Social Insights Report: How Marketers at Mid-Size Companies Engage on Social Media

Social Insights for Decision Makers @Leadtail and @BestB2BSocial

Social Insights Report: How Top Marketers at Mid-‐Size Companies Engage on Twi>er

A special report from Leadtail In collaboraCon with:

2 Leadtail Top Marketers at Mid-Size Companies Social Insights Report – February 2014

IntroducCon

Despite all the technology available, your ability to reach, engage, and influence marketing decision makers is still limited. While buyer personas, surveys, and search marketing data can get you in the ballpark, social media insights are now a “must-have” for understanding these decision makers in a way that becomes truly actionable. With that in mind, we developed this report: “How Top Marketers at Mid-Size Companies Engage on Twitter” to provide insights into the patterns and behaviors of marketing decision makers with a special focus on those that work at companies ranging from 50 – 5,000 employees. This report reveals insights about these senior marketers to help you answer questions such as:

}  How do marketers at mid-size companies describe themselves on the Social Web? }  Which social networks are these marketers active on? }  What topics and people are they talking about? }  Which media sources do these marketing professionals consume and share? }  Which brands and people most influence marketing leaders at mid-size companies?

Armed with these social media insights, you can now take a more informed look at your strategy for reaching, engaging, and influencing marketing professionals at mid-size companies, and getting them to take the actions you care about most.


Methodology and Data Set

1.  Identify marketers active on social media based on criteria such as job function, seniority, geography and company size to create the target audience sample.

2.  Use the Leadtail Social Insights Technology to capture tweet data from the sample audience for a period of 90 days. Extract insights around key activities, such as what links are shared, who is mentioned and retweeted, popular hashtags, popular platforms used to share content, etc.

3.  Review, analyze, and package these insights into periodic reports.

}  504 North American marketing professionals at companies with 50 – 5,000 employees

}  Sample includes both B2B and B2C companies }  Titles include: CMO, VP of Marketing, Director of Marketing

}  Total of 91,805 tweets, and 45,731 shared links }  Tweets published between October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013

}  Total follower reach: 1,483,196; median # of followers per marketer: 690

The methodology the Leadtail team used in analyzing the data is as follows:

The specific data set analyzed for this report includes:


Key Takeaways

}  The social profiles of marketers from mid-size companies provide insights into both their professional interests and the topics they are passionate about in their personal lives (like sports, comedy, and culture).

}  Marketers at mid-size companies rely on a variety of mobile apps and platforms to consume and share content, meaning mobile-friendly content and customer touch points are a must-have for engaging them.

}  Certain publications, brands, and people are highly influential with marketers at mid-size companies; leverage relationships with these influencers to increase awareness of your brand with these diverse marketers.

}  While publishers have a strong foothold with these mid-size company marketers, some vendors are gaining traction with their content marketing programs, including: HubSpot, Marketo, and Buffer.

}  B2C and B2B marketers at mid-size companies share many common traits and behaviors, but there are specific preferences and patterns that emerge depending on the marketer’s target audience.

5

Who Are These Mid-‐Size Company Marketers?


Where Are They Located?

Our mid-size company marketer sample comes from North America - primarily the U.S.

Based on the location provided in the marketers’ Twitter profiles.


How Do They Describe Themselves?

The way these marketing professionals describe themselves on Twitter reveals keywords that can help you reach and engage them across the Social Web.

Based on keywords used in the Twitter profile.


What Do They Talk About?

Hashtags reveal the topics and events that captured the attention of, and drove the conversation between, mid-size company marketers during Q4 2013.


6%

6%

7%

7%

7%

10%

10%

15%

17%

18%

20%

24%

45%

45%

100%

Google +

Spotify

Kickstarter

TwitPic

Vimeo

Pinterest

Paper.li

Slideshare

Vine

Facebook

LinkedIn

Foursquare

YouTube

Instagram

Twitter

Considering that this report covers Q4 2013, a period in which there are several major holidays, it comes as no surprise that Instagram, YouTube, and Foursquare top the list of social networks during this period. Putting seasonality aside, we see that visual content networks (pictures, videos, slide shows, etc.) are commanding a lot of attention from mid-size company marketers, making up nearly half of the top 15 social networks covered in this report.

% of Mid-Size Company Marketers that published at least 1 tweet originating from this platform during Q4 2013.

What Social Networks Are They On?


