Tech brands are most talked about on social media

Tech companies make up 63% of all brands mentions on social media in the UK, according to a new report by Netbase.

The social analytics platform published its annual Brand Passion Report, which uses the company’s patented advanced learning technology to examine a year’s worth of social media mentions and data to come up with the ‘most loved’ brands in the UK.

Words related to ‘love’, in context, were analysed to determine which brands were raved about by consumers more. Netbase notes that this is important as many people stick with brands they’re emotionally connected to, irrespective of price.

The most loved brands

After analysing millions of English-language social mentions, Netbase found the top 10 most loved UK brands were Apple, Google, Lego, Tesco, BMW, Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, Adidas and Chanel.

Out of the list of 50 however, 36% of the most loved brands were related to cars, followed by ‘consumer goods’ such as Adidas and Chanel and in third place, technology.

In fact, nine car brands were on the list; but they only made up for around 16% of conversation, suggesting that there’s untapped potential in the ‘love’ consumers feel for automotive brands that’s there to be exploited by marketers.

Consumer goods came next, with Lego leading the way. It capitalised on its #StarWars partnership as it had  produced themed Lego around the time of the last movie launch. This success, Netbase said, shows just how powerful partnering up with a stronger or more topical brand can be.

The tech space was taken over by two companies; Google and Apple. Both of these companies made up 63% of UK brand mentions overall.

Turning negative perception into positive conversations

The only food and drinks company on the list was Tesco, who in the past may have received a bad rap, but after trying to create a good rapport with customers on social media, found itself in the top 25 of Netbase’s report. In particular, its targeted campaign using the hashtag #TriedForLess seemed to prove popular. This is where consumers shared their favourite experiences with Tesco products on social media.

Another brand who is associated with an industry typically perceived as receiving negative feedback is British Airways, the only airline on the list. But, they also made it to the top 25 after customers took to sharing positive experiences with them via social media, showing there is more scope for promotional campaigns around this.

Emotion is important

Commenting on the report, Netbase CMO Paige Leidig said: “Understanding consumer preference is more than simply measuring the volume of social media content it’s about understanding the intensity of passion and feeling in those posts.

“Most consumer purchases are won on emotion and the Brand Lovelist measures brand love and every single version of it; it tells us which brands people love the most. It also highlights the importance of having insightful customer data that you can act upon whether it’s a new campaign, product launch or purely understanding ongoing customer perception of your brand”.

It’s not just about looking at your own data, either. Social listening can be really beneficial for finding out what competitors are doing, so you can do it better, Netbase said.

Alongside releasing the 2016 report, Netbase also announced its expansion into Europe. It’s opening three offices in Germany, London and Paris respectively.

NetBase works with global brands, such as Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Walmart and T-Mobile. Its European vice president Jose Puyol said brands had been requesting the company to include a European presence – hence the expansion.

Puyol added he doesn’t think there’s a social analytics company quite like it out there: “We believe our technology is far superior in delivering accurate sentiment analysis and is much faster with considerably lower cost of operation than the alternative solutions in the market”.