·         Study white paper (pdf)

·         Study data (ppt)

·        B-M Social Media Check-Up (pdf)

Singapore, February 23, 2009 – More than three-quarters (79 per cent) of the Fortune Global 100 companies are using at least one of the top social media platforms to actively engage with stakeholders, according to a new study (pdf) of social media usage published today by Burson-Marsteller, a leading global communications firm. The study is the first in Burson-Marsteller’s Evidence-based Communications research series, which will focus on providing data to support insights-driven communications programs.

The study found that 65 per cent of the Fortune Global 100 have active accounts on Twitter, 54 per cent have a Facebook fan page, 50 per cent a YouTube channel, and 33 per cent employ corporate blogs. Companies in Asia-Pacific are more likely to utilize corporate blogs (50 per cent) than other forms of social media (Twitter: 40 per cent, Facebook: 40 per cent).

“Companies across Asia-Pacific are increasingly using social media to reach out to and engage with customers and other stakeholders” said Bob Pickard, President & CEO Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

He continued: “Understandably, Asian companies are primarily focused on using local platforms such as Mixi in Japan, CyWorld in S. Korea and Baidu Spaces and Renren in China to reach local audiences. Accordingly, their use of Facebook and Twitter is limited, and tends to be used for communicating with consumers in international markets. As Asia’s top companies continue to extend and deepen their operations beyond their domestic markets, we can expect their use of top international social media platforms to increase.”

“International firms are leading by example in their use of social media; Asian companies have proved more conservative, remaining concerned about resourcing, costs, measurement and the potential reputational risks” added Charlie Pownall, Lead Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. “As their domestic audiences continue to move online, and as the technology infrastructure improves across the region, Asian companies will come to use social media as the core business tool that it has become in the US and Europe.”

The study also found that Fortune Global  100 companies are active users of their social media channels. The study found that within the last week, 82 per cent had tweeted and 59 per cent had posted content on their Facebook fan page and, in the prior month, 68 per cent had posted a video on YouTube and 36 per cent had posted an entry on a corporate blog.

There is also evidence that stakeholders are listening and engaging. In the study, corporate Twitter accounts averaged 1,489 followers, while each Facebook fan page averaged 40,884 fans.

Some companies are interactive and not solely using social media to broadcast corporate messages. Companies using Twitter were following an average of 731 people each, and 38 percent of companies were responding to people’s tweets. Thirty-two percent have also “re-tweeted” or reposted comments user comments during the last week.

To help companies navigate the social media landscape, Burson-Marsteller has developed a tool called the Social Media Check-Up which looks at how a company’s social media presence is impacting their overall online health and reputation. The Social Media Check-Up assesses a company’s participation across the most popular social media platform and compares to the landscape within their competitive set to determine the best way for companies to engage in social media and contribute to their communities of interest.  Click here (add URL) to learn more about the Social Media Check-Up.

Other key findings include:

• On average, the Fortune Global 100 companies have 4.2 Twitter accounts, 2.1 Facebook fan pages, 1.6 YouTube channels and 4.2 corporate blogs.
• Companies with active accounts have 27 tweets per week, 3.6 Facebook posts per week 10 new YouTube videos per month and 7 blog posts per month.
• Corporate YouTube channels have an average of 452 subscribers each and over 38,000 views per channel.

Contacts

Charlie Pownall, Burson-Marsteller (Asia-Pacific)
e: charles.pownall@bm.com | t: +65 9655 7997

Paul Cordasco, Burson-Marsteller, New York
e: paul.cordasco@bm.com | t:  212-614-4522

About this Study

Data was collected between November 2009 and January 2010 among the top 100 companies of the  2009 Fortune Global 500 companies.  Sample size for countries/regions: U.S. = 29 companies, Europe = 48 companies, Asia-Pacific = 20 companies, Latin America = 3 companies.  Because of the low sample size for Latin America, data is only broken out for this region for overall activity rates.  “Active” accounts have at least one post in the past 3 months.  Outliers have been noted.  Data was collected by Burson-Marsteller’s global research team.