8%

9%

10%

12%

19%

20%

22%

22%

26%

29%

32%

64%

67%

78%

Vine

Flipboard

Twitter Mobile Web

Twitter for Android

TweetDeck

HootSuite

foursquare

LinkedIn

Twitter for iPad

iOS

Instagram

Twitter for iPhone

Tweet Button

Twitter.com Web Site

Increasingly, marketers at mid-size companies (and just about everyone else!) consume content on the go via mobile devices. With “smart” apps expanding beyond phones and tablets into cars and wearable technology, it’s truly time to consider how your content is experienced in a mobile environment. 9 out of 15 of the most popular sharing apps/platforms are mobile, but Twitter.com and the Tweet button remain the two most popular ways to share content to Twitter.


What Apps + PlaOorms Do They Favor?

Desktop/Web App

Mobile App/Platform

11

How Do These Mid-‐Size Company Marketers Engage with Content on Twi>er?


Industry Media 34%

Mainstream Media 43%

Social Media 18%

Other* 5%

What Types of Content Do They Share?

Mainstream media content makes up 43% of the top 100 content sources most shared by mid-size company marketers. Shared content in this category is typically business and strategy focused, covering broad issues and trends spanning marketing, technology, and leadership. Industry media sites are the second largest source of shared content. These sites play an important role in defining the conversations marketing professionals have with their peers, their internal teams, and ultimately their customers. Many of these publications feature submissions from marketing thought leaders and experts, and have robust email and social media distribution that keeps their content in front of this audience every day. The social media category for mid-size company marketers includes everything from Kickstarter campaigns, to cheering on our favorite sports teams and sharing holiday photos.

% of 100 Most Popular Shared Content Sources

*Other includes eCommerce links, links to app downloads in iTunes, and any shortened URLs that could not be resolved.


11.  WSJ Blogs 12.  Washington Post 13.  The Guardian 14.  Quartz 15.  Bloomberg 16.  Fast Co Exist 17.  Slate 18.  The Atlantic 19.  Entrepreneur 20.  CNN 21.  NPR 22.  CNN Money 23.  Medium 24.  Fast Co Design 25.  CNET News

Top 25 Mainstream Media Content Sources shared by mid-size company marketers during the report period, ranked based on the number of unique marketers that shared each source.

What Are the Most Shared Mainstream Sources?

1.  Forbes 2.  Huffington Post 3.  New York Times 4.  Wall St. Journal 5.  BuzzFeed 6.  Fast Company 7.  HBR Blogs 8.  Inc. Magazine 9.  USA Today 10.  WIRED


11.  Social Media Today 12.  The Verge 13.  MarketingProfs 14.  Digiday 15.  MediaBistro 16.  HubSpot Blog 17.  Pando Daily 18.  Biz Journals 19.  Social Media Examiner 20.  Business 2 Community 21.  CMO.com 22.  Convince and Convert 23.  Seth’s Blog 24.  eMarketer 25.  PR Daily

Top 25 Industry Media Content Sources shared by mid-size company marketers during the report period, ranked based on the number of unique marketers that shared each source.

What Are the Most Shared Industry Sources?

1.  Mashable 2.  Business Insider 3.  Adweek 4.  TechCrunch 5.  Ad Age 6.  VentureBeat 7.  The Next Web 8.  All Things D 9.  MediaPost 10.  GigaOM


11.  Pinterest 12.  Twitpic 13.  Vimeo 14.  Kickstarter 15.  Google+

Top 15 Social Media Content Sources shared by mid-size company marketers during the report period, based on the number of unique marketers that shared each source.

What Are the Most Shared Social Sources?

1.  YouTube 2.  Instagram 3.  Foursquare 4.  Ow.ly (Pics shared via Hootsuite)

5.  LinkedIn 6.  Facebook 7.  Vine 8.  Twitter (Pics shared via Twitter)

9.  Slideshare 10.  Paper.li

16

Which Brands and People Are Most InfluenCal with Mid-‐Size Company Marketers?


Which Brands Do Mid-‐Size Marketers Retweet Most?

As social media continues to reshape how we communicate, brands and vendors must increasingly become more like publishers – creating and sharing high quality, highly relevant content on a regular basis – or risk losing out to competitors that do. So which brands are doing the best job creating content that engages marketing professionals and inspires them to pass that content on to their social networks? This word cloud shows the brands, publishers, and vendors retweeted most by mid-size company marketers in our sample.


Top 50 Brands Most Retweeted by Mid-‐Size Marketers

* Based on unique # of mid-size company marketers in the sample that retweeted the handle. Ties broken using Klout score followed by # of followers.

