UPDATE - Trump and Sanders Are the Social Media Nominees Leading up to Super Tuesday

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 02, 2016) - Technology and data company Engagement Labs, creator of eValue Analytics™ score, today released rankings of the top performing U.S. Presidential candidates on Facebook and Twitter, for the month of February 2016 leading up to the big Super Tuesday vote, which took place on March 1, 2016.

eValue Rankings of the Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter

Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for the Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter

eValue Rankings of the Democratic Candidates on Facebook and Twitter

Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for the Democratic Candidates on Facebook and Twitter

"February was a heated month for the U.S. Presidential candidates with numerous primaries and caucuses and that is reflected in social media performance and follower growth," commented Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "On the Democratic side Bernie Sanders made inroads against Hillary Clinton, while the Republican Party saw candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio gain some momentum against Donald Trump. With Super Tuesday bringing in the biggest action in the election thus far, candidates had to step up their game on the campaign trail and on social media to ensure U.S. voters know where they stand on the issues important to the American public."

On Facebook, the Republican Party saw Rubio take a small lead ahead of Ben Carson -- who has had a strong Facebook standing throughout the race thus far. The rankings were very close with all candidates scoring extremely well for Engagement and Impact. However, when it comes to being responsive to fans, John Kasich took the lead. Trump remained the leader of the Republican Party on Twitter with significantly higher Engagement than the other candidates, as well as the highest Impact score and the largest follower growth of over 524,000 followers during the month of February. However, Cruz followed closely behind with the highest Responsiveness score of the group.

For the Democratic Party, Clinton ranked first on Facebook, with Sanders following closely behind. The race on Facebook was neck-and-neck with both candidates demonstrating extremely high Engagement and Impact scores during the month of February leading up to Super Tuesday. Sanders saw his Facebook channel gain almost double the amount of new followers than Clinton, with Sanders gaining close to 440,500 and Clinton gaining just under 268,500.

On Twitter, Sanders took a larger lead against Clinton, with a much higher Engagement score than his opponent. Sanders also demonstrated a stronger response strategy on the channel which led to a higher Responsiveness score. Both candidates demonstrated nearly identical follower growth and Impact scores -- which proved the massive reach both candidates have on the channel.

Bernie Sanders

Leading on Twitter for the Democratic Party, Sanders saw his online presence grow tremendously as his campaign support amplified. Sanders boasted a significantly higher Engagement score along with retweets, favorites and mentions per 1,000 fans, relative to Clinton. Consistently discussing his views on issues such as racism, women's rights and economic equality, Sanders also utilized the channel to voice his opinions regarding the GOP candidates' platforms, to thank his voters after winning the primaries and to encourage his supporters to vote, thereby generating frequent fan interaction.

However, Clinton 'beat' Sanders on Facebook. Clinton led the Democratic Party with the highest Engagement score and likes and comments per 1,000 fans. Sanders however, posted less than half the amount of content that Clinton did during the month of February. Therefore, Sanders has the opportunity to improve his score by providing his Facebook audience with more content with which they can interact. With a highly active user base, the candidate should take advantage of his audience interaction and increase the number of posts. Additionally, both candidates can increase engagement with fans by being more responsive on the channel; currently neither candidate responds on the channel.

Donald Trump

Trump demonstrated impressive social media performance throughout the election. With significantly higher Engagement on Twitter, than his fellow candidates, Trump has continuously live-tweeted different electoral events, as well as stated his opinion on various political issues. Also scoring the highest with respect to Engagement on Facebook, Trump garnered the highest likes and comments per 1,000 fans on the channel.

While Trump led for Engagement, on both channels the candidate did not respond to followers. This is one area where Trump's fellow candidates could leverage to improve their social media standings. As the race gets tighter, voters want to see a leader who engages with the American public. Being responsive is a humanizing quality for a social media channel, building trust among your audience, which could lead to votes. 

Marco Rubio

Rubio saw his candidacy rise in popularity on social media over the past month with first place finish on Facebook. Boasting impressive Responsiveness, Rubio outranked his competitors in the Republican Party while experiencing a Facebook fan growth of approximately 129,000 new fans -- second only to Trump. He posted much less frequently than his competitors, despite having a high active user base which indicated a missed prime opportunity to post quality content that would drive fan engagement and increase his performance on the channel.

With respect to Twitter, Rubio should increase the number of posts he shares, possibly taking a lesson from Trump who has consistently live-tweeted numerous electoral events to engage his voter base. When leveraging social media, it is imperative for the candidate to ensure the content being posted is resonating with its audiences. Simply posting frequently will not create engagement. Leveraging live events, discussing up-to-date happenings and posting personal content will not only humanize the channel for audiences but will create greater trust and a more genuine relationship, something continuously seen with candidate Carson's channels.

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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