British brands are getting better at responding to customers via Facebook, according to today’s “Socially Devoted” report from SocialBakers.  UK brands perform better than the rest of the world, and have improved quarter on quarter. On average in Q1, the first period available, British brands responded to questions 45% of the time, rising to 55% in Q4 2012.

When the survey was launched 9 months ago a staggering 70% of questions from Facebook fans remained unanswered.

Although the results are encouraging on the basis that brands are starting to engage more with their fans, the report looks at not just the best but also the worst brands for fan engagement, with some surprising results.  The top three brands for engagement are:

Where Virgin Media gained the top slot over Next was in the number if questions answered, although Next’s response time was much quicker and the number of fans higher.  All the top three are showing that they take fan engagement seriously and make sustained efforts to connect with them through Facebook.

The least engaging brands, show that if they are connecting, it’s on a minimum level and there are some surprising entries, brands who you would expect to interact with their fans, the top three show abismal response rates and times.

The report is called Socially Devoted and is an industry standard that measures brands’ interactions with their fans. Produced by Social Bakers  It shows that Bands in the UK are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunities for engagement through Facebook.

Is it your experience that brands who respond to their fans increase fan loyalty?