Findings from Ketchum and FedEx‘s social media benchmarking study “Leading Brands and the Modern Social Media Landscape” show that all of the study’s 62 participants have some sort of social media presence.

Ten percent fall into a “leadership” category, with social media playing a role in all aspects of communications and a team of social media specialists; 75 percent are in the “participation” category, with social media in some comms aspects and a specialist; and 15 percent are labeled “observation,” with social media in a few areas of communications.

Respondents were chief comms officers or social media leads at 62 leading companies, including Michelin, Kraft, GM, and IBM. Thirty-minute interviews were conducted between August and October 2010.

Participants in the study said they estimated their 2010 social media spend at five to 15 percent of their total marketing budget. And social media is being used internally, with 40 percent saying they have a “socially-equipped intranet” and 50 percent with plans to redesign their intranet platforms in the next year or two to include even more social media capability.

The study also offers a number of tips including advice for those in regulated industries (“Establish a business case and ongoing management plan with Legal/Compliance teams”) and those focused on B2B (“Video trumps words when it comes to explaining products and services in simple, visually compelling ways”).