Trump Attacks and Rubio Defends Leading to Victories on Social Media

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 14, 2016) -  Technology and data company Engagement Labs, creator of eValue Analytics™ score, today released rankings of the top performing U.S. Republican Presidential candidates on Facebook and Twitter, during the Republican debate which took place on February 13, 2016.

Earlier this week Donald Trump swept the New Hampshire primary, appealing to six in ten New Hampshire Republican voters. His victory also led to him entering the debate with the highest eValue score on Twitter. John Kasich came in second place in the New Hampshire primary, while also leading the candidates with the highest eValue score on Facebook entering into last night's debate. However, during the debate Marco Rubio managed to gain momentum bolting him into first place on the channel.

eValue Rankings of the Top Performing Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter:

Source: Engagement Labs eValue ™ U.S. 2016 rankings of Republican Candidates on social media.

"With each debate we are seeing shifts in the candidate's eValue rankings. Last week we saw Kasich perform well at the New Hampshire debate and rise to the top on Facebook. While during last night's CBS News debate Rubio took over the top spot on Facebook following a strong performance during the debate," commented Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "As the presidential race picks up momentum, these debates will become increasingly more important. As the candidates leverage social media as an additional avenue to connect with voters, looking at how audiences engage with different content will be imperative."

Top Five Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter Based on the February 13, 2016 Debate

Source: Engagement Labs 2016 rankings of Republican Candidates' follower growth on social media

On Facebook Rubio scored an impressive 97.51 out of a possible 100, while Kasich was knocked down to second place in the eValue ranking. Trump placed third on the channel with the highest Engagement score, as well as the highest number of followers and the most active user base. Ben Carson, who was once a frontrunner on the channel, has seen a steady decline in his Facebook eValue ranking following the last few debates. Carson ranked fourth on the channel following last night's debate, however the candidate took the top spot for the highest Impact score. 

Not surprisingly Trump continues to have the highest follower growth on Facebook increasing his fan base by over 10,000 on the day of the debate. Ted Cruz gained the second highest number of new followers with 2,895.

On Twitter, we continue to see Trump maintain the lead for eValue score with the highest Engagement and Impact scores. Trump also gained the highest number of new followers with just over 13,460 during the day of the debate. Cruz came in second place on the channel, garnering the highest number of retweets per 1000 fans. Yet trailed behind Trump for follower growth, coming in second place with 3,426 new followers. Kasich, who has gained momentum during the last few debates, garnered the highest active user base of the Republican Candidates, demonstrating that his followers are actively engaging with his content.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton took to Twitter last night to provide her insight on the GOP debate. Clinton actively tweeted, calling out the Republican candidates for the constant "bickering" on the stage. Clinton's active tweeting garnered her the highest number of new followers on the channel, gaining 8,297, with Sanders gaining 6,168. However, on Facebook Sanders has an impressive follower growth of 11,967, while Clinton gained 6,273 new followers.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs 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, which independent research finds 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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