Social media will become more mainstream as more and more Indians get online. The more they share, the greater the need for brands to track. Social media itself is still in its infancy, and the tools to track are in a neo-natal stage.

Nielsen-McKinsey’s NM Incite has a tool to track social media. It has an index called Social Media Brand Equity Ranking (SMBER) index. It has tracked over 400 Indian brands for the whole of 2011 based on several parameters like the number of fans and followers. What NM Incite has found out is quite interesting and would probably lay the path for some shocks in 2012.

Samsung is the top brand for the year 2011. For the sheer amount of buzz it has generated online or for the number of phone models it has launched, Samsung has beaten Nokia in every aspect. When you walk into any large campus (college or a company), all you see is Samsung, Samsung and more Samsung. In fact LG and Sony Ericsson have also beaten Nokia. That may be because Nokia has launched fewer models in 2011. HTC was placed at number 17 .

Automakers have had a field day on Social Media in 2011. As many as 6 automakers found their spots on the top 20 list. Surprisingly, Ford has beaten Maruti Suzuki. It’s common knowledge that Maruti is a premier car seller in India. A few years back, the statistic was 50% of cars on Indian roads were Marutis. Given that kind of reputation, Ford beating Maruti comes as a surprise. It might be it’s because of Ford’s hot mid-size car, the Ford Figo, launched in 2010.

Telecom brands Airtel, Vodafone, and DoCoMo found their spots much lower than the automakers and gadget makers. A surprising addition to the list is India’s eCommerce portal Flipkart. I’m surprised that it is on the list because all other brands on the list are much older brands or brands with immediate recall. I’m also surprised that Flipkart is placed behind Nike. Nike, as the ET article points out, has made its mark with its Bleed Blue campaign which ran during India’s cricket world cup.

Here are the top 20 brands on Social Media :

  1. Samsung Mobile
  2. Ford
  3. Maruti Suzuki
  4. Nike
  5. Flipkart
  6. Mahindra and Mahindra
  7. LG
  8. Volkswagen India
  9. Channel V
  10. Sony Ericsson
  11. Hyundai Motor
  12. Nestle’s Maggi
  13. Nokia
  14. Airtel
  15. Vodafone
  16. Tata DoCoMo
  17. HTC
  18. BMW India

The list is prepared from the ET article which made a story out of the listing. The original source from NM Incite is not out yet. The ranking positions of 18 and 20 are empty because the article didn’t bother to fill that gap. That gap will be filled when the report becomes public.

This survey comes as an anti-climax to the top brands survey I posted few months back where Nokia trumped Tatas to become the top brand of India. Looks like Samsung is Nokia’s nemesis.

Also read about India’s most innovative companies.