The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research annually publishes two of my favorite social media industry reports:
- Their annual report on social media adoption and use among Inc. 500 companies AND
- Their annual report on social media adoption and use among Fortune 500 companies
Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D. and her team do a phenomenal job in publishing this annual content. I often refer to their website for their social media research.
The January 2012 Inc. 500 report showed how 37% of these companies published blogs in 2011. This represented a 13% decrease in Inc. 500 company blogs from 2010's figure of 50%.
But Blogging Isn't Dying, Especially Among The Fortune 500
Fortune 500 Corporate Blogging Increased in 2012.
28% of the Fortune 500 (e.g. 139 companies) published a corporate blog in 2012. That percentage marked the largest increase in blogging since 2008:
Telecommunications, commercial banks, utilities, and specialty retailers are the leading users of blogs among Fortune 500 companies. The industry breakdown for use of corporate blogs in the Fortune 500 is portrayed in the table below:
The Higher Ranked Fortune 500 Companies Blog
The Top 200 Publish Blogs More Than The Bottom 200.
Since this study's inception in 2008, it looks like Fortune 500 rank influences blogging adoption. 54% of all Fortune 500 corporate blogs are published by the top 200 firms. 28% of the Fortune 500 blogs come from the firms ranked 300 – 500.
Here's an important direct quote from the study:
"With more than half of all F500 blogs coming from the top 200 corporations, rank continues to be a factor in the use of this tool."
Fortune 500 Companies Who Blog Well Take Comments
90% of the 2012 Fortune 500 Companies Allow Reader Comments.
This percentage actually surprised me. The study said these 90 percenters also have RSS feeds and take email subscriptions. Really! I'll have to check this out.
Perhaps, I'm a little jaded or cynical in there's that level of interactivity in America's 500 largest companies.
Conclusion
The findings from this study imply how "bigger is better" in implementing and maintaining corporate blogs. According to information from Jeremiah Owyang and his Altimeter Group colleagues, organizations with 1000 employees or more have corporate social media staffs averaging around 11 team members.
Maintaining blog content and audience interaction takes a lot of time. And, the time constraints or resources needed for maintaining a blog or other social media-related activities are a never-ending challenge for small to medium sized businesses.
Your Turn: What do you think about Fortune 500 companies participating in social media with corporate blogs? Is blogging a smart move for Fortune 500 companies? Let me know your take in the comments.
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Link to Photo Credit by Kristina B via flickr
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