Top Social Brands of 2009

10/14/2010

Our Emerging Media class focused on reviewing how many of the largest and best-known corporations use social media to enhance, protect, expand and reposition their brands in today's digital age.

Professor Menck broke down each of The Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands of 2009 into groups of five, according to descending order, and then passed out sheets with numbers to the class. Each student's number would reflect which group of five to pick a single company to research and present findings to the class. The person with No. 20 got to choose from 96 to 100. No. 19 chose from 91 to 95, and so on. I somehow (smile) got No. 1, which meant that I could choose to study one the five best: iPhone, Disney, CNN, MTV and the NBA.

I chose to study the NBA. I have an iPhone and visit CNN.com from time to time. But I pay lots of attention to the National Basketball Association – because of my lifelong love for the game and because my brothers and I are heavy into fantasy basketball. Anyway, I presented my finding according to the different dimensions of social interactivity for which Vitrue based its findings: social networking (general sharing), video sharing (high engagement of viewing time and authenticity of dimension), status updates (aka micro-blogging; key influencers who chatter and actively push content), photo sharing (social media data), and blogs (general blogosphere, commentary mentions).

Based on my findings, it is easy to see why the NBA finished in the Top Five this year, up from No. 29 the year before. Nearly 4.7 million people like the NBA's Facebook page and more than two million people follow the NBA on Twitter. Please download a PDF of my class presentation as produced in Apple's Keynote software.

nba_branding.pdf
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File Type:	pdf

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Comments

Colleen Herrmann

01/20/2011 1:29pm

The title "Top Social Brands of 2010" arouse my level of curiosity in branding and the art of personal brands. MTV, NBA, Apple and others are truly paving the way for brands to become more than a name and a logo but more so a way of life, connecting people based on interest in the digital world.

Mark Strotman

01/20/2011 8:34pm

I think the most interesting company on that list is Starbucks at No. 11. Admittedly, I have been in the place only once or twice, but for ONLY serving coffee (and muffins and crap) that's amazing they are so high on the list.I guess they don't have that many competitors but, still, being ahead of products like Sony, BMW, and ESPN is impressive.

Joshua Arter

01/23/2011 7:58pm

In this day and age of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other online media, businesses can literally expand their brand over night.

Jodi Denk

01/24/2011 12:13pm

The NBA does an unbelieveable job of branding themselves. They have always been on top of their game and they've obviously excelled. All the platforms they've used have only helped spread the word and I think they'll continue to master that.

Ashley De La Torre

01/24/2011 10:32pm

The NBA is also very good at damage control. It is exteremly difficult to be so succesful at branding when you're a league of individuals. They know how to market their athletes and make sure they appeal to EVERYONE. That paired with good writers managing their twitter and facebook accounts makes them a successful brand. I am not surprised.

Trey

01/24/2011 11:38pm

Its surprising to me that the NBA would be among the top on this list over the MLB and NFL, as I presumed it to be third in popularity among these associations. Looking at the strides it's made online, however, helped to make sense of its rank. I saw one of my colleagues in the middle of a newspaper meeting watching Lebron's infamous return to Cleveland on TNT.com, which was not only streaming live but offered a score of different TV camera angles of the action including the benches of both teams.

Simone

02/15/2011 9:34pm

I must say, I am surprised to find T-mobile on the list. I have not really thought much about the NBA and have not really noticed them in the past years. But then again, I am not a sports fan either.

Ryan Ellerbusch

09/01/2011 11:22am

As a Milwaukee Bucks season-ticket holder and a love for the game of the basketball too, I really enjoyed this blog posting and want to chime in. Every year the Bucks organization, despite their recent struggles, does a great job in marketing the team in the city of Milwaukee and always keeps the fans coming back to The Bradley Center year in and year out due in large part to their promotional giveaways, ticket deals, and timeout/halftime entertainment. Facebook and Twitter have also helped the NBA and the Bucks grow. The highlight videos are another draw for fans to watch their favorite teams and players on the world wide web.

Author

Journalism faculty member and graduate student at Marquette University. Native of Camden, N.J.; former president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ); former communications director for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF).