According to Starcount, Google ranked as the most popular brand on earth during the month of July 2013 topping brands like Walt Disney, National Geographic, and Nike.
Starcount calculates its popularity scores for celebrities, brands, sports, music, games, and more. The score is based on daily popularity and engagement data from 11 popular social networking sites which is weighted using a proprietary formula, which according to Starcount, “reflects scale and reach of the network and adjusts for the different behaviors and metrics [of those networks].”
Sites including in the calculation include:
- Google+
- Orkut
- RenRen.com
- Mixi
- Kohtakte
- YouTube
- YouKu
- Weibo.com
- QQ.com
The data from July 2013 put Google at the top of the list of popular brands as shown in the list shared by BrandRepublic as follows:
- Walt Disney
- National Geographic
- Nike
- MTV
- Samsung Mobile
- Coca-Cola
- YouTube
Visit the Starcount website, and you’ll see lists of trending brands and brands to watch in a variety of categories from tech brands and travel brands to hot drink brands, recruitment brands, and more. You can also find charts for specific countries and regions. For example, follow the link to check out the United Kingdom chart to see who and what is popular today.
As I look through the Starcount site, I’m unable to find charts for trend analysis—not just what’s trending today but how brands’ popularity has changed over time. I’d love to see that feature added in the future to see which brands are sustaining their popularity and engagement versus those that are seeing bursts in popularity and engagement thanks to short-term marketing campaigns. I could use some of those charts in my lectures and articles!
A feature I do think is very useful on the Starcount charts is the inclusion of links to other charts that a brand is currently charting on. For example, as I write this article, Walt Disney ranks as today’s most popular brand in social media according to Starcount’s scoring system, but when you click on the More link to view other charts the brand appears on today, you’re taken to a page filled with information about the brand’s social media popularity as shown in the image below.
You can scroll down to review all of the information provided through the tabs, including:
- Overview – A quick look at the brand’s performance and ranking
- Social highlights – Popular updates and content published by the brand
- Social network statistics – Metrics for the brand’s social media account performance for the day
- All chart positions today – Each of the charts the brand appears on today along with its ranking
- Biography – Overview of the brand
There are many tools and companies that attempt to track social media popularity and influence these days, and no tool is perfect. However, Starcount offers some interesting information that is worth reviewing to monitor your own brand or check out the competition.
Image: Google, Starcount
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
