In 2014, a seminal moment in the history of the Internet occurred – social overtook search as the largest channel online. Then, in 2015 Facebook overtook Google as a traffic source for news.
A giant digital trend had emerged.
Since then, publishers and media companies have turned to social platforms to stimulate more and more of their incoming traffic. As people spend more of their time on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, publishers are using these channels to direct their growing audiences to their content.
And What of Brands?
Are they similarly affected?
Using Interbrand’s list of the 100 most valuable global brands in 2015, we analyzed how this trend is impacting brands today. We created the chart below to compare what percentages of their traffic have come from both search and social media platforms in the last six months (April 2015 to September 2015). Traffic here refers to the visits generated from search and social across the brand’s entire web domain.
The chart below benchmarks the 15 brands that have the most significant social channel. The data is from SimilarWeb.
Social Media Traffic vs Search Traffic for Brands
Only MTV receives a higher percentage of social media traffic than search traffic. The majority of brands are not yet affected similarly by this trend as the publishers.
[bctt tweet=”‘Social is growing, but search is still number one channel for brands.'”]
Unsurprisingly, the only four media brands on Interbrand’s top 100 list are also in this list of top social media performers, likely from their dual roles as both media publishers and product sellers. Social media is already suited to their fast production of new content that they can churn out to their social media channels.
Financial services like American Express, Citi, and Paypal provide services that customers search for when they need them. Because of this behavior, people aren’t as likely to use social media to get to their sites. Similarly, GE and Johnson & Johnson are conglomerates, less likely to attract social media traffic for their bigger brand over the individual products that consumers actually use.
Brands that can roll out social media campaigns or updates, like the ubiquitous Kleenex, triumph on social media. Kleenex is the only traditional brand on our chart to receive more than 10% of their traffic from social media platforms, primarily Facebook. Other well-defined brands like Mini also do well in their social media hits.
Over 90% of Kleenex’s social media traffic comes from Facebook. Kleenex posts nearly daily updates, with a mix of articles that tie into their brand message, information about their products, and lots of quick, short and snappy videos. Social media success comes naturally for a brand that has a clear, well-defined mission of emphasizing nostalgia, empathy, and goodwill. Brands that have many products, or less of a defined mission, may not have as easy a path.
As a comparison, let’s see how our trailblazing publishers are doing. We analyzed a sampling of publishers and their social media and search traffic over the same timeframe. The chart below shows this trend in action. Again, the data comes from SimilarWeb.
Social Media Traffic vs Search Traffic for Publishers
Internet-first publishers like Mic, Slate, and Yahoo News, all derive a substantial amount of traffic from social media. Many of the media companies, such as BBC, The Guardian, CNN, and the New York Times are nearly equal in their hits from social media and search.
Even once-traditional publishers are relying on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to now be the ‘virtual newsstand’, hooking readers in with headlines that will entice them to click through to the content.
Brands are beginning to follow the trendsetting publishers, if at a slower pace. Kleenex’s social media traffic would fall squarely in the middle of the publisher’s traffic chart, showing that some brands are learning how to win at the social media game.
While still behind search traffic, social media traffic is now huge for brands. But for the majority of brands, it’s nowhere near as big as it is for publishers. Let’s watch how this trend plays out as the global content marketing race continues.
Next:
1)  Does your brand have a big social channel? Take a free trial of Spike to boost your real-time action
