Fortune Global 100 Cos. Get More Social; Twitter Most Popular

July 24, 2012

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Metrics | Social Media

burson-marsteller-fortune-global-100-social-media-july2012.png87 companies in the Fortune Global 100 are now using at least one social media platform, up from 84 last year and 79 in 2010, according to a July 2012 report from Burson-Marsteller that includes data from Visible Technologies. Twitter is the most popular (82), followed by YouTube (79) and Facebook (74), though newer platforms Google+ (48) and Pinterest (25) are also seeing significant levels of penetration.

YouTube has seen the most rapid growth in adoption of the more mature platforms, with 22 more companies this year having an account than last year. Facebook has also grown from 61 last year, while Twitter’s increase has been more modest, up 5 from 77.

Twitter The Prime Source of Mentions

Data from Burson-Marsteller’s “Global Social Media Check-up 2012” indicates that the average number of mentions per company in a single month on Twitter is 55,970, almost 3 times the amount of mentions in forums (19,739) and blogs (19,610). Facebook (4,606) registers as less of a conversation driver for these companies.

In fact, the number of followers per corporate Twitter account has skyrocketed in the past year, jumping from 5,076 to 14,709. The average number of followers per account this year also represents an almost tenfold increase from just two years ago (1,489). These companies appear to be returning the favor: each corporate account is now following an average of 2,062 accounts, up from 1,860 last year and 731 in 2010. And 79% of corporate accounts engage on Twitter with retweets and @mentions.

Companies Grow Volume of Accounts

Further data from the report indicates that the Fortune Global 100 companies are averaging 10.4 accounts on Facebook, a big jump from 4.2 last year and 2.1 in 2010. The average number of accounts per company on Twitter is close behind, at 10.1 (up from 5.8 last year), and now stands at 8.1 on YouTube (up from just 2.7 last year).

Despite this growth, these figures pale in comparison with survey results released in January 2012 by Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group. According to that study, enterprise-level companies of over 1000 employees averaged 178 corporate-owned social media accounts, with the average enterprise company owning the most accounts on Twitter (39), with blogs (32), Facebook (30), and LinkedIn (29) also prominent.

Fortune 500 CEOs Not So Active

Although the Fortune Global 100 companies are increasing their volume of corporate accounts across various platforms, it appears that CEOs aren’t so ready to jump into the mix. According to a July study [download page] from Domo, which looked at the Fortune 500 list (US only), only 25.9% of the 498 CEOs have a LinkedIn account, while far fewer have Facebook (7.6%), Twitter (3.8%), and Google+ (0.8%) accounts. None are on Pinterest.

Other Findings:

  • Per the Burson-Marsteller report, the Fortune Global 100 companies were mentioned a total of more than 10 million times in a single month.
  • The average corporate Facebook page has 152,646 likes, up from 87,979 last year, and almost quadruple 2010’s 40,884.
  • Each corporate YouTube channel averages more than 2 million views, and 1,669 subscribers.
  • The average corporate Facebook page has 6,101 people talking about it, and 70% of corporate pages are responding to comments on their walls and timelines.
  • Companies average 2.6 accounts on Google+ and 2 on Pinterest.
  • 93% of Facebook pages are updated weekly.

About the Data: The Domo data is based on a search of CEOs on each of the major social networks, conducted from May 7 to May 21, 2012. Criteria for verification of accounts included: profile descriptions being accurate; content of posts being relevant and believable; quality (or number) of followers; and the account being maintained by or on behalf of the CEO (rather than by fans). The report admits that this is somewhat subjective, but claims that this was the most logical approach.

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