Fortune 500 companies are actively using social media more in 2013 than ever before. According to research from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, every form of social media activity tracked among Fortune 500 companies since the research was first conducted in 2008 grew this year, including the use of corporate blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. Fortune 500 companies are also active on Google+, Instagram, and Foursquare.
According to the research report authors, Twitter is used by the highest number of Fortune 500 companies (77%) and was also the social media site that saw the most growth since 2012 (7% in a tie with YouTube). Detailed results follow, and you can read the full report on The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Market Research website. It’s important to point out that the data collected in this study focused on corporate social media profiles and activities, not brand-specific activities. You can read about the methodology behind the study by visiting the website link above to access the full report.
Blogs
More than one out of three (34%) of Fortune 500 companies are publishing corporate blogs (a 6% increase from 2012), and 79% of those blogs are current, have RSS feeds, and allow comments, making them truly social. Believe it or not, three of the top five Fortune 500 companies don’t have blogs, but overall, 47% of all Fortune 500 blogs are published by the top 200 corporations. These blogs come from 171 corporations in 58 of the 75 industries represented in the Fortune 500.
More than three out of four (77%) of companies in the Fortune 500 have corporate Twitter profiles with at least one tweet published within the past month (a 4% increase over 2012). Eight of the top 10 companies in the Fortune 500 have corporate Twitter accounts. Overall, 43% of all Fortune 500 corporate Twitter accounts are managed by the top 200 corporations. These Twitter accounts come from 387 companies in 72 of the 75 industries represented in the Fortune 500.
Nearly three out of four (70%) of Fortune 500 companies have corporate Facebook Pages, which is a 4% increase over 2012. Overall, 41% of all Fortune 500 corporate Facebook Pages are published by the top 200 companies. The 348 companies that are active on corporate Facebook Pages come from 72 of the 75 industries represented in the Fortune 500.
YouTube
Nearly three out of four (69%) of companies in the Fortune 500 have corporate YouTube accounts, which is a 7% increase from 2012.
Nearly one out of ten (9%) of companies in the Fortune 500 have Pinterest boards, which is a 5% increase from 2012.
Google+
More than one out of three (35%) Fortune 500 companies have corporate Google+ accounts that are active. This is the first year that the research for this study included Google+.
Nearly one in ten (9%) of Fortune 500 companies have corporate Instagram accounts. This is the first year that the study research included Instagram.
Foursquare
Nearly one out of ten (9%) of companies in the Fortune 500 have corporate Foursquare accounts). 2013 is the first year that Foursquare was included in the study research.
Final Thoughts
As the study authors explain, “Rank clearly impacts social media adoption.” The study found companies that rank higher in the 2013 Fortune 500 list are more likely to adopt and actively use social media than companies that rank lower on the list. This holds true for all social media sites analyzed in the study.
It’s also interesting to note that 59% of Fortune 500 companies that are using social media provide links to their social media profiles from their corporate website home pages, which makes their social content easily accessible to customers, investors, vendors, journalists, and more. Surprisingly, 41% of Fortune 500 companies make it a lot harder to find their corporate social media profiles. You’ll need to do some searching to find them.
What do you think of this study’s findings? Does your company maintain active corporate social media profiles? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: Simona Dumitru
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
