Speak snapshot: what are ‘sustainable’ brands talking about on LinkedIn?
In this eco-edition of the monthly Speak snapshot, we explore what some of the top brands ranked in Corporate Knights’ 2024 Global 100 list of the ‘most sustainable corporations’ are publishing on LinkedIn. From the most prevalent content themes to the leading formats, here’s what we found.
With sustainability being a crucial focus for brands and audiences alike, what are companies that are leading the way in green investments talking about out on LinkedIn? This is a question we unpick in our latest Speak snapshot – a monthly analysis charting the ways that brands across sectors are approaching content on the social networking platform.
To focus our sustainability-led scan, we turned to the Global 100 ranking published by media firm Corporate Knights. Now in its 20th year, this annual report sheds light on the businesses that are upping their spending on sustainable solutions to help accelerate the green transition.
Gathered throughout January 2024, our data highlights 96 LinkedIn posts from nine of the top brands identified in Corporate Knights’ ranking – including financial services company Banco do Brasil SA, wind turbine firm Vestas Wind Systems and engineering services provider Stantec. The scan highlights the most common themes and formats used among these firms and explores the approaches that are getting the most (and least) engagement.
To find out how these companies are talking about sustainability progress, climate-related careers and colleagues on LinkedIn, take a look at the key findings from our latest snapshot report below.
12 takeaways: at a glance
1. On average, the brands included in the report posted 11 times between 1 January and 31 January 2024.
2. There was a wide range in the number of posts per company. The brands with the highest number of posts were Stantec (45 posts), Vestas Wind Systems (17) and manufacturer Nordex (10). On the other hand, those with the lowest number of posts included pooling solutions company Brambles (two posts) and bioscience firm Chr. Hansen (just one) – and one brand, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, did not post at all.
3. Out of the 96 LinkedIn posts captured, nearly half focused on a variety of sustainability-related topics – including climate change and renewable energy.
4. The average number of engagements (the sum of likes, comments and reposts) per post was 738. This represents a huge 179% increase in average engagements compared to the posts analysed in our December snapshot of the logistics and delivery sector.
5. All three top-performing posts came from Vestas Wind Systems. The first, which shared an overview of the firm’s plans to advance offshore wind solutions in Poland, received 6,739 engagements. As well as using multiple images, the post also included quotes from a senior leader, bullet points highlighting key details and a link to a press release – signposting audiences towards further reading. The second was a single image post announcing the company’s position in Corporate Knights’ 2024 Global 100 ranking, and the third was a live-action video and shared the news of a recent award win.
6. While Vestas Wind Systems led the way in terms of overall engagements, likely due to its high number of posts, Chr. Hansen came out on top in terms of the average engagement rate with just three posts – suggesting that less may sometimes be more when it comes to LinkedIn output. This is further enforced by the fact that, despite posting nearly three times as much as Vestas Wind Systems, Stantec had the third-lowest engagement rate.
7. LinkedIn posts that hyperlinked to company websites, blogs and press releases were the most used format (52), followed by single-image (26) and live-action video (14). While images dominate brand LinkedIn posts, this is the first time that hyperlinks have been the most frequently used format in a Speak snapshot.
8. The top-performing formats by engagement rate were animated videos (0.44), reposts signposting audiences to external websites or articles (0.39) and text-only posts (0.39).
9. The most common topics within the scanned posts centred on the businesses and their own achievements (31 posts), employee and colleague stories (27 posts) and climate-related topics (18 posts) – though many of these overlapped with a wider focus on sustainability.
10. Meanwhile, the top-performing themes based on overall engagements were posts relating to the companies’ own businesses and milestones (43,229 engagements), renewable energy (16,667) and broader sustainability-related topics – such as awards and global events (14,981).
11. The themes that were covered the least were the cost-of-living crisis, company archives and mental wellbeing.
12. In the reporting period, Banco do Brasil SA had the highest number of LinkedIn followers (1.7m), followed by Vestas Wind Systems (968k) and Stantec (535k). In contrast, those with the fewest followers were Brambles (43k), metal recycler Sims (25k) and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (2k).
To access data from the full snapshot report, enquire about bespoke data reporting or find out how to improve your brand’s content engagement, contact Gabrielle from our client services team at gabriellebridle@speakmedia.co.uk or on LinkedIn.