Burson-Marsteller Australia study, which looks at the use of social media by Australia's Best Brands. We examined use of Twitter, Facebook Pages and Blogs.

1. Social Media Use by
Australia’s Best Brands
Sydney, Australia
November 2009

2. Methodology – Research Objectives
• The analysis looked to identify how top Australian companies are using key social media
platforms to communicate and engage directly with stakeholders, specifically:
– Twitter: The study tallied official Twitter accounts for Australia’s Best Brands.
– Facebook: The study identified and analysed official corporate presence of Australia’s Best
Brands on Facebook. The study examined corporate pages, but not third party groups and
fan pages.
– Blogs: The study examined whether and how Australia’s Best Brands are using branded
corporate blogs to communicate and engage with stakeholders.
• The analysis does not include independent subsidiary brands that do not share a name with the
parent company.
• The study builds on Social Media Use by Fortune 100 Companies, published by Proof Digital
Media and Burson-Marsteller in July 2009.
• This study is the first part in a two part research project. Part two will focus on corporate
websites and newsrooms.

3. • The study examined the top 20 brands as listed in Interbrand’s Australia’s Best Brands Report,
March 2009.
• The study ranks the top 20 Australian companies by brand value, which is a derivative of the way
business and financial assets are valued covering three elements: Financial Forecasting; Role of
Branding; Brand Strength.
• Financial assessments are based on published annual reports and analyst reports from
investment banks. Marketing assessments are based on a wide array of primary and secondary
sources. Ultimately, each brand was assessed for inclusion on its own merits.
• Holding companies are excluded from the Interbrand report. Wholly owned or local subsidiaries
of global brands are also excluded.
• Interbrand has published national brand value rankings more than ten countries around the world.
• There is no formal relationship between Burson-Marsteller and Interbrand. Interbrand were not
involved in the development of this study but are aware of its existence.
Methodology – Source Companies

4. Social Media Use – Multiple Channels
Percent of Australia’s Best Brands active on Twitter,
Facebook and their Corporate Blog
Australia’s top companies are still
experimenting with social media for
stakeholder communication, mostly
limiting activity to a single social media
channel.
Few companies are yet using top social
media platforms in a strategic, or
integrated manner across multiple
channels.

5. Social Media - Use By Channel
Percent of Australia’s Best Brands using
each social media channel Facebook and Twitter are the preferred
social media channels for online
stakeholder communication.
However, many corporate Facebook and
Twitter accounts are inactive, suggesting
companies are trying to decide how best
to use them.
Corporate blogs are used by only 4 of
Australia’s top 20 companies.

6. Industry Analysis – Financial Services
Percent of Australia’s Top Financial Services
Brands using each social media channel
Australia’s top Financial Services
companies prefer to use Twitter for
stakeholder online communication and
engagement.
A relatively high percentage of Financial
Services companies are not using any
social media platforms.

7. Industry Analysis – Retail
Percent of Australia’s Top Retail Brands
using each social media channel
Top Australian retailers are more active
than their financial services counterparts
in using social media.
Australia’s top retail brands prefer to use
Facebook to communicate online with
and engage stakeholders.

8. Industry Analysis - Global Comparison
How Australia’s Best Brands compare to the Fortune 100
in their use of social media channels
Australian companies are using
Facebook to a greater extend than
their Fortune 100 counterparts.
However, they are lagging Fortune
100 in use of Twitter and blogs.
Notes:
1 / for the purposes of this study, Fortune
100 Commercial Banking and Insurance are
bundled under a general ‘Financial Services’
category
2 / Fortune 100 General Merchandiser,
Specialty Retailer and Food and Drug
Stores categories are bundled as ‘Retail’
Breakdown by
industry
Financial Services Retail
Aus Top 20 Fortune
100 1
Aus Top 20 Fortune
100 2
Percentage on
Twitter
38% 42% 63% 79%
Percentage on
Facebook
25% 8% 75% 50%
Percentage with
a blog
13% 17% 25% 36%

9. Twitter

10. Twitter – Corporate Use in Australia
% of Australian Best Brands with Twitter accounts
40% of top Australian companies
have at least one Twitter account
In total there are 18 Twitter accounts,
of which, 8 are inactive.
However, numbers of followers
remains low, with a median of 193
rising to 8,000+ for Billabong
In addition to corporate use, a
number of companies are using
Twitter locally and to promote sub-
brands e.g. Westpac.

