The PROPEL 100 – The Most Influential PR Agencies In The World 2021
The Propel 100 is back! Join us in celebrating 100 of the most influential PR agencies in the world.
So far this year, we have released a list for in-house PR practitioners and another for PR practitioners in agencies. Now, it’s time to bring agencies themselves into the spotlight.
Humanizing brands is not a new narrative, and we’re seeing that agencies embracing trends like this, especially through social media, reap major benefits while others blend in the background.
They’re allowing personality to shine through the often cold shell of business, and take advantage of opportunities that social media brings, beyond entertainment. They’re connecting with stakeholders in a real, genuine way through these digital platforms.
“Adapt or die,” wrote Park Howell, founder of The Business of Story, brand story strategist, speaker, and storytelling coach.
With such an emphasis on social media presence in the realm of influence, we found that most influential PR agencies have their own social media accounts. This allowed us to continue using Twitter, one of the most popular (and important) social media platforms to PR people, as a key research source for Propel 100 metrics and methodology.
Insights from our list
What are the qualities of an influential PR agency? Our list holds many insightful revelations about what it takes to be an influential PR agency today, based on the set of metrics we observed.
Followers
We found that the average follower count among these PR agency Twitter accounts was 8,473. Emphasis on average… Many of the accounts were far on the low side, and others on the high side of this figure. For example, the agency with the top follower count, Edelman, has the most followers, weighing in at over 95,000.
Followers-to-Following Ratio
The average PR agency follower-to-following ratio was approximately 7 to 1. What does this mean? Twitter users have these accounts on their radar. People are choosing to follow these agencies to keep up-to-date with their content, rather than just a ‘follow-for-follow’ or ‘follow-back’ intention.
Twitter Experience
Many of these influential agencies are clearly ahead of the curve when it comes to social media experience. The average number of years of Twitter experience was about 11, with a maximum of 13 years. We also found that the majority of those on the list had 12 years of Twitter experience. Finally, the newest Twitter accounts on our list have been active for less than one year. That being said, an organic Twitter following with user engagement does not happen overnight, so be patient! Building a strong Twitter presence tends to take some time.
Number of Tweets
Being an influential PR agency requires high quality AND quantity online. This aligns with our data, as we found that the average number of tweets across the agency accounts was nearly 9,000. The Twitter account for digital PR and publicity agency We Plug Good Music had the most tweets, with over 202,500 tweets in total, since 2009.
Location
Over 55 of the agencies on this year’s list are based in the United States. Roughly 30 are dispersed throughout the United Kingdom, and a handful of them are located throughout additional parts of North America, Europe, Australia and more.
Bio
Considering that this list spans a wide variety of PR agencies with many specializations, their Twitter bios naturally varied a great amount. Focusing on industry influence, we made sure to prioritize those that discuss goals of bettering the PR industry in their own unique ways. And of course, those that described a focus on helping stakeholders achieve their communication needs.
The Propel 100
Who’s next?
Should your agency be on this list? If you think you have what it takes, we would love to hear from you. We are always eager to connect with PR pros like you so that we can confidently arrive at a list of the best-of-the-best.
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