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Many organizations are monitoring blogs and Tweets, and others are pushing Burson-Marsteller’s Fortune Global 100 Social Media Check-up study
out news and promotional messages through social media channels. But only demonstrates that most companies have dipped their toes in the social media
by engaging with others online can the organization strategically garner a fair world — some with a big splash and others with a timid ripple — and that sim-
share of voice and remain master of its own reputation. ple, responsible engagement in social media can reap big rewards in building
relationships with stakeholders online. We explored the use of social media
It is time for companies to embrace, not fear, emerging media. There is no among Fortune Global 100 companies based on their involvement in Twitter,
other way to remain competitive. The key is finding the right voice and the Facebook, YouTube and corporate blogging.
right tools. Social media allows for a level of conversation in ways never before
possible — presenting enormous opportunities for research, brand building We found that each of these tools is being used extensively not only by
and the creation of brand evangelists. The value of social media is that users corporate headquarters but also by local market offices, various divisions of
are highly engaged and want to be heard. So, by listening to them and ap- the company and for one-time corporate events. To this extent, social media
proaching them from their own point of view, it is possible to have a positive is providing great benefits and opportunities by helping different niches of a
impact on beliefs and perceptions. company reach their target audiences. But, it is also introducing challenges
by creating mixed messages and tones and by leaving abandoned Twitter
Yes, there is the possibility of negative brand impact — but that is even more accounts and Facebook fan pages which may be detrimental to the brand.
reason to participate in the conversation. By avoiding the place where the con- Companies must monitor their own social media presence to ensure a
versation is happening, the company is missing the opportunity to be heard consistent brand message and to measure the impact of their social media
and understood. engagement.
Burson-Marsteller Evidence-Based Communications 2
Proliferation of Corporate Engagement in Social Media Fortune Global 100 Companies With Fortune Global 100 Companies
Twitter Accounts With Facebook Fan Pages
Of the Fortune Global 100 companies, 65% have active Twitter accounts, 54% Graph 2a Graph 2b
have Facebook fan pages, 50% have YouTube video channels and 33% have
corporate blogs* (see Graph 1). 72% 71%
69%
67%
65%
Regionally, we see that relatively more Asian companies have active blogs
(50% vs. 34% in the U.S. and 25% in Europe) but much less activity on Twitter 54%
52%
and Facebook (Graph 2d). While we also explored some local Asian social
media websites (such as Mixi in Japan), there was virtually no activity through
40% 40%
those channels either. Asian companies currently appear to be more comfort-
33%
able communicating with stakeholders via a corporate blog.
65%
Total U.S. Europe Asia LatAm Total U.S. Europe Asia LatAm
54% Fortune Global 100 Companies With Proportion of Fortune Global 100
50% YouTube Accounts Companies With Blogs
Graph 2c Graph 2d
33% 50%
59%
52%
50%
33% 34% 33%
35% 25%
33%
*Data was collected between November 2009 and January 2010 among the Fortune Global 100 companies:
U.S. = 29 companies, Europe = 48 companies, Asia-Pacific = 20 companies, Latin America = 3 companies. Total U.S. Europe Asia LatAm Total U.S. Europe Asia LatAm
Because of the low sample size for Latin America, data is only broken out for this region for overall
activity rates. Active accounts (with at least one post from the company the past three months) were included
in the analysis.
Blogs provide organizations with an opportunity to have a more direct dialogue View from China
with stakeholders online, and are still a very important part of the marketing
and communications toolset. What social media adds is the ability to reach The number of Chinese Internet users has more than tripled to about 387 mil-
lion since 2005, and Chinese consumers are enthusiastic users of social media,
people where they already are — on Twitter and Facebook — actively social-
particularly discussion boards (‘BBS’), social networks, video sharing and
izing, getting news and sharing their opinions. These social media sites provide
online games.
easy ways for companies to share quick updates and news bites without the
effort of drafting a thoughtful and meaningful blog post. However, when a com- China has large private firms and branches of major foreign consumer products
pany has a message that exceeds Twitter’s 140-character limit, a blog is an firms that are aggressive users of social media for marketing and communica-
ideal venue for a more in-depth interactive discussion. tion. By comparison, large state-owned firms — many of which are included
in these analysis — have adopted social media very slowly, even though three
More than three-quarters (79%) of the top 100 companies in the rankings are of the five companies are in relatively competitive consumer environments.
using at least one of the social media platforms we reviewed (Twitter, Face- China Mobile, which is busy promoting its new 3G services, is the most aggres-
book, YouTube or corporate blogs) to actively engage with stakeholders. sive at using the Internet as a marketing tool. However, it tends to use its own
But only 20% of these companies are utilizing all four platforms to engage with website and is even constructing its own social network for customers.
stakeholders (Graph 3).
