How Fortune 500 Companies Use Blogs and Social Media

In a recent post, I provided some statistics on corporate use of social media.

I wanted to add to the pile of stats with this University of Massachusetts study on blogging and social media.

In this study, researchers examined the blog and social media presence of companies on the Fortune 500 list for 2018.

(Fortune magazine compiles a list of the top 500 companies by revenue every year—as it has done for the past 64 years.)

Here’s what the study found:

Fortune 500 Blogs

The U of Mass study found that 53% of Fortune 500 companies on the 2018 list have a public-facing corporate blog. This is up 11% from 2017.

Companies are using these blogs for thought leadership, product promotion and engagement. The 53% number does NOT include blogs that are being used purely for company news announcements.

Forty percent of active corporate blogs allowed readers to make comments on posts, down 11% from last year.

Use of public-facing blogs varied by industry. Those with the deepest penetration were insurance, utilities, banks, specialty retailers, healthcare, financial data services, general merchandisers and electronic components.

Industries with the least penetration were chemicals, motor vehicles, wholesalers, diversified financials, aerospace and defense, mining, food-consumer products, pipelines and metals.

Fortune 500 Social Media

LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook were the top social media platforms for these Fortune 500 companies.

Ninety-eight percent of companies on the 2018 Fortune 500 list have a presence on LinkedIn, 91% on Twitter, 89% on Facebook, and 77% on YouTube.

Instagram has seen a significant increase over the past few years: Some 63% of Fortune 500 firms now have a presence on the social network, compared with just 9% in 2013.

How Does Your Company Compare?

While you may not be running a Fortune 500 company, it’s useful to see how these companies are using social media and blogging as part of their marketing mix.

That’s not to say you should blindly follow their lead!

But if you’ve been wondering whether it’s time to start a company blog, or step up your social media presence, this study might give you some direction.