This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

We’ve taken a detailed look at the Retail sector data from this year’s Social Brands 100 to analyse how Retail performed on individual platforms, against other sectors, and where the areas for improvement might be.

There was a strong representation from retail brands in the ranking, which included ASOS (#7), Schuh (#40), TOMS (#49), Sainsbury’s #50) B&Q (#53), HMV (#75), Very.co.uk (#78) and Frugi (#91). Overall, the Retail sector ranked seventh out of thirteen sectors, a mid-table performance. So how can it improve? Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

Chiltern Railways has been shortlisted in the Social Brands 100.  Find out the results on Tuesday, 29 May on The Wall. Follow the conversation #sb100.

With 1.34 billion rail journeys taken in the year before March 2011, it’s fair to state that rail companies play a particularly prominent role in the lives of UK citizens. Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

Domino’s Pizza appeared in last year’s Social Brands 100 Top 30.  The pizza delivery company has made a name for itself for using social media in an innovative way, most recently with #LetsDoLunch, a ‘reverse auction’ on Twitter that lowered the price of a large pepperoni pizza as more people tweet about it. We spoke to Multi-Media Manager Nick Dutch to find out more about the Domino’s approach to social. Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

Mobile network Giffgaff, it could be argued, was born social.  It’s a fully independent network run in part by its community. Members are rewarded for contributing to customer service, product development and growing the community, receiving rewards in the form of airtime, cash or a charitable donation. Giffgaff was one of the top 5 brands in last year’s Social Brands 100, and number 1 amongst telecoms brands. We spoke to CRM Manager Claire Kavanagh about how social has moved on since then.

Q: What are the most significant changes you’ve seen in social over the last year?  Can you tell us a little about what you’re doing differently or have you found an approach that is working for you? Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

first direct doesn’t hire bankers, says its Head of Public Relations, Amanda Brown, “From the beginning, we wanted great communicators who could be taught how to bank.” Founded in 1989 as a division of HSBC, customers’ needs have sat at the centre of the business from the beginning, she says.

first direct ranked 27^th in last year’s Social Brands 100 and was the only financial services brand nominated; this year six other financial services brands are also in the running. Amanda spoke to us recently about what’s changed since last year and what she expects to see in the year ahead. Read more »

I really care about databases.  It may not make for great dinner party conversation, but a well-maintained database has always been essential to marketers who want to understand and connect with customers.  Social media has taken this information gathering to a whole other level and I hold all kinds of data on myself now. Millions of us are going about our daily lives collecting data on all kinds of platforms that would make marketers giddy with excitement. Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

How do you measure one social brand against another? That is the challenge that we face as we put together the Social Brands 100 ranking, and because social media is a constantly evolving landscape, our methodology has to evolve as well. Read more »

This post is provided by our partner Headstream, the social brand agency behind the Social Brands 100.

So it’s finally happened; Facebook has filed for ‘the largest technology IPO in Wall Street history’. Everything about Facebook is immense; almost 850 million users and 2.7 billion likes and comments every day. As recently as the summer of 2008, Mark Zuckerberg was celebrating the 100 millionth user, that means 750 million people signed up in 3.5 years alone. Then there’s Twitter, hitting 500 million users any day now, not to mention Linkedin, who reported 135 million members in November 2011. Read more »

I attended a social media conference last week, where I heard some very wise words from one of the speakers, David Ferguson. I’m paraphrasing here, but David warned delegates that although they can, of course, choose whether or not they engage with the conversations happening about their brands in social spaces, the reality is that those conversations are happening anyway, and brands that aren’t at the very least paying attention will be left behind. Read more »

Sci-fi fans will recall this scene from 2002 film Minority Report: John Anderton walks through a mall, and as his retina is repeatedly scanned, 3-D posters sell their products and services directly to him by name. I recall thinking at the time that that reality (the film is set in 2054) really was a distant one but the headlines about facial recognition technology over the last few months have forced me to seriously reconsider my initial conclusion. Read more »