Social media is fast becoming the most effective approach to boost brand awareness, understand the customer, get feedback, as well as direct traffic to a company’s web site and/or stores.

We like to track the Facebook activities and monthly fan base growth for the retailers and brands that we follow (and many others). Click here to see our compilation of monthly Facebook ‘fan’ numbers for October 2011 (‘fan’ stats as of 10.31.2011).

Now for this month’s highlights.

It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in October 2011 versus the prior month:

Naturally, most of the above have a small base. Therefore, let’s look at the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in October 2011 versus the prior month for brands with greater than 1.0 million ‘fans.’

Conversely, It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the lowest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in October 2011 versus the prior month:

Additional Notes:

Coca Cola (KO) had the largest number of ‘fans’ at the end of October 2011 with 35.5 million followed by Starbucks (SBUX) at 25.9 million.

Wal-Mart (WMT) seems to have really embraced social media over the past 12-18 months.

The number of ‘fans’ at Kohl’s (KSS) dwarfs that of their department store peers.

Why would Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) have a larger ‘fan’ following than Urban Outfitters (URBN)? Mind boggling.

Social media is fast becoming the most effective approach to boost brand awareness, understand the customer, get feedback, as well as direct traffic to a company’s web site and/or stores.

We like to track the Facebook activities and monthly fan base growth for the retailers and brands that we follow (and many others). Click here to see our compilation of monthly Facebook ‘fan’ numbers for June 2011 (‘fan’ stats as of 06.30.2011).

Now for this month’s highlights.

It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in June 2011 versus the prior month:

Naturally, most of the above have a small base. Therefore, let’s look at the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in June 2011 for brands with greater than 1.0 million ‘fans.’

Conversely, It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the lowest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in June 2011 versus the prior month:

Additional Notes:

Coca Cola (KO) had the largest number of ‘fans’ at the end of June 2011 with 31.6 million followed by Starbucks (SBUX) at 23.5 million.

Wal-Mart (WMT) seems to have really embraced social media over the past 12 months.

The number of ‘fans’ at Kohl’s (KSS) dwarfs that of their department store peers.

Why would Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) have a larger ‘fan’ following than Urban Outfitters (URBN)? Mind boggling.

Social media is fast becoming the most effective approach to boost brand awareness, understand the customer, get feedback, as well as direct traffic to a company’s web site and/or stores.

We like to track the Facebook activities and monthly fan base growth for the retailers and brands that we follow (and many others). Click here to see our compilation of monthly Facebook ‘fan’ numbers for April 2011 (‘fan’ stats as of 05.02.2011).

We stopped publishing our ‘fan’ stats a couple of months ago. But, the people have spoken. We received many requests for this particular blog entry and we’ll continue to publish our stats each month at least for the remainder of the year.

Interestingly, we’ve noticed that companies have begun to use these stats in their quarterly conference call scripts. Also, we’re hearing that investors are approaching management teams and asking them (when applicable) why they’re not spending more time and energy leveraging the opportunities available to them via social media. We’re glad that these stats have become of use to management teams and the buy-side investment community.

Now for this month’s highlights.

It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in April 2011 versus the prior month:

Naturally, most of the above have a small base. Therefore, let’s look at the largest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in April 2011 for brands with greater than 1.0 million ‘fans.’

Conversely, It is worth noting that out of the 188 retail chains/brands covered in this survey, the following were the lowest percentage gainers of ‘fans’ in April 2011 versus the prior month:

Additional Notes:

• Coca Cola (KO) had the largest number of ‘fans’ at the end of April 2011 with 26.2 million followed by Starbucks (SBUX) at 21.6 million.
• Wal-Mart (WMT) seems to have really embraced social media over the past 12 months.
• The number of ‘fans’ at Kohl’s (KSS) dwarfs that of their department store peers.
• Why would Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) have a larger ‘fan’ following than Urban Outfitters (URBN)?