| Weekly position | Brand | Reach | Recency | Satisfaction | Recency | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
 |
Nokia N8 | 95.27 | 94.88 | 88.47 | 89.52 | 92.04 |
| 2 | |
 |
BlackBerry Torch | 89.34 | 86.76 | 85.33 | 79.41 | 85.21 |
| 3 | |
 |
HTC Desire HD | 54.25 | 55.68 | 89.23 | 81.54 | 70.18 |
| 4 | |
 |
Samsung Omnia 7 | 46.48 | 48.57 | 87.61 | 84.34 | 66.75 |
| 5 | |
 |
HTC HD7 | 43.25 | 39.76 | 82.25 | 84.45 | 65.44 |
Social Media Reputation (SMR) League Tables
Every fortnight, we will be focussing on a different sector and plotting the Social Media Reputation (SMR) scores of the major players. The index – provided by social media agency Yomego – attributes a score, out of 100, by combining metrics for ‘reach’ and ‘satisfaction’. The number of mentions and their sentiment is gauged in context with the sector and the brand’s two nearest competitors.
Sector: Telecoms
Analysis
The smartphone market is currently experiencing an incredible rate of growth. According to a new study by ABI Research, 19% of all mobile phones shipped in the second quarter of 2010 were smartphones, up 12% from the first quarter of 2010. The iPhone may appear to be the current king of the jungle, but rival players including HTC and RIM have also reported growth in the number of units shipped in Q2, and launch of the Windows phone 7 OS this month has the potential to really shake up the status quo.
We decided to use our Social Media Reputation (SMR) index to track online conversation around five new handsets in order to determine which smartphone gets the vote of tech-savvy social media users. We looked at phones running four different operating systems: Windows phone 7, Symbian^3, BlackBerry 6, and Google’s Android 2.2 OS.
The HTC HD7 received the lowest score of 65, but was released in the UK only one week ago, along with the Samsung Omnia 7, and both phones are earmarked for a November 8 release in the USA. The HD7 features a massive 4.3 inch touchscreen, which has been met with almost as much criticism as praise – most social media users are impressed with the screen, but find it simply too large to be practical. The kickstand at the back was also welcomed as a highly practical feature. The HD7’s reach score is the lowest of all the models we analysed having less than half of the reach of the both the Nokia and BlackBerry phones.
The Samsung Omnia 7 scored highly on satisfaction, impressing many social media users with its bright AMOLED screen, but achieves a poor reach score – this model hasn’t yet achieved anywhere near the level of reach of the Torch, N8 or Desire HD, resulting in an overall SMR of 65. Some social media users have also criticised the Omnia 7’s 5 megapixel camera and the placement of the power button on the top right side of the phone, meaning users are liable to accidentally power off while making calls.
The HTC Desire HD rolls into 3rd place. The only Android phone we monitored this month, the Desire HD is the successor to the HTC Desire, and features the same massive 4.3 inch touchscreen as the HD7. Launched earlier this month, the Desire HD achieves a strong SMR of 70, but hasn’t yet achieved the same level of reach on social networks as the BlackBerry Torch and Nokia N8.
The BlackBerry Torch comes in second place with an SMR of over 85. Released in August, the phone features the new BlackBerry 6 OS. The handset’s strong reach score demonstrates that “crackberry” addicts are widespread and vocal in social media, but the score has declined slightly this month, perhaps as a result of users turning their attention to the BlackBerry PlayBook and forthcoming BlackBerry 9780. The model’s improved screen resolution of 480 x 360 has been welcomed by users although still a little short of its competitors, and this month even Sir Alan Sugar gave the phone a thumbs up on Twitter and through his Facebook page!
The Nokia N8 is victorious this month, achieving an incredibly strong SMR of over 92. Launched earlier this month, tech bloggers have given the handset extensive coverage as it is the first phone to feature the Simbian^3 OS. A clever social media campaign by Nokia puts the phone’s killer feature – a 12 megapixel camera – to the forefront, and a “Nokia N8” Flickr photostream along with a series of YouTube photography how-to videos have been well-received.
Recommendations
Nokia have succeeded in building a social media strategy around the strengths of the N8. Other manufacturers should look to do the same, for example the Omnia 7 boasts an AMOLED screen, so producing apps and videos which demonstrate the superiority of this screen could really help to differentiate the product from other Windows phone 7 OS phones including the HTC HD7. HTC, meanwhile, has several models which boast an enormous 4.3 inch screen and feature surround sound technology. Creating relevant, shareable content which highlights these features could form the bedrock of a solid social media strategy.
Several manufacturers, including Nokia and BlackBerry boast strong followings for their company pages on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Nokia are really leveraging this huge following by sharing the interesting, relevant content they have created for the N8 through this platform, and are creating a powerful topic of engagement with consumers. HTC could learn from this, as their Facebook page is lacking in fresh, engaging content and does not add extra value to the consumer through customised page designs.
The global HTC page seems to be updated only via Twitter, while the HTC UK page has become a venue for users to post their technical difficulties or complaints, only to be redirected to HTC support which is simply a webform. HTC should look to BlackBerry for inspiration, who have developed their own support forum where users can help one another to troubleshoot problems, and BlackBerry staff also scan the forums to jump in and help when necessary.
