The first ever index ranking Formula 1 teams according to social media performance has been launched – Lotus top the league, ahead of Williams and Red Bull who claimed second and third places respectively.

Launched ahead of the opening Grand Prix in Australia this weekend, The F1 Social Media Index www.F1.socialmediaindex.co.uk is a league table of the 11 teams involved in the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship, ranked according to the best use of social media by their official club channels.

Published annually, the table is compiled by measuring the performance of each team based not just on an algorithm, but research from a team of nine people who looked at eight social networks, as well as a panel of four judges who presided over the results. Those judges included Simon Banoub (Opta), Michael Sheehan (William Hill), Amy Byard and Tom Scott (both from Umpf)

The F1 Social Media Index, produced by PR and social media agency Umpf with partners William Hill, was four months in the making. It follows the success of the sport.socialmediaindex.co.uk, which earlier this year, set a benchmark of social media success in sport.

F1 Social Media Index Scoring Methodology

The scoring methodology includes both quantitative data from a two-month analysis period and qualitative research from a team of 11 people from Umpf, William Hill and Opta.

The first element – which accounted for 65% of the total score – was a full analysis of each team’s official club social media channels from 01 August 2013 to 30 September 2013 and took into account the breadth of official club social media channels (including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Vine and YouTube) as well as blog activity. The scoring included percentage engagement levels, percentage community growth as well as multimedia content posted on Twitter and Facebook, including video, images, audio, official apps and external links.

The second element (35% of the total scoring) was the judges’ scores, where four judges marked each team and the combined total was averaged to give a score.  Finally, ‘Red Card’ penalties of 2.5% were accrued for poor social media practice, including duplicate content, idle periods of community management as well as repeated spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

Final Table

Case Study – Lotus F1

Lotus achieved pole position in the inaugural F1 Social Media Index by generating fantastic engagement with a unique tone of voice across all channels; their content isn’t afraid to be ‘cheeky’, as demonstrated by the Facebook post below which generated almost 10,000 likes and an impressive 3,500+ shares.

The judges awarded high scores not just for the breadth of platforms used by Lotus, but the manner in which they were utilised to their full potential. Lotus is one of just three F1 teams to be active across all eight channels monitored by the algorithm, although judges did note that its Vine content was sporadic.

The Oxfordshire-based constructor accumulated strong Facebook growth and high levels of engagement, while behind-the-scenes footage, photos and interviews were a highlight of their output during the two-month analysis. Lotus were clear winners, almost 10% ahead of runners-up Williams.

“Lotus achieved fantastic engagement rates and can be praised for their unique tone of voice. The output of behind-the-scenes content seemed to resonate with their followers and was hugely influential in creating such high engagement figures.” – Amy Byard, Social Media Account Manager at Umpf

“Lotus F1 Team are deserved winners of the Formula 1 Social Index, they have mastered the art of being clever, witty, interesting and most importantly, engaging. The key to Lotus’s success seems to be that they deliver content that isn’t shown on television or printed in the press. Instead, they show behind-the-scenes footage and information that fans want to see, which clearly resonates with their passionate fan base.” – Michael Sheehan, Social Media Customer Experience Manager at William Hill

 Who do you think does the best job when it comes to social media in Formula 1?