Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Who is Dominating Facebook in the UK?

Everyone has someone on Facebook they look up to.

You might particularly admire Debenhams, or think Boots really nail their posts, but who is actually hitting the big time when it comes to Facebook?

Social Bakers are a global social media platform who analyse social media use professionally. More than a fifth of Fortune 500 companies use their analytics tool to maximise on their social media performance, so let's just say... they know what they’re talking about.

Global social media analytics from Social Bakers
Each month, they produce a social media report which outlines the big guns on Facebook by region.

We’re going to look at the UK today, but the other regions are available to view here.


Social Bakers are great because their reports are very user-friendly. Their main focus is making it all understandable, so you don’t just get bombarded with figures and statistics.

When judging the top performing Facebook brands they look at a number of factors, but we’ll focus in on 3 separate measurements;
  1. Top brands by number of local fans
  2. Top brands by engagement rate (number of likes, comments & shares)
  3. Top brands by response times to customers




The UK June Report was released recently and without further ado, let’s get to it!



Top 5 Facebook Brands in terms of local fans

Top 5 UK brands on Facebook for local fans




























As the report is regional, Social Bakers have focussed in on fans local to the brands (in this case, the UK) and taken that number as a percentage of the overall fan number.

Facebook only introduced this option last year, but it was hotly anticipated.

How to use this stat: This stat will tell you where your fans are from. If your target market is in the UK but most of your Facebook page fans are in the USA, then you have a problem. You need to target local fans in the UK with your marketing strategy, but it seems to be attracting people from the USA instead, so it's time to change!

But this doesn’t mean those brands are top overall; they’re just winning on local fans!

Local fans on Facebook are fans within the companys region, e.g. UK


Another factor Social Bakers look at is engagement rate. Engagement rate refers to the average number of likes, comments and shares per post on a given day, divided by the total number of Fans for the page. It reflects the percentage of your Fan base that interacts on average with your post.



Top 5 Facebook Brands with the Highest Average Engagement Rates

5 brands on UK Facebook with the highest engagement from fans

So arguably, this is a better statistic to go by, as it shows actual engagement from fans. These brands are getting the likes, comments and shares that everyone wants. So if you’re looking for 5 brands to follow and emulate, these are your guys.

The average post engagement rate was 0.24% overall though, so don’t feel too bad if you’re still struggling to build up the number of comments you get; engagement overall is very low.

Interestingly, the brands with the most fans, and the brands with the most engagement don’t even feature in the top 5 most responsive brands list below...



Top 5 Socially Devoted Facebook Brands in terms of Average Response Rate

Top 5 UK brands on Facebook for response rate to customers























So these brands are looking after their fans with actual responses, but they could be doing better when it comes to building their fan base and generating more engagement. There is a clear argument here against customer service; by focussing on firefighting, these 5 brands have missed out on maximising their fan base and garnering more engagement. 


The highest engagement rates on Facebook


Looking back at the engagement ranking, Thistle Hotels managed to notch up a rate of 12%, double that of the next brand, so they're clearly doing something right. A quick look at their Facebook page reveals that they’re not doing anything particularly startling however (they've even made a few spelling mistakes – the horror!)
  1. 99% of posts have a picture
  2. Most posts are 2 – 4 lines long
  3. 99% of posts relate back to the Thistle Hotels brand
  4. They seem to average 1 post a day, although they have long periods of absence (up to a month)


So you don't even have to be perfect to get more engagement from your fans... You can spell things wrong or take a few days off, and still be top!

At the end of the day, there are no hard and fast rules for winning at Facebook (unfortunately). However, some brands are doing much better than others, so head on over and like a few of the brands mentioned for some posting inspiration!


For our top tips on responding to negative comments online, check out our earlier blog: 
Bad Reviews Hurting your Business? 3 Tips for Responding  

Are there any particular brands that stand out for you on Facebook? 

Tell us why in the comments below!



Vital Hike Dundee website design and online marketing


Social Media and Online Marketing


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