The article is part of our Confectionery Report 2014 .

Size is important when it comes to a social media following. But it’s not everything. Just look at who has come top in our ranking of confectionery’s most social brands for proof.

Maynards is number one in terms of social media engagement, according to our analysis, in partnership with digital marketing agency Headstream. Despite having no Twitter account and the smallest following on Facebook, at around only 5,000, the brand’s overall score dwarfs that of its rivals. Why?

The 10 most ‘social’ confectionery brands

 OVERALLFACEBOOK  TWITTER   
  SCORE Interaction Posts Fans (000) Score Interaction Tweets Followers (000) Score
Maynards 371.4 1,807 10 5 371.4        
Haribo 30.1 2,886 9 746 4.3 183 8 8,852 25.8
Kit Kat 8.6 5,403 1 23,000 2.3 883 16 88,900 6.2
Skittles 6.3 17,987 6 26,000 1.2 3360 37 175,000 5.2
Galaxy 5.4 10,204 9 2,100 5.4        
Mentos 4.2 6,955 17 10,000 0.4 106 64 4,353 3.8
Snickers 4.1 36,092 22 10,900 1.5 557 43 50,100 2.6
Dairy Milk 3 33,431 12 9,200 3        
Mars 1 699 10 677 1        
Maltesers 0.6 544 6 1,600 0.6        

“Maynards’ success proves audience size is of little significance when talking of engagement,” says Steve Sponder, Headstream’s MD. “Although Maynards’ audience is the smallest of all the confectionery brands, they’re considerably more engaged than the other brands’ audiences.”

The brand is in solid sales growth too, with value up 5.7% on volumes up 3% [IRI 52 w/e 21 June]. Though how much Maynards’ apparent sociability has to do with this is another question. NPD, traditional advertising and an increase in promotions have undoubtedly had a greater impact on the brand’s performance.

Indeed, even Maynards’ brand owner Mondelez suggests the real opportunity is in reaching as wide an audience as possible, rather than catering for a small number of highly engaged people, who more than likely already buy the brand already.

“Social media is an established reality for tens of millions of our consumers,” says Mondelez marketing director Matthew Williams. “But it’s not about just engaging a small number of superfans. It’s about distributing brilliant and relevant tweets, posts and videos to as many of our consumers as possible.”

Facebook: face to face with fans

Maynards Discovery Patch

YouTube views: 320k+ Facebook Likes: 67 Comments: 7 Shares: 29 

Haribo Beautiful Game

YouTube views: 250 Facebook Likes: 169 Comments: 8 Shares: 24

KitKat Cone

YouTube views: 15k+ Facebook Likes: 185 Comments: 17 Shares 28

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