This document provides insights into the social media behaviors of marketing executives based on an analysis of their Twitter activity in Q1 2013. Some key findings include:
- Marketing executives are active across many social networks, with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram being most popular. Mobile usage for social media is significant at 40%.
- Location data shows most are based in major North American metro areas. Their profiles and tweets indicate topical interests in areas like content marketing, social media, and industry news.
- Mainstream media sites are most shared, but industry-specific publications also drive daily conversations. Popular sources cover business, technology, marketing, and media topics.
- Retweets and mentions suggest influencers in the fields of marketing
How Are Senior Marketers Using Twitter? | Social Insights Report Q1 2013
1. Your Online Marketing and B2B Social Marketing Experts @Leadtail and @BestB2BSocial
B2B Social Marketing Report:
Marketing Executives on Twitter
Reach, Engage, and Influence Marketing Decision Makers
Q1 2013
2. Introduction
Despite all the technology available, your ability to reach, engage, and influence marketing
executives at leading brands and agencies is still limited. While buyer personas, surveys, and
search marketing data can get you in the ballpark, we believe social media insights are now a
“must-have” for understanding senior marketers in a way that becomes truly actionable.
With this in mind, we developed the B2B Social Marketing Report: Marketing Executives on
Twitter to provide social media insights into the patterns and behaviors of marketing decision
makers. Using Leadtail’s B2B Social Marketing technology to analyze data from Twitter, this
report reveals insights about marketing executives to help you answer questions such as:
Leadtail Your Online Marketing and B2B Social Marketing Experts!2!
} Which social networks should you invest your time and effort in?
} Is mobile something that you should prioritize?
} Which media publications should you advertise with?
} What topics should you create content around?
} Who should you get to speak at your events?
Armed with these social media insights, you can now take a more informed look at
your strategy for reaching, engaging, and influencing marketing decision makers to
take the actions you care most about.
3. Methodology and Data Set
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The methodology the Leadtail team used in analyzing the data is as follows:
1. Identify senior marketers active on social media based on criteria such as job function, seniority,
type of company, etc., to create the target audience data set.
2. Use the Leadtail B2B Social Marketing technology to 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.
The specific data set analyzed for this report was composed of:
} 1,797 marketing executives (manager level and above) working in the areas of: Marketing,
Media Planning/Buying, PR/Communications, and Social Media/Community.
} Based around the globe, but primarily concentrated in North America
} Working at B2C and B2B companies and agencies.
} Total of 407,192 tweets, and 185,948 shared links.
} Tweets published between January, 2013 – March 31, 2013.
3!
4. Key Takeaways
} Brand and agency marketers are active on many social
networks - not just Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
} Mobile is now an imperative for those wanting to reach and
engage marketing executives.
} Senior marketers actively consume and share mainstream
media, but industry specific media drives their daily social
interactions.
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5. Where Are They Located?
Our marketing executives come from points across the globe, with the highest
concentrations in major metro areas of North America.
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Based on Location provided in Twitter Profile.
6. How Do They Describe Themselves?
The way senior marketers describe themselves in their Twitter Profiles reveals
topical keywords that can help you reach and engage them across the Social Web.
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7. What Do They Talk About?
7! Leadtail Your Online Marketing and B2B Social Marketing Experts!
Hashtags reveal the topics and events, big and small, national and local, that
captured the attention of these marketing executives in Q1 2013.
8. Which Social Networks Are They Active On?
8! Leadtail Your Online Marketing and B2B Social Marketing Experts!
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
3%
3%
3%
3%
10%
20%
22%
27%
100%
Pandora
Triberr
Path 2.0
Yelp
Tumblr
Spotify
Pinterest
GetGlue.com
Facebook
Vine
foursquare
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
In addition to Twitter, marketing executives are
active on a number of social/user generated
content networks, many of which cross post
content to Twitter.
For example, 10% of marketers in our sample
posted at least 1 video from Vine, Twitter’s 6-
second video app, making Vine more popular
with senior marketers than media darlings
Pinterest, Spotify, and Tumblr (at least for now!)
% of Marketing Executives that shared between this network + Twitter during the report period
9. How Are They Using Mobile?
9!
Mobile 40%
Web 60%
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While many marketing executives struggle in their
professional lives to figure out how to make the most
of mobile – they appear to have no problem figuring
out where mobile fits in their own daily lives.
With 40% of all the tweets we analyzed for Q1 2013
originating from a mobile device, understanding how
to engage senior marketers via their mobile devices is
rapidly becoming less of a choice and more of an
imperative.
10. Which Apps + Platforms Drive Mobile Sