Is Apple the Most Social Brand?

Apple

This article in Ad Week names Apple as the top social brand. Read here:

The key to brands coming out on top on the social Web is to have great products people want to talk about. It should come as no surprise then that Apple dominates a new list of the world’s most social brands.

via Apple Dominates Social Brand Ranking.

These rankings were conducted by social media management company, Vitrue. The announcement hasn’t been made on their blog yet, but here’s the methodology from last year’s Social Media Index rankings, which sounds to be the basis for this year’s Social Brand ranking:

The Vitrue SMI calculates scores about the brand’s social conversations. We apply a series of algorithms to reflect the frequency of usage, the size of the social media environment, and the magnitude of the conversation. The result is a single numeric score for each brand: the Vitrue Social Media Index (SMI).

via The Virtue 100 – Top Social Brands of 2008

Product leadership and buzz are great, but it doesn’t make a brand social. In fact, Apple is arguably one of the most anti-social brands. I’ll give them credit for their annual MacWorld and a great in store experience, but Apple doesn’t undertake any social or community marketing efforts. While there are legions of adoring fans (me included) talking about Apple, Apple doesn’t really care to talk with us.

So, Apple isn’t a social brand – but not every brand needs to be social. Then again, not every brand continually delivers innovation and carves out whole new industries.

Update:

I wrote this post yesterday (Sunday), and Vitrue updated their blog with the official announcement today. You can read it here: The Vitrue 100 – Top Social Brands of 2009. Their methodology includes a daily analysis of online conversations taking place in these areas:

  • Social Networking – general sharing
  • Video Sharing – high engagement of viewing time and authenticity of dimension
  • Status Updates – aka Micro-Blogs; key influencers who chatter and actively push content
  • Photo Sharing – social meta data
  • Blogs – general blogsphere, commentary mentions