Largest global firms mentioned over 10 million times online in a month, study finds

Companies in the Fortune Global 100 were mentioned a total of 10,400,132 times online during a month-long period. The majority of these mentions happened on Twitter, according to the third annual Burson-Marsteller Global Social Media Check-Up which includes new data provided by Visible Technologies, the leader in social media monitoring, analytics and services for enterprises globally.

The Burson-Marsteller Global Social Media Check-Up 2012 examined the Fortune Global 100’s use of popular social networking platforms including: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, for the first time, Google Plus and Pinterest. This year, Visible Technologies provided data on social media users’ discussions of companies online.

In 2012, the vast majority of companies (87 percent) are using at least one of the major social platforms to communicate with online stakeholders with by far the largest growth in corporate usage occurring on YouTube. The study found there has been a 39 percent jump in the percentage of companies with a branded YouTube channel. Seventy-nine percent of companies in the study are now using a branded YouTube channel compared to 57 percent in 2011. These channels each average more than two million views and 1,669 subscribers.

Still, the study found that Twitter is the most popular platform for both companies and for online discussions about these companies. Indeed, 82 percent of Fortune Global 100 companies have at least one Twitter account, while each company was mentioned an average of 55,970 times on Twitter.

“This year’s study shows an interesting trend in the increase of content creation among the Fortune Global 100,” said Burson-Marsteller Worldwide CEO Mark Penn. “Since 2010, it has been interesting to see the companies’ use evolve from broadcasting to engagement to content creation. Companies are now integrating more original multimedia content to share with followers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.”

Stakeholders are also following global companies closely. Since 2011, the average number of followers per corporate Twitter account has nearly tripled to 14,709 from 5,076. On Facebook, the average number of likes per company page has increased by 275 percent since 2010 to 152,646 likes in 2012.

“People want to interact and connect with these major companies, and these platforms are the bridge directly to the heart of these organizations,” said Burson-Marsteller Chief Global Digital Strategist Dallas Lawrence. “What’s even more impressive is how much companies are engaging back with followers. Seventy-nine percent of corporate accounts attempt to engage on Twitter with retweets and @-mentions, and 70 percent of corporate Facebook pages are responding to comments on their walls and timelines.”

Other key findings include:

nFortune Global 100 companies have more accounts on each platform than ever before with an average of: 10.1 Twitter accounts, 10.4 Facebook pages, 8.1 YouTube channels, 2.6 Google Plus pages and 2.0 Pinterest accounts.

• Twenty-five percent of companies have Pinterest accounts.
• Ninety-three percent of corporate Facebook pages are updated weekly.
• Seventy-four percent of companies studied have a Facebook page.
• Forty-eight percent of companies are now on Google Plus.
• Each corporate Facebook page has an average of 6,101 people talking about it.

To access the complete analysis of these findings, visit bm.com/social.Data was collected in February 2012 based on Fortune Global 100 companies’ social media activity on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Plus and Pinterest (gathered in July 2012).  Sample size for countries/regions: U.S. = 29 companies, Europe = 45 companies, Asia-Pacific = 23 companies, Latin America = 3 companies.  Comparisons were made to Burson-Marsteller’s first Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study, The Global Social Media Check-up 2010, published on February 23, 2010, and The Second Annual Global Social Media Check-up, published on February 15, 2011. Data was collected by Burson-Marsteller’s global research team. Visible Technologies also provided new data on how much consumers and other stakeholders discuss companies online.