It’s true, not all of the older business executives understand the value of using Twitter. The micro-blogging tool is placing a human face on corporations that otherwise wouldn’t be able to directly communicate with their stakeholders. The Fortune 50 is an exclusive club of the top companies in the United States with a minimum entry point of $48 billion in revenue. I would hope these companies are taking full advantage of social media as their reach is massive.
This feature is to highlight the Twitter marketing lessons we can draw from America’s 50 largest companies. Let’s start by crowning the winners. With the follower count metric the top five includes: Dell, Best Buy, Target, Microsoft and Pepsi. Apple could be included in this list because they are using several different accounts that sum to millions of followers.
Now let’s crown the losers. Believe it or not, there are actually 10 companies in the Fortune 50 that are not using Twitter at all. The industry is usually energy or banking. For example, JP Morgan Chase whom ranks #13 with $115 billion in revenue has no account despite having $400 million invested in Twitter. It’s fair to assume they are laughing their way to the bank so hard they need not worry about Tweeting with the peasants.
The follower count metric isn’t everything. Recently I wrote a Social Media Marketing Ideas feature and I want to expand the idea of using Twitter as a tool within a big business.
The Home Depot
@HomeDepot is one my favorites as they are fully taking advantage of the human angle. They are always Tweeting customers directly and making conversation. Occasionally they will feature an article on the topic of home improvement. The hardware store has a daily Do-it-Yourselfer feature that gives the spotlight to one of their customers. The store truly shines in making their consumers feel special. Read the rest of this entry »
