Consumers Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is; Fidelity Investments, American Express and Bank of America Are the Top Scoring TotalSocial(TM) Brands

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 12, 2017) - In a new, first of its kind analysis of combined online and offline consumer conversations, Engagement Labs released its TotalSocial rankings on the top performing financial services brands (banks, investment companies and credit card companies) in the U.S. The rankings of the top U.S. financial services brands are based on Engagement Labs' proprietary TotalSocial data, which continuously measures the most important drivers of brand performance with respect to social media and word of mouth conversations.

The analysis finds that, of the conversations taking place about financial services brands, the majority of them are happening offline (face-to-face) as opposed online (social media). In fact, the top three brands on the list -- Fidelity Investments, American Express and Bank of America -- all perform substantially better offline than online. This likely reflects the desire of consumers to talk about financial matters with people in more private settings, and suggests the importance for financial marketers to understand the triggers of offline conversation so they can earn a place in those discussions.

One financial institution that stuck out in particular is Citibank. The financial institution has the biggest discrepancy between its online and offline scores. The bank scores significantly better offline than online through all components measured -- volume, sentiment, brand sharing and influence. This is what Engagement Labs calls a Social Misfit, brands that perform strongly offline but not online, or vice versa.

Commenting on this, Ed Keller, CEO of Engagement Labs, said, "Citibank is missing out on a huge opportunity by not having a holistic picture of consumer conversations. Their current strategy is clearly driving strong word of mouth, with both high quantity and quality. The discrepancy with online performance, however, represents a real opportunity for Citibank to improve ROI and business results. There are lessons to be learned from brands like MasterCard, for example, which performs better online than offline."

Given the critical role that financial institutions play in the lives of consumers -- money is a really personal, important aspect of everyday life -- sentiment is particularly important. Engagement Labs' research found that Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, and Edward Jones have the best sentiment in the category, both online and offline.

Another brand that stands out in the analysis is American Express. This is a brand propelled by particularly strong offline brand sharing, meaning people are talking about their marketing or advertising efforts. The brand has been able to garner strong scores by providing useful content and services to engage with its customers. Learn more about how American Express is driving performance in Engagement Labs' latest e-book, Lessons from the Leaders of Social Influence. Download here.

To learn more about Engagement Labs or TotalSocial insights and how to increase your brand's word of mouth in real life and online, reach out at: totalsocial@engagementlabs.com.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) is the world's first TotalSocial™ company, offering intelligent data, analytics and insights for marketers. We are leaders in tracking, measuring and benchmarking the impact of conversations happening around a brand and industry -- both online and offline. Consumer conversations are a proven driver of critical business outcomes, including sales. The patent pending TotalSocial data solution provides brands with unique insights and powerful analytics to understand online and offline social impact and drive business results. TotalSocial demonstrates to marketers how their online and offline conversation compare and contrast and helps identify areas of competitive opportunity or significant emerging threats. TotalSocial is an "always-on" proprietary scoring system, based on the most important drivers of brand performance: Volume, Sentiment, Brand Sharing and Influence. TotalSocial was built on the pillars of Engagement Labs' patented social media measurement tool and the world's only offline word of mouth tracking system for brands and tracks 500 brands within the U.S. across 17 major industry categories, and 350 brands in the UK.

To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com / www.totalsocial.com.

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