Sprinklr has launched the Social Index, a report that measures how brands turn social media activity into audience connection. The study covers 1,160 brands across five industries.
Based on more than 1 million interactions collected over 11 months from X, Facebook and Instagram, the report argues that many companies remain highly active on social platforms without generating strong engagement or positive audience sentiment.
At the centre of the study is a single score on a 0 to 10 scale. It combines a Brand Index, which tracks activity such as posting frequency, responsiveness and content performance, with an Audience Experience Index, which measures engagement, earned conversation and sentiment.
The results show a broad gap between presence and perception. Across sectors, brands often publish regularly but fail to build sustained relationships with users in what Sprinklr describes as the real-time moments that shape relevance.
Sector patterns
Retail brands were the most active posters in the sample, yet 78% did not generate what the report classed as meaningful engagement. In technology, 76% of brands were operating in what the index calls "Broadcast mode", marked by one-way publishing and weak sentiment.
The report also pointed to pressure in customer-facing sectors, where sentiment can be harder to manage. Telecom brands recorded a median sentiment of minus 19, while financial services brands showed 45% negative sentiment.
Sprinklr grouped brands into five levels of social media maturity. These range from Broadcast, defined by one-way publishing with little engagement, through Presence and Interaction, to Resonance and Convergence, which describe stronger audience connection and more joined-up responses across social, care and insight teams.
Crossing into Resonance, defined as a score above 3.5, marked the point at which brands move from simple activity to earned advocacy, according to the report. Convergence, the highest category, was described as a model in which engagement, customer care and insight are handled together in real time.
Operating model
The study argues that the weakness is less about effort than structure. Many brands still treat social media as a campaign-led marketing channel, while consumer perception is increasingly shaped between campaigns by responses to complaints, cultural moments and everyday interactions.
That distinction is reflected in the examples highlighted by the research. Top-performing retail brands posted less often but achieved engagement rates above 7% and generated more earned mentions by appearing in wider cultural conversations rather than relying only on their own scheduled feeds.
In financial services, stronger performers were identified by sustained positive sentiment and faster responses to customer issues. In telecoms, leading brands improved public sentiment by responding more quickly and communicating more clearly during moments of friction.
The methodology adjusted scores within industry peer groups and sought to limit the effect of outlier viral events, so rankings reflected sustained performance rather than short-lived spikes. The aim was to compare how brands perform over time rather than during isolated campaign peaks.
For marketers, the findings add to a wider debate over whether reach and posting volume remain useful headline measures of social media performance. The report argues that visibility alone has become a baseline expectation and that brands now need to demonstrate relevance through timing, responsiveness and quality of interaction.
Joy Corso, Chief Administrative Officer at Sprinklr, said the issue was not simple awareness. "Brands don't lack visibility. They lack relevance," she said.
She said the strongest performers were distinguished by timing and judgement rather than output alone. "The brands winning on social aren't the ones saying the most - they're the ones showing up in the right moments, with relevance and clarity to create meaningful connections. Brands that listen continuously across every customer touchpoint, use AI to separate real signals from social noise, and act on those insights through a single, unified system are well prepared to win the moment."
Corso said the findings underscored the importance of using real-time audience understanding in day-to-day decisions. "The brands winning on social understand their audiences in real time - and act on that understanding."