THE PRACTITIONER

In January we announced the findings of our first annual Georgia Social Media Engagement Scorecard, which found that the state’s top public and private  companies have a long way to go toward reaching out and responding to online audiences.  In fact, we found that only 7 of the top 50 companies have a      corporate blog.  Yikes!

A lot of deserved attention is being paid to the corporate blog – what companies have one, and what companies don’t. In late 2009, the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth released a follow up study to one conducted the previous year gauging the rate of a  adoption and usage of blogging among the Fortune 500, and they found similar results: only 22 percent (108) of 2009 Fortune 500 companies have a  public-facing corporate blog with a post in the past 12 months. Additionally, only three of the top five companies, Wal-Mart, Chevron and General  Electric, have blogs. Overall, corporate blogging was up by 16% over the previous study.

The study also broke blog presence down by industry. Companies in the industry of computer software, peripherals and office equipment have the most  blogs (11), while companies in the motor vehicle industry have the least, four. However, Toyota has been paying special attention to its corporate blog recently. A blog is an excellent way to provide an audience with to-the-minute communication, and can be used to help manage crisis situations. But that is a blog post for another day.

One of the most interesting sections of the survey was the comparison of blog involvement between Fortune 500 blogs and the Inc. 500. As defined in the survey, “The Inc. 500 list is composed of the fastest-growing, private companies in the US, while the Fortune 500 is based on total revenue, not growth, and may include public and private companies.” The data revealed that Fortune 500 companies have been less likely to adopt social media tools than their “smaller, fast-growing counterparts.” In fact, Inc. 500 companies are twice as likely to maintain official blogs — 45 percent versus 22 percent of the Fortune 500. Is this because of transparency policies? Corporate culture? Fear of losing control of conversations about the brand? What do you think?

Are these numbers surprising to you? They certainly are to us at Wunderkind. In our blog post about our own social media research, we asked the question: So what does this mean? Should these companies be more engaged? The simple answer is, yes. Effective communication is an interactive dialogue that both listens and speaks. What we found through this research is that most of the companies focus on channels they control, those where they broadcast the message rather than engage in conversation

We are not advocating that social media is the right medium for every company, and a blog isn’t the only social channel available. But this year’s study sets a benchmark to base further research and measure how it evolves over the coming years. For now, use these two great resources to see how your company compares:

2009 Georgia Social Media Engagement Scorecard

The Fortune 500 and Social Media Study

Steve is President of Wunderkind Public Relations. He regularly comments on public relations strategy, social media and trends impacting the communications industry. You can follow him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.