11.  @adage 12.  @socialmedia2day 13.  @Adweek 14.  @TheNextWeb 15.  @Inc 16.  @WIRED 17.  @businessinsider 18.  @HubSpot 19.  @twitter 20.  @espn 21.  @AP 22.  @Slate 23.  @forrester 24.  @allthingsd 25.  @TheSocialCMO 26.  @SMMmagazine 27.  @TIME 28.  @TheAtlantic 29.  @EntMagazine 30.  @salesforce

31.  @HistoryInPics 32.  @marketo 33.  @RedSox 34.  @CNET 35.  @UberFacts 36.  @buffer 37.  @8Mandates 38.  @MLB 39.  @CNN 40.  @washingtonpost 41.  @NBCNews 42.  @TheEconomist 43.  @USATODAY 44.  @nypost 45.  @TheDailyShow 46.  @CNNMoney 47.  @Eloqua 48.  @ForbesTech 49.  @mashsocialmedia 50.  @socialmedia411

1.  @mashable

2.  @FastCompany

3.  @nytimes

4.  @WSJ

5.  @HuffingtonPost

6.  @HarvardBiz

7.  @TechCrunch

8.  @Forbes

9.  @BuzzFeed

10.  @SportsCenter


Which Brands Do Mid-‐Size Marketers MenCon Most?

Looking at which brands marketers at mid-size companies mention on Twitter can give us yet another perspective on the forces that shape their views on products, services, and industry trends. Mentions can be a reference to an experience, a shout-out to grab attention, a big thank you (or no thanks), or even the highly-coveted social recommendation. That means mentions can represent a deeper level of engagement than a retweet. Brands, publishers, and vendors that are frequently mentioned are gaining mindshare and opening a dialog with marketers that they’re looking to reach and engage.


Top 50 Brands Most MenConed by Mid-‐Size Marketers

* Based on unique # of mid-size company marketers in the sample that mentioned the handle. Ties broken using Klout score followed by # of followers.

11.  @BuzzFeed 12.  @USATODAY 13.  @LinkedIn 14.  @google 15.  @adage 16.  @ShareThis 17.  @VentureBeat 18.  @TheNextWeb 19.  @Uber 20.  @MediaPost 21.  @Starbucks 22.  @SAI 23.  @facebook 24.  @Adweek 25.  @instagram 26.  @forrester 27.  @Tweetacoffee 28.  @eMarketer 29.  @TIME 30.  @Inc

31.  @gigaom 32.  @Pinterest 33.  @salesforce 34.  @SlideShare 35.  @HuffingtonPost 36.  @EntMagazine 37.  @B2Community 38.  @HuffPostTech 39.  @washingtonpost 40.  @united 41.  @RedSox 42.  @CNET 43.  @smexaminer 44.  @Digiday 45.  @CMO_com 46.  @buffer 47.  @amazon 48.  @nprnews 49.  @Slate 50.  @BloombergNews

1.  @mashable

2.  @Forbes

3.  @twitter

4.  @FastCompany

5.  @nytimes

6.  @WSJ

7.  @TechCrunch

8.  @YouTube

9.  @HarvardBiz

10.  @HubSpot


Who Do Mid-‐Size Marketers Retweet the Most?

There is persistent myth in social media that content is retweeted because the reader likes it. While that is certainly the case some of the time, there is one less obvious but profound reason why people retweet. They think: “My followers will like this.”

Whether it’s timely, provocative, or topical - who gets retweeted is a reflection of what people believe their own social audience will find relevant. It’s a means of amplifying a message. This word cloud contains the people retweeted most by mid-size company marketers in our sample.


Top 50 People Most Retweeted by Mid-‐Size Marketers

* Based on unique # of mid-size company marketers in the sample that retweeted the person. Ties broken using Klout score followed by # of followers.

11.  @jeffbullas 12.  @BuzzFeedAndrew 13.  @MarkRaganCEO 14.  @KentHuffman 15.  @BarackObama 16.  @GeorgeTakei 17.  @GuyKawasaki 18.  @dannysullivan 19.  @garyvee 20.  @darrenrovell 21.  @brainpicker 22.  @BruceVH 23.  @JeffSheehan 24.  @Steveology 25.  @2morrowknight 26.  @waltmossberg 27.  @briansolis 28.  @hunterwalk 29.  @AnnTran_ 30.  @nycjim

31.  @cschweitz 32.  @Britopian 33.  @Ekaterina 34.  @markwschaefer 35.  @MariSmith 36.  @jchernov 37.  @GerryMoran 38.  @meisenberg 39.  @JimGaffigan 40.  @karaswisher 41.  @chrisbrogan 42.  @michaelianblack 43.  @Pogue 44.  @mattcutts 45.  @Benioff 46.  @JennyJohnsonHi5 47.  @DanielPink 48.  @Bill_Gross 49.  @armano 50.  @randfish

1.  @ValaAfshar

2.  @jaybaer

3.  @MarketingProfs

4.  @jowyang

5.  @levie

6.  @ezraklein

7.  @leeodden

8.  @TedRubin

9.  @om

10.  @DaveKerpen


Who Do Mid-‐Size Marketers MenCon the Most?

