NM Incite’s Social Media Brand Equity Ranking (SMBER) index has found that Samsung Mobile is the top brand for the year 2011 in social media in India. According to the ranking, the amount of buzz Samsung has generated online or for the number of phone models it has launched, it has emerged as the leader. NM Incite is a Nielsen-McKinsey company.

NM Incite had tracked over 400 Indian brands for the whole of 2011 based on several parameters like the number of fans and followers. As per a study, Ford India is ranked second in the overall list ahead of five other brands like Maruti Suzuki (3rd), Nike (4th) and FlipKart (5th). The other brands that made to the list include Mahindra and Mahindra, LG, Volkswagen India, Channel V, Sony Ericsson, Hyundai Motor, Maggi, Nokia, Airtel, Vodafone, Tata DoCoMo, HTC, BMW India.

"As per parameters, one key criteria was fans and followers on official social media pages, and it was observed that the iPhone did not have an official page to accurately measure this number. Automotive's prominent showing is driven by large number of followers on social media platforms, lots of product reviews and consumers sharing photographs and tips related to their experiences," the survey said.

"The SMBER index answers some critical questions for a brand, based on engagement with company owned social media platforms, as well as the consumer's conversation on the brand across the platforms," Farshad Family, Managing Director (India), Nielsen Media has said.