Lithium Technologies has announced the inaugural Klout 50, a ranking of the top 50 global brands with the most social influence and engagement.

The Klout 50 is the ultimate ranking of brands that are authentically connecting with their digital audience. These social elite brands are the most active on social media platforms and their audiences consistently share and interact with their digital content.

Amazon lands the #1 spot followed by Microsoft and MTV. These brands are reinventing the way they connect with people and share experiences on social media. They are authentic, create compelling and meaningful content as well as engage with everyone – not just the positive, most influential fans.

The Klout 50 is based on the Interbrand 2014 Best Global Brands report and corresponding Klout Scores. Klout Scores are compiled using proprietary algorithms, determined by more than 400 signals from eight different networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as real world data from Bing search and Wikipedia.

Brand value strength is not enough to succeed on social media, as evidenced by only Microsoft, Google and McDonald’s being recognized for their global brand and social media success, securing a top ten spot on both the Klout 50 and Interbrand’s list. Additionally, the Klout 50 found:

• Apple claims the top spot on the Interbrand list, but on the Klout 50 they are listed as #28
• MTV ranks #3 on the Klout 50, but #80 on the Interbrand list
• The top two industries succeeding in social are technology (30%) and retail (16%)

“The Klout 50 salutes those brands that know social is part of their consumer’s everyday life and for effectively connecting and sharing experiences with them,” said Katy Keim, CMO of Lithium. “However, this is also a wakeup call for the brands that are not on the list to understand that without social they lose.”

Imogen Riley, director of marketing APAC said: “The Klout 50 provides a new benchmark to rank the most socially engaged and influential global brands, but what should Australian marketers take out from the list? The global analysis showed it’s not just about having the biggest Facebook community or the most active Twitter handle. The brands that made it to the top do a number of things very well – they create relevant content that authentically resonates with their audience; have multi-faceted, multi-platform digital strategies; and acknowledge and reward community feedback.”

A quarter of the Klout 50 brands are also Lithium customers. For more than a decade, Lithium has provided the world’s top brands deep industry expertise and purpose-built software to help them successfully connect with their customers across the broad social web.

The top 50 most socially engaged and influential global brands listed in the Klout 50 for 2014 are:

Klout 50	Score
Amazon	98.86
Microsoft	98.85
MTV	98.32
Google	98.04
Facebook	97.94
Intel	95.94
Nintendo	95.04
McDonald’s	94.74
ebay	93.82
Ford	93.19
Sony	93.06
HP	92.38
Chevrolet	92.36
Coca-Cola	91.99
Thomson Reuters	91.89
General Electric	91.37
Nike	91.22
Honda	90.94
Pizza Hut	90.94
Audi	90.75
Adidas	90.00
Adobe	89.90
Nokia	89.84
Goldman Sachs	89.67
Tiffany and Co	89.60
Budweiser	89.56
Porsche	89.22
Apple (AppStore)	89.19
Shell	88.94
Pepsi	88.80
SAP	88.59
American Express	88.50
Louis Vuitton	87.76
MasterCard	87.42
Oracle	87.14
Gucci	86.75
Morgan Stanley	86.65
Burberry	86.04
Accenture	86.01
Caterpillar Inc	85.27
3M	85.20
John Deere	83.53
Starbucks	83.51
Sprite	83.22
Gillette	83.03
Zara	83.02
Heineken	82.81
Gap	82.76
Disney	82.39
KFC	81.76