Trump Maintains Top Standing on Twitter, While Kasich and Rubio Gain Momentum on Facebook

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 07, 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 February 6, 2016.

Donald Trump continued his undisputed reign on Twitter, while fellow candidate John Kasich's 'positive campaign strategy' started to see momentum as he took the lead on Facebook following the latest GOP Debate.

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.

"Trump's absence from the last debate saw a boost for candidates like Ted Cruz on social media. With Trump's return to the debate stage this week and the results from the recent Iowa caucus, it was more important than ever for the Republican candidates to amp up their social media approaches leading up to this debate," commented Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. "We saw candidates like Kasich put more emphasis on their social media channels to gain momentum on social and get in front of voters at this crucial point in the election."

Top Five Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for Republican Candidates on Facebook and Twitter:

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

During the February 6th debate, John Kasich jumped up in the eValue rankings surpassing Rubio and Carson and taking the top spot on Facebook. Continuing to post frequently on the channel, Kasich saw a boost in his his Impact score which propelled him to the top of the rankings.

Rubio ranked second for overall eValue score, also gaining the second highest number of followers, with 2,318. For the second debate in a row Carson lost his lead on Facebook and took the third spot on the channel. However, Carson continues to have strong Impact on the channel, but again ranked behind Cruz with the second highest Impact score.

Trump came in fifth place with the highest Engagement score of the group, along with the highest active user base. Trump also had the highest number of new followers over the day of the debate, gaining 6,031.

On Twitter, we continue to see Trump lead the pack with the highest Impact and Engagement scores which lead to his top eValue score ranking. Trump also gained the highest number of new followers during the day of the debate with 9,138. Cruz came in second with the highest Responsiveness of the group and one of the highest active user base. Cruz, whose campaign has been gaining momentum over the last few debates also had the highest number of comments per 1000 fans. 

Rubio came in fourth place with the second highest impact score and the second highest number of new followers, coming in at 2,528.

"Coming off of the first major electoral event of the nominating process, candidates were provided an ideal opportunity through social media to follow-up all the attention they were getting in the press following the Iowa caucus. And as we are continuing to see shifts in the social media standing of each of the candidates -- there is still ample opportunities for candidates to gain the attention of voters through their social media channels," noted Segal.

In past debates we have seen the Democratic party candidates live tweet during the debates highlighting issues important to their campaigns. However, during this debate the Democratic party candidates were rather quiet on social media. Sanders, however continues to gain momentum both in the poles and online as he gained the highest number of new followers on both Facebook and Twitter during the day of the debate. On Facebook Sanders gained 6,881 new followers. Clinton came in second with 4,199 new followers. On Twitter Sanders gained the most followers with a follower growth of 5,570 with Clinton gaining 4,838.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs 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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