A recent analysis compiled by Burson-Marsteller and Proof Digital Media found that the largest 100 companies in terms of revenue -- as compiled by Fortune Magazine's annual Fortune 500 -- were active on three key social media: Twitter, Facebook and Blogs...and Twitter was leading the way. Among Fortune 100 companies:

• 94% of Twitter accounts distribute company news updates and announcements.
• 67% are at least partially serving a customer service function. 
• 76% of the companies that were using just one social media channel were using Twitter over Facebook and Blogs.

Do the numbers surprise you? No me. When compared to Facebook and blogs, the investment in time to start up and actively maintain a corporate Twitter account is far less than other social media tools. Be careful of the hype when you read reports and stats like these. A former colleague use to always say, "figures don't lie, liars figure."

While these Twitter figures are impressive and may not tell a lie, I'm not sure they equal success...at least just yet. Consider this: Walmart -- one of the Fortune 100 companies linked to in the report -- has a Twitter account for promoting specials. They currently have 3,520 followers. Sounds impressive, but when you consider that Walmart has 4,100 stores in the U.S. and another 3,100 internationally, their Tweet followers-to-store ratio is nothing to chirp about.

I know I'm stating the obvious, but you -- as a person and as a marketer -- need to be very careful about what you say on the social Web. Words are like tattoos: they may make you look and sound cool now, but you have to consider their long-term impressions.

Your individual brand reputation is at stake. Your company's brand reputation is at stake. And the brand reputation of any future company you work at -- probably for the rest of your life -- is at stake.

What you say for yourself and for your company is one part of the reputation equation. What others say is the second part. So how can you monitor your reputation and the brands you support? It's impossible to do it manually -- there are too many channels and postings. There are two free services I use: Google Alerts and StepRep. I've been using Google Alerts for several years. I just signed up yesterday to start using StepRep. So far, it has found a decent number of mentions/references over a span of years. Time will tell whether it can dig deeper.

If you know of a free or reasonably priced reputation monitoring tool for marketers, please let me know. 

Results from a new LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll show that advertisers are not sold on the effectiveness of Twitter for promoting products. Only 8% of advertisers and U.S. adults consider Twitter very effective for promoting products and ideas.

Other nuggets from the poll:

• Just under half of advertisers (45%) say that Twitter is something is in its infancy and its use will grow exponentially over the next few years.

• One in five (21%) believe Twitter will not move into the mainstream and is something mostly young people and the media will use.

• Just under one in five advertisers (17%) believe Twitter is already over and it’s time to find the next best thing.

• 17% of advertisers say they don't know enough about Twitter to have an opinion on it.

In June, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) -- in partnership with HeadMix, a social business software provider -- released the results of their survey designed to provide insight into how social software currently is being used.

There's some good data in the results for marketers, but one finding that stood out for me -- which is the basis of this blog -- is in the chart above. The biggest barrier to adoption of enterprise social networking is a clear, quantifiable business value.

According to the survey, nearly 60% of marketing and management professionals think social networking can have a significant influence on their company’s brand awareness, even though less than one-quarter say they are “actively engaged,” with it. Do you think billboards would score higher for brand awareness?

Anyway, the results of the social media survey is available for free download (must register first).

Altimeter Group and Wetpaint published a report in July that ranks the top 100 brands based on social media engagement. The ENGAGEMENTdb report -- The world's most valuable brands. Who's most engaged? -- lists Starbucks at #1, with a score of 127 points. According to the report, Starbucks falls into the 'Maven' engagement profile, which is:

These brands are engaged in seven or more channels and have an above-average engagement score. Brands like Starbucks and Dell are able to sustain a high level of engagement across multiple social media channels. Mavens not only have a robust strategy and dedicated teams focused on social media, but also make it a core part of their go-to-market strategy. Companies like these could not imagine operating without a strong presence in social media.

The report aims to correlate social media engagement with financial performance, and states that "Mavens" typically enjoyed revenue growth of 18% on average over the last 12 months. While that may be the case -- typically -- Starbucks has had a rough year. In Q1 they announced plans to close 300 stores. In Q2 their profits dropped 77% on a 7.6% decline in revenue. Between store closings and reduced openings in 2009, Starbucks is projecting as many as 6,700 company layoffs.

I don't think any of those pink-slipped employees (or shareholders) could care less about Starbucks's success in social media engagement, do you?

Like the Web itself, social media marketing can consume a lot of your time -- planned or unplanned. How much time B2B marketers spend on social media marketing is the question I just posed to the LinkedIn community. If you're a B2B marketer, please take the poll:

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/48426/bmegi

The vast majority of videos on YouTube won't help you grow your business or expand your marketing thinking. And, if you upload a business-related video clip on YouTube it's very unlikely that you will reap its social reach and viral capabilities -- and generate millions, or even thousands, of views.

But this doesn't mean you should exclude YouTube from your social media marketing plans. Why? Because, relatively speaking, YouTube is an easy-to-use and stable content delivery network (CDN) with rich social media tools and embedding capabilities -- and it's FREE! Marketers can upload a video to YouTube and embed that clip into any page on their company Web site. Prospects can watch the YouTube-served video without leaving your site.

A search for "customer testimonial" on YouTube generated more than 5,000 results, including this video testimonial posted by Citrix Systems: 

Internet video testimonials are a powerful way to quickly communicate your company's value proposition in a rich and compelling way. YouTube makes it a free and easy process. And while this non social media approach may not generate lots of inbound traffic or thousands of views, it could help convert passive visitors to your Web site into active prospects...and even customers. 

Yesterday, Harris Interactive published the results of their March online poll that compares offline social word of mouth to online social media and measures how the two impact brand decision-making. The report is chalk full of information for marketers. According to the report, when it comes to making purchase decisions, consumers obtain information using a mixture of old media and new media. While that may not be surprising to you, the breakdown may be.

The most frequently identified methods of gathering information were:

• Using a company website (36%),
• Face-to-face with a salesperson or other company representative (22%), and
• Face-to-face with a person not associated with the company (21%).

Other frequently mentioned methods or sources were:

• Advertising in print media (19%),
• Independent websites that have reviews (19%),
• Phone call to the company (16%), and
• Public or private social networking sites (4%).

The report shouldn't squash your social media marketing plans, but it certainly can help you in allocating an appropriate amount of time on it -- and keep you grounded amidst all the hype. Download the full report (PDF) for all the details: Offline Social Word of Mouth Influence On Brand Decision-Making More Frequent and More Powerful Than Online Social Media.