When it comes to mentions – context is key. Mentioning a person can mean giving credit for an idea or piece of content being shared, engaging directly in conversation, or giving a shout-out to someone you’ve recently met.

In any context, being mentioned is a sign that a person is an active part of the social dialogue, and those mentioned most are the people you’ll find at the center of engaging conversations between digital and social marketers. This word cloud shows the people mentioned most by mid-size company marketers in our sample.


Top 50 People Most MenConed by Mid-‐Size Marketers

* Based on unique # of mid-market marketers in the sample that mentioned the person. Ties broken using Klout score followed by # of followers.

11.  @jowyang 12.  @markwschaefer 13.  @KentHuffman 14.  @briansolis 15.  @BelleBCooper 16.  @augieray 17.  @IanGertler 18.  @chrisbrogan 19.  @DaveKerpen 20.  @MargaretMolloy 21.  @Britopian 22.  @bmorrissey 23.  @rwang0 24.  @bkardon 25.  @marissamayer 26.  @Benioff 27.  @mitchjoel 28.  @ckburgess 29.  @ginidietrich 30.  @annhandley

31.  @leeodden 32.  @cspenn 33.  @jonmiller 34.  @djwaldow 35.  @jimmyfallon 36.  @sherylsandberg 37.  @unmarketing 38.  @petershankman 39.  @bryankramer 40.  @armano 41.  @KerryGorgone 42.  @GlenGilmore 43.  @jill_rowley 44.  @9INCHmarketing 45.  @chiefmartec 46.  @AdamSinger 47.  @davidortiz 48.  @dickc 49.  @JeffreyHayzlett 50.  @shelisrael

1.  @garyvee

2.  @jaybaer

3.  @MarketingProfs

4.  @ValaAfshar

5.  @BrennerMichael

6.  @jack

7.  @jeffbullas

8.  @GuyKawasaki

9.  @JoePulizzi

10.  @TedRubin

25

Spotlight: B2B vs. B2C Marketers at Mid-‐Size Companies


B2B and B2C Marketers Focus on Different Topics

B2B

B2C

While the most popular hashtags were used by both B2B and B2C marketers in our sample, there are some hashtags that were unique to each group. B2B marketers tend to maintain a business-centric focus on broad topics and industry events. Not that it’s all work and no play, as #Art, #Design, and #Movember were used exclusively by B2B marketers in our sample. On the other hand, B2C marketers tend to talk about a more casual, media-centric set of topics that includes holidays, world events, and a heavy dose of pop culture.


6%

6%

7%

9%

13%

16%

18%

23%

24%

41%

42%

100%

8%

6%

7%

11%

28%

18%

9%

27%

14%

51%

50%

100%

Kickstarter

Google+

Vimeo

Pinterest

Facebook

Vine

SlideShare

Foursquare

LinkedIn

Instagram

YouTube

Twitter

Here again we see that while the same networks are used by both B2C and B2B marketers at mid-size companies, there are clearly differences in the degree to which each network is used by our sample. B2C marketers were more than twice as likely as B2B marketers to share content from Facebook, and also outpace B2B marketers in terms of sharing YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest content. B2B marketers favored LinkedIn to a greater degree than their B2C counterparts. And when it comes to visual content, B2B marketers are twice as likely to turn to SlideShare as B2C marketers.


B2C Marketers

B2B Marketers

B2B and B2C Marketers Focus on Different Networks

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Conclusion


Conclusion

Imagine if you could listen to the daily conversations of marketing decision makers at mid-size companies. How would you use that information to better reach, engage, and influence these professionals to take the actions you care most about? For example, would it provide you insights into where to advertise, what content to create, whom to partner with, and how best to develop and implement your social media strategy? Sure it would. We created this special report to provide you with social media insights to help you make more informed decisions about how to reach, engage, and influence marketing professionals at mid-size companies. And since the topics, content sources, and influencers are constantly changing so, too, are the social media insights. Sign up to get future social insights reports delivered to your inbox. http://offers.leadtail.com/social-insights-reports


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About DNN

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About Leadtail

Leadtail is a social media agency and social insights firm focused on making online marketing and social media work for business. The Leadtail team has developed and implemented social media programs and campaigns for leading consumer and business brands including TiVo, WageWorks, Alcatel-Lucent, Symantec, Adaptive Planning and Peoplefluent. Our social media insights reports have been referenced in media publications including: Business Insider, Forbes, Huffington Post, MarketingProfs, CMSWire, and AllTwitter.

@Leadtail, @BestB2BSocial

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www.Leadtail.com/blog/

www.Leadtail.com

Interested in collaborating on a future social insights report? Email us: [email protected]