Lithium Technologies has published the 2015 Lithium Social Power Ranking, outlining the top 50 global brands that are using digital strategies to create the ultimate customer experience. The Ranking features multiple banking and finance brands including MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with retail and tech brands also dominating the list.

MasterCard ranks number 20 in the list, while Goldman Sachs, PayPal, American Express and Morgan Stanley come in at numbers 23, 27, 29 and 36, respectively.

At the top of the Lithium Social Power Ranking is Microsoft, bumping Amazon to the #2 position, followed by MTV, Facebook and Google. These top 5 brands are leaders in providing a holistic digital customer experience, according to their Klout Scores, which measure how engaged customers are with a brand across social channels.

“Klout is one of the only sources in the world to process more than 15 billion pieces of data every day across the web. We leveraged our big data insights to see which brands are excelling at connecting with their audiences and who is winning in the race for greater, sustained customer engagement. We congratulate the top 50 and encourage other brands to use social and digital strategies to get ahead of customers’ extreme expectations,” said Rob Tarkoff, president and Chief Executive Officer at Lithium, which operates Klout.

The 2015 Lithium Social Power Ranking revealed:

• New brands in the top 20: Sony (#8), Adidas (#19) and MasterCard (#20)
• Entirely new entrants: PayPal (#27), Lenovo (#31), Lego (#41), HM (#49) and Pampers (#50)
• Top risers from the 2014 ranking: Audi (#11 from #21) and MasterCard (#20 from #34)
• Top industries succeeding in social: tech with 34% and retail with 14%
• Top risers compared to the Interbrand 2015 Best Global Brands Report: MTV (#3 from #90), Chevrolet (#13 from #85) and MasterCard (#20 from #76), reflecting the reality that digital and social brand strength can widely diverge from traditional measures

“Digital has completely transformed current businesses and the way customers interact with brands. Measuring just brand strength is no longer enough. We must look at customer engagement across a brand’s Total Community – from Facebook and Twitter to user reviews and branded communities,” continued Tarkoff. “Customers expect more across the entire social and digital landscape–and brands must deliver.”

More than a quarter of the Lithium Social Power Ranking companies are Lithium customers. The Lithium Social Power Ranking is based on the Interbrand 2015 Best Global Brands Report and corresponding Klout Scores.  Klout Scores are compiled using proprietary algorithms, determined by more than 400 signals from eight different networks, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google+ as well as real world data from Wikipedia.

The list comes on the back off recent UK survey results from Lithium Technologies that show almost one in four (23%) UK consumers rank financial services as the most frustrating sector when it comes to customer service – and the need to embrace digital channels to improve customer satisfaction.

The Lithium Social Power Ranking shows that some of the bigger global banking and finance brands are using social channels to get their customer experience right.

To view the full 2015 Lithium Social Power ranking, visit: http://www.lithium.com/company/news-room/press-releases/2015/lithium-reveals-2015-social-power-ranking