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The Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies on LinkedIn Invest in Employee and Customer Relationships

LinkedIn and Altimeter Group published a joint report on the value of corporate social media and its role in customer and employee engagement. To do, we formed a baseline of companies that were actively engaged on a platform we could effectively study.

After eight months of research, we assembled a list of the Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies based on how they use LinkedIn to engage employees and customers in the following areas:

1. Content marketing
2. Employee engagement
3. Talent and recruitment
4. Sales

LinkedIn and Altimeter Group then conducted targeted and controlled surveys to gather insights into how employees feel about their company’s use of social media.

The results of both studies were visualized in one infographic entitled, “Relationship Economics.” This infographic is the first in a series of research reports based on this massive initial study.

The Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies

Linkedin_RelationshipEconomics_pdf__1_page_

In no specific order, the Top 25 Most Socially Engaged Companies are as follows:

Google
Adobe
Michael Page International
The Wall Street Journal
Salesforce.com
HAYS
vmware
Robert Walters
Facebook
Gartnerbrunel
redhat
Twitter
LinkedIn*
Teradata
MasterCard
Juniper
Bloomberg
VISA
NetApp
OpenTesxt
Akamai
YAHOO!
Cisco
WorkDay

What We Can Learn From the Top 25 Most Socially Engaged Companies on LinkedIn

Perhaps more important than a list of companies is what we can learn from them. See, in the 2013 “State of the Global Workplace Report” from Gallup, only 13% of employees are engaged at work. That for lack of a better word, sucks. There’s a reason why people aren’t engaged and why many employees eventually become detractors or leave altogether.

“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first,” Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President of Retail at Apple

Getting work done and working together to get work done are separated in intention, mission, and vision. The state of employee morale is a reflection of the company culture. And the company culture is a manifestation of how managers or leaders work. Culture is either shaped and nurtured or its a byproduct of an everyday work ethic and all that’s associated with it.

The Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies on the other hand actively invest in employee and customer engagement. Doing so yields results that impact the bottom line and more so, improve relationships and opportunities for reciprocity and greater productivity and collaboration.

What do they do differently and what effect does social engagement offer?

1.  Top socially engaged companies empower their employees to be brand ambassadors.

2. Employees are more engaged and optimistic at top socially engaged companies.

3. Social media engagement contributes to competitive advantage.

When companies invest in relationships with customers, employees, prospects and partners, they reap benefits measured in competitiveness, profitability, loyalty, and advocacy.

More in the infographic below…

 

14 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “The Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies on LinkedIn Invest in Employee and Customer Relationships”

  1. Karin Sebelin ♥‿♥ says:

    Thank you Brian .. great read .. much to learn from.

    I really like your engagement in such research.

    Relationships begin with #trust .. with seeing others as human beings .. with conceding that we are human and can err.

    Only when we concede that our world is imperfect, that people are imperfect, that we are here not to be perfect but to learn we can really learn to trust.

    TRUST .. the only kind of influence that really matters

  2. Kostas says:

    This was a very informative read Brian. It is always interesting to look at the similarities between what the top brands on the various social networks are doing as it is a great indication of the direction that should be taken. I agree with Karin – relationships depend on trust and that is something our audience is seeking in us.

  3. Dave Toole says:

    This is a great overview of the importance of inclusiveness in how management gives employees the freedom to express their talents. Thanks for sharing.

  4. It is always interested to see that the larger companies, that you think would not need to rely on social media for business, are actually the ones doing it best.

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