Individuals who follow Global Fortune 100 companies on Twitter are more connected and more influential than the average Twitter user, according to research that analyzes the influence and demographics of people using the social media platform.

The research, produced by Burson-Marsteller and StatSocial, a leading social media analytics platform, found that those who follow the world’s large companies have, on average, 735 connections across all social media platforms compared to just 300 average connections for those who do not.

In addition, those who follow the world’s largest global corporations on Twitter are:
• 1.3 times more likely to be male than the average Twitter user.
• 1.3 times more likely to be between 46 and 55; and 1.4 times more likely to be between the ages of 36 and 45.
• 54 percent of the followers of large global companies are from the United States, but followers of large global companies are 1.3 times more likely to be from the United Kingdom and 6.4 times more likely to be from Mexico than the followers of the average Twitter account.

Followers of large global companies on Twitter are also more likely to be interested in automobiles (1.2 times), business (1.2 times), technology (1.2 times) and politics (1.09 times) compared with average Twitter users.

In addition to increased social connections, followers of the Global Fortune 100 are 3,274 times more influential than average Twitter followers, although follower influence—defined as how well connected the followers are across 60 social sites—varies by industry. According to the study, companies in the technology and automotive sectors have the most socially connected and influential followers. Their followers are approximately 1,300 times more influential than the average Twitter user. Conversely, followers of leading global healthcare and retail companies are just 43 and 329 times more influential than the average Twitter user.

“Having a presence on Twitter enables corporations to reach a broad online audience,” says Michael Bassik, Burson-Marsteller’s US digital practice chair. “To effectively attract more influential followers, marketers of all sizes can benefit from following the example of large global technology and automobile companies by focusing on compelling storytelling, responsive engagement and paid media amplification.”

Adds Michael Hussey, StatSocial CEO: “It is very much worth the effort for a brand to cultivate its social audience. For marketing purposes alone it can be a unique goldmine of data—essentially serving as a panel of consumers whose work, schooling, income, likes and dislikes across other brands, activities, interests and TV shows can now be known, and even compared to those of other social audiences’—a competitor’s, for example.

“We’ve moved beyond a world where Twitter and Facebook are just tools for measuring engagement and performing customer service, and into a world where your social audience is your real-time market research panel.”