The average number of followers boasted by Twitter users that mention top brands grew sharply in the first half (H1) of 2012, according to [download page] the Bazaarvoice Conversation Index Vol. 5, released October 2012. The average number of followers jumped from 1183 in January to 1566 in June among users that mentioned 1 or more of 13 major brands examined. This heightens the opportunities and risks for these brands. On the one hand, increased amplification of positive mentions could prove a boon. On the other hand, negative mentions could escalate PR crises in a hurry.
Brand Conversation On The Rise
Interestingly, the percentage of brand-oriented tweets including links is decreasing, from 68% in H2 2010, to 55% in 2011 and 51% in H1 2012. This suggests that users are increasingly talking about brands, rather than simply pointing to items they like or intend to buy.
Still, the percentage of original tweets about a brand, measured against all tweets about the brand, is on the decline. On average, 78% of tweets about brands were original in June 2012, down from 82% for the whole of 2011 and 85% for the second half of 2010. The remaining percentages are retweets. Qualitatively, the researchers observed that that rising share of retweets is largely negative in sentiment, concerning corporate scandals, lawsuits and negative press.
Overall, brand mentions are lagging Twitter growth. The volume of tweets per day grew 143% from 2011 to 2012, while mentions of brands on Twitter grew 113% in the same period.
About The Data: The data is based on an analysis of social content and other data surrounding 13 brands appearing on the BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands list, which ranks the “most valuable global brands” of 2012. The brands analyzed are Adidas, Clinique, Colgate, Gillette, Hugo Boss, Nike, Pampers, Pepsi, Ralph Lauren, Samsung, Intel, Tesco, and Sony. The data includes 26 million tweets, over 8,000 TV and radio mentions, 17 months of stock price data from relevant exchanges, more than a year and a half of Google search data, and 270,000 pieces of authentic user-generated content from online reviews across the vast Bazaarvoice network.
