto flavor with new entrants Toyota, BMW, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche accounting for 50% of the followers

• Pepsi, Coca-cola, Sony, Intel, eBay and Amazon take the next spots but are not too far behind• Nike, while not in the Top 10, made impressive gains with 336K followers - it had no Google+

presence in February




When searching for the company using brand terms, 30% of brands with Google+ pages have these pages show up in search results. This is a whopping six times higher than the 5% in February. This could be due to the rising importance of social content in search results along with the growing adoption of Google+ by brands and users. Brands with Google+ pages in SERPs include:

6X The Number Of Google+ Pages Showing Up In Search Results

• Accenture• AT&T• eBay

• Sony• Starbucks• Toyota

In February, very few brands promoted their Google+ presence through links to their Google+ pages on their website. By May, leaders like Nissan and Red Bull had added links. As of July, only 20% of the brands with Google+ pages link to these pages on their website. Notable brands which added links between May and July are Hermes, Starbucks, Samsung & Honda.

Promotion Of Google+ On Brand Sites Growing Slowly

Given that Facebook and Twitter launched well before Google+, they have a higher adoption among the top 100 brands. 90% of the top 100 brands have a Facebook page and 80% of brands have a Twitter presence. Facebook alone has more than 481M fans across the top 100 brands, the top 5 of which are:

Facebook And Twitter Lead Google+ In Adoption

Facebook Rank Brand Fans

1 Facebook 70M

2 Coca-cola 45M

3 Disney 37M

4 Starbucks 31M

5 Red Bull 29M

Total 213M

Brands are taking Google+ more seriously than ever with 3 out of 4 brands having a Google+page - evidence of solid expansion. Brands are adding followers at a rapid pace. However, the growth has certainly slowed since the initial momentum. While the number of brands on Google+ is getting closer to that on Facebook and Twitter, there is still far lower engagement with users compared to Facebook and Twitter.

Summary

• FedEx• GE• Google

• H&M• Intel• Porsche



bright edge social share (july 2012)

Art & Photos