11. Twitter – Functional Use
Main uses of Twitter by Australian Best Brands
Twitter is being used primarily to
support and extend existing customer
service functions, and to provide
answers to questions about services
or products.
Twitter is also widely used as a sales
tool, with companies offering
promotions, discounts, contests and
sweepstakes.
Companies in Australia also use
Twitter to communicate company
and/or product news.

12. Twitter – Customer Service Examples
Telstra uses its @telstra Twitter account to monitor and respond to customer enquiries and help
resolve complaints. The company answers an average 10 enquiries/complaints per day.

13. Twitter – Customer Service Examples
By talking about surfing, sea pollution and other topics
important to its stakeholders, Billabong uses Twitter
primarily to strengthen relationships. New product
ranges and offers are also subtly promoted (see below)
See @billabong1973

14. Twitter – Promotional Examples
Harvey Norman uses Twitter to communicate latest
deals, discounts and offers. It also uses the channel to
answer customer enquiries and to list employment
opportunities
See @harveynormanau
Telstra uses Twitter to communicate business activities
& offers. See @TelstraBusCntr

15. Facebook

16. Facebook – Corporate Use in Australia
% of Australian Best Brands with official Facebook
accounts
50% of leading Australian companies
are using Facebook for stakeholder
communications.
However, 15% of these accounts are
inactive, suggesting companies are
unclear how best to use this channel.
Many companies also have a semi-
official presence on Facebook in the
form of a Group, often geared to
facilitating employee and alumni
networking.

17. Facebook – Corporate Use in Australia
Telstra cross promotes its social
media profiles and links to third party
content.
The company clearly re-directs
customers to relevant customer
service channels. The company is
responsive and invites conversation.
Clear identification of the individuals
behind the Page leads to genuine
interactions on a wide range of
issues, including Telstra services and
news announcements.

18. Corporate Blog

19. Corporate Blog – Use in Australia
% of Australian Best Brands with a corporate blog
An overwhelming majority of top
Australian companies are not using
blogs for corporate or company
brand-related communication.
Of those companies that are using
blogs, it is notable that levels of
interaction and feedback tend to be
low.

20. Corporate Blog – Best Practice Examples
Billabong uses its blog to
communicate with stakeholders
on a range of topics, notably surf,
ski and skate events, competitions
and teams.
The company proactively encourages
user participation on the channel (see
opposite)
http://www.billabong.com/au/blog

21. Corporate Blog – Best Practice Examples
Woolworths is also asking its customers to share and
rank ideas on how to improve products and services.
https://www.everydaymatters.com.au/ideas/
As an extension of its Everyday Rewards loyalty
programme, Woolworths employ a blog to
communicate and engage members and facilitate
feedback.
https://www.everydaymatters.com.au/blogs

22. Conclusions and takeaways
1. The survey provides an insightful snapshot into the use of social media by the top
Australian brand name companies.
2. The majority of the companies surveyed are failing to take an integrated or strategic
view of social media.
3. Australia’s leading brands are neglecting the opportunity to engage with
stakeholders via Facebook, the most widely used social network in Australia.
4. Corporate blogs are yet to gain traction in Australia. Corporate Australia lags the
US and UK in this regard.
5. Brand value does not necessarily denote best practice in social media, despite
research linking customer engagement via social media and corporate financial
performance.

23. Contacts
Daniel Young, Director
Burson-Marsteller Australia
+61 (0) 2 9928 1589
+61 (0) 404 626 584
daniel.young@bm.com
Carly Yanco, Associate
Burson-Marsteller Australia
+61 (0) 2 9928 1531
+61 (0) 413 648 396
carly.yanco@bm.com