Graph 3a Graph 3b
View from Brazil
86% 88% Forty-five percent of Brazilians engage in social networks, including 72% of
79% those age 18 to 25. Twitter reached 8.7 million users in Brazil in October 2009
28% and those users spend an average of 57 minutes browsing, much more than
25% time spent by users in the U.K. (38 minutes) and the U.S. (32 minutes).
Brazilian companies’ use of Twitter was almost immediate; so far, promotions,
50% 20% offers and contests are the greatest attractions to get followers on Twitter.
15%
More than 80% of Internet users have profiles on Orkut — the most successful
relationship-building network in the country with 26 million users. Thus far,
Brazilian companies have avoided engaging with customers on social sites
such as Orkut and Facebook so as not to appear intrusive and for fear of losing
control of the conversation. However, some companies are closely monitoring
conversations on these social media sites and have used the data to develop
Total U.S. Europe Asia Total U.S. Europe Asia strategies for creating or re-launching products.
Fortune Global 100 Activity on Twitter in Past Week Interaction Between Companies and Users on Twitter
Graph 4 Table 2
Activity of Fortune Global 100 on Facebook Fan Pages in Past Week Fortune Global 100 Activity on Fan Pages in Past Week
Graph 5 Table 3
Percent of fan pages with
posts from the company
Tone of Comments and Posts
Percent of companies whose Social Media Site Frequency of Activity
from Fans (on scale of 1-5)
posts have “likes” from fans
82% Percent of companies posts Total 40,884 3.7
with comments from fans
69% Percent of fan pages with
posts from fans U.S. 53,941 3.6
59%
56%
51% 51% Europe 46,400 4.1
49%
46%
44% 44%
41% 43% 41% Asia-Pacific 23,971 3.5
38% 36%
32%
Graph 7 Graph 8
4.2 4.2
Percent of Corporate
90% Blogs with Posts
83% Percent of Corporate Blogs
with Viewer Comments
76% 77%
73% 71%
2.1
1.6
36%
11%
stakeholders will not know which is the one they should follow. Thus, the
6.6
stakeholder leaves the search not finding what they need, or may follow the
wrong account and become frustrated. 5.4
As well, there are “squatters” and abandoned accounts that muddy the land- 4.2
scape. In our searches, we found many social media accounts that link to the
2.1
corporation’s home page, have the company logo, and many even have hun- 1.9
2.7 1.6
dreds or thousands of followers, but not a single tweet or post. While these
accounts or fan pages may be genuinely hosted by the company — or be set
up by someone who hopes to take advantage of squatting in the company’s
rightful position — they are denigrating to the company’s presentation of
itself in the social media space. While a company may be holding onto a
Twitter handle while determining what their social media strategy should be, Total U.S. Europe Asia Total U.S. Europe Asia
silence may be more deleterious than using the page to post press releases
and other basic corporate materials while a more sophisticated strategy is
being figured out. Number of YouTube Channels Number of Blogs per Company
per Company
Between abandoned accounts and employees participating without company Graph 9c Graph 9d
guidance, the corporate voice runs the risk of being shaped by factors outside 2.0
of corporate headquarters. Social media has been heralded for giving stake-
1.7 8.1
holders a voice in shaping a company’s message and employees should have 1.6
the same opportunity. However, companies need to develop a framework that
allows flexibility so that employees understand the parameters within which 1.3
they can and should participate. It appears in many cases that companies are
trying to catch up and put a framework around activity that is already very
active and potentially off strategy. 4.2
3.1
1.5
B.L. Ochman
Managing Director of Emerging Media
Proof Integrated Media
b.l.ochman@proofdigitalmedia.com
www.twitter.com/whatsnext
William Kemp
Managing Director
Proof Digital Media
212.614.4909
William.Kemp@proofdigitalmedia.com
EMEA
Daniel Jörg
About this Study
EMEA Digital Practice Lead
+41.31.356.7362 Data was collected between November 2009 and January 2010 among
Daniel.Jorg@bm.com the top 100 companies of Fortune’s Global 500 companies. Sample size
www.twitter.com/danieljoerg
for countries/regions: U.S. = 29 companies, Europe = 48 companies, Asia-
Pacific = 20 companies, Latin America = 3 companies. Because of the low
Asia Pacific
sample size for Latin America, data is only broken out for this region for overall
Charles Pownall activity rates. “Active” accounts have at least one post in the past 3 months.
Digital Strategist Outliers have been noted. Data was collected by Burson-Marsteller’s global
65.6829.9350
Charles.Pownall@bm.com research team.
www.twitter.com/cpownall
About Burson-Marsteller
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