Top 10 Minnesota brands with most Facebook likes

General Mills brands dominate the top ten.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal just released its annual list of the Minnesota brands with the top 10 Facebook likes.

In the social media age, Facebook likes are a good proxy for evaluating where brands stand with their customers. Sure, dollars and cents they aren't, but a strong social media presence is an important component of building a brand's reputation and reach.

After the jump we count down the General Mills-dominated top 10.

10. General Mills' Box Tops for Education
General Mills' education charity has already accrued almost 900,000 Facebook likes despite apparently not even having a Facebook page a year ago. Then again, who doesn't like it when successful corporations giving some of their profits to schoolkids?

9. Yoplait
Number nine honors goes to another General Mills brand, Yoplait yogurt, which has over 953,000 Facebook likes. It's tasty and (in some cases, at least) it's good for you? What's not to like about that! Apparently, the last calendar year has been a good year for yogurt -- Yoplait's Facebook likes increased by 382 percent, boosting the brand from 15th in the rankings last year to ninth this year.

8. Chex Mix
Chex Mix wasn't on the list last year, but is now the third most-liked General Mills brand with 1.29 million likes. Personally, I'd only "like" Chex Mix if they created a Facebook page for a sans-rye chips mix.

7. Minnesota Vikings
There wasn't much to like on the field last season, but the Vikes' Facebook popularity grew by six percent nonetheless. With 1.32 million Facebook likes, the Vikings clocked is as the most popular Minnesota sports franchise.

6. Pillsbury
With 1.68 million likes, Pillsbury is General Mills' second most-popular brand on Facebook. Must be the Poppin' Fresh effect.