We wanted to find out how the startups and high-growth companies we track measure up on Twitter.
We looked at every active UK business on the Beauhurst database, and as well as some general analysis of social networks, we dug deeper into Twitter data using Audiense (a company we track, incidentally).Â
Before going into detail on Twitter, it’s worth pointing out that we found that LinkedIn is the most-used social network among high-growth UK companies. Somewhat surprisingly, Facebook lags behind; with almost 1,500 fewer businesses than Twitter. Google+, as you would expect, is not as popular, and Instagram – with its focus almost purely on photo and video content – is in fifth place. Snapchat and Pinterest were below the top five networks, so are not featured in this ranking.
Although LinkedIn is the (slight) winner when it comes to network of choice, Twitter has long been the social network that allows public data analysis of accounts and their followers. Plugging in all Beauhurst-tracked companies therefore reveals some interesting insights.Â
With a huge 1.7m followers, fashion news website The Business of Fashion tops our list, far ahead of the next most-followed startup, both famous British car manufacturers, Aston Martin and Bentley Motors. Indeed, automobiles feature heavily in the top 5, with Roborace – builders of driverless racing cars – on over 778,000 followers in position 4.
How do different company stages of evolution compare?
 When looking at stage of evolution, the results are interesting. Growth-stage companies feature heavily here – as you would expect – given their employee count, presence as a brand and resources relative to earlier stage companies.Â
But the seed stage presence here shows young startups can gain significant followers too. Three early-stage companies have over 100,000 followers: Galaxkey, Vibe Tickets and Gay Star News make our list.
The blue tick
In the age of fake news, pseudonyms and false accounts, Twitter puts great emphasis on its system of verified accounts – given to users and organisations of “genuine public interest”, signalling authority and scale. Given the typical makeup of Beauhurst-tracked companies, it is no surprise that only 244 (3%) of businesses are given the coveted verified status by Twitter.
Virtually every company in the top 50 most followed verified accounts is a consumer facing brand, with the rare exception of Audiense (used for this study) and The Drum – a social media and advertising news outlet.Â
We’ll examine the sector breakdown in future analysis – coming soon.
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