Home Hardware, Tim Hortons and Roots Canada Demonstrate How Canadian Brands Are Using Social Media to Engage Fans

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - December 10, 2015) - Technology and data company Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL), creator of the eValue™ score, today released the rankings of Canada's Best Brands 2015 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as indicated by a national survey conducted by Rogers Consumer Insights featured in Canadian Business Magazine. In order to be ranked, the brand must have originated in Canada, have a broad consumer profile, and a significant presence in two or more regions across the country.

Top Ten eValue Rankings of Canada's Most Influential Brands According to Their Social Media Channels

"Unlike most lists, the selected brands were ranked as the most influential by the Canadian consumer. Not only were they chosen because they are well known brands, but also because they have established successful marketing strategies that enabled them to connect with consumers on many levels," said Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "Social media is a major avenue used by companies to build brand affinity and using our eValue tool, we were able to provide further insight into how these brands are leveraging social media as a platform to stand out among the pack, and win the hearts and minds of Canadians."

Community and consumer centric store, Home Hardware Building Centre, took the top spot on Facebook, according to Engagement Labs' eValue rankings. The dealer-owned co-operative, took pride in its community focused approach to marketing, which featured actual storeowners in commercials and provided do-it-yourself (DIY) tips and tricks for homeowners. The brand had an impressive Responsiveness score of 71.02, out of a possible 100, and a response speed of just fewer than three hours. This further demonstrated the brand's commitment to customer service, not only in-store but also online.

Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws came in at second and third place on Facebook, respectively. Shoppers had an impressive Impact and Responsiveness score while Loblaws garnered the highest Engagement score of 84.49, along with the highest active user base among the brands measured. The supermarket chain also garnered the highest likes per 1,000 fans, which demonstrated its mix of content from recipes and product promotions.

On Twitter, Canadian coffee giant Tim Hortons ranked first with an eValue score of 83.76. The popular hometown coffee chain also took the top Engagement score due to its mix of user-generated content, customer contests and promotion of seasonal food, and drink. TD Canada Trust, ranked third, leveraging its Twitter channel to humanize the financial brand and connect with consumers by responding directly to comments and questions on the channel and signing off with the initials of the administrator. This practice not only showed dedication to its customer service, but also enabled followers to see that there are actual people behind the brand.

Popular clothing company Roots Canada achieved the highest eValue score on Instagram, and garnered the top Engagement score. The brand's eclectic mix of Canadian centric professional images generated more than 2,100 likes per 1,000 fans, showing that Roots' Instagram strategy hit home with its followers. Cirque du Soleil had an impressive Engagement and Impact score, which helped to propel the brands second place eValue ranking. Lululemon came in at fourth place with the highest Impact and Responsiveness scores of the group.

"It is no surprise to see companies like Roots and Lululemon among the top ranked brands on Instagram, as it is the perfect place to showcase products through creative images which inspire followers to like, comment or tag friends in a post. Similarly, we see highly visual brands like Cirque du Soleil, MEC and IMAX ranking high with impressive Engagement scores due to its unique content, which clearly captured the attention of audiences," noted Segal.

About Engagement Labs
Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) offers intelligent Total Social™ data, analytics and insights for marketers and organizations enabling them to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry both online and offline. These conversations are proven to drive critical business outcomes, including sales, while Engagement Labs' tools provide data and actionable insight to help guide business decisions and power marketing effectiveness.

Engagement Labs' eValue™ Analytics tool is the global benchmark for social media scoring. eValue's proprietary data technology offers real-time analysis to measure a brand's social media and digital marketing efforts, distilling it down to a single meaningful number between 0 and 100 -- an eValue score. Composed of a series of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), an eValue score measures social media Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness which is benchmarked against 100,000+ handpicked and verified brands. The Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company, is the only firm to regularly measure offline conversation via TalkTrack ®; independent research finds offline conversation is a significant driver of sales with twice the impact of online conversation.

Engagement Labs maintains offices in Toronto ON, Montreal QC, London UK and New Brunswick NJ. www.engagementlabs.com / www.kellerfay.com

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