Trump-Mania Still Going Strong on Twitter, While Cruz Cruises Into First Place on Facebook

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - January 29, 2016) -  Technology and data company Engagement Labs, creator of eValue Analytics™ score, today released rankings of the top performing U.S. Republican Presidential candidates on Facebook and Twitter, during the Republican debate which took place on January 28, 2016.

Despite boycotting the GOP debate, Donald Trump managed to maintain his dominance on Twitter by hosting an event to raise money for veterans, during the same time as the Fox News debate. While, Ben Carson lost his standing lead on Facebook, with Ted Cruz coming in at number one.

eValue Rankings of the Top Performing Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter:

Source: Engagement Labs eValue ™ U.S. 2016 rankings of Republican Candidates on social media.

"Taking a page out of Rand Paul's book from the last Republican debate, Trump boycotted the Fox debate and despite not being part of it, his social media presence remained strong. In fact, Trump still managed to gain the highest number of new followers on both Facebook and Twitter than any other candidate," commented Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "By highly leveraging Facebook and Twitter leading up to and following the veteran charity event he organized, Trump was able to stay top of mind among the American public and increase his social media following and engagement among fans."

Top Five Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter Based on the January 28, 2016 Debate:

Source: Engagement Labs 2016 rankings of Republican Candidates' follower growth on social media

On Facebook, Engagement Labs' data found that Cruz had the highest eValue score -- overtaking Carson, a regular front runner on the channel. With Trump out of the debate, much of the attention was put on Cruz, which positively impacted his Facebook ranking through an increase in engagement among fans. Cruz garnered one of the top Engagement scores and his content also saw a higher number of comments and shares per 1,000 fans than Carson. Carson however, continued to maintain a higher Impact score with a following of more than four times the following of Cruz.

Trump took the top ranking for highest Engagement score, along with highest active user base of all the candidates. He also gained the most number of likes per 1,000 fans, receiving more than 67,900 likes on a single post that announced the six million dollars raised for veterans during his event. Trump gained 17,049 new followers on Facebook, while Cruz gained the second highest number of new followers, trailing behind at 3,397.

On Twitter, Trump maintained his dominance and led the pack with the highest Engagement score and the highest Impact score. Paul, live tweeted the debate which enabled him to rank second place for eValue score and third for Engagement. Paul had one of the highest Responsiveness scores which helped to amplify his overall eValue score. He also garnered the highest number of mentions of all the candidates on Twitter. Trump again gained the highest number of new followers at 30,855 while Marco Rubio gained the second highest at 5,763 and Cruz at third with 5,256.

"Trump's decision to boycott the debate could have possibly hurt him in the polls, but on social media he managed to continue to create conversation around his campaign, attract followers and maintain dominance on the channel," noted Segal.

Social media continues to be a prominent platform for candidates to leverage during the debates, especially for the opposing party. In last night's debate, two different strategies from the Democratic candidates were demonstrated. For example, Hillary Clinton live tweeted the debate which resulted in earning 8,006 new followers on the channel. Bernie Sanders engaged Iowa residence and hosted a local Town Hall which enabled him to gain 6,157 followers on Twitter and an impressive 11,233 new followers on Facebook.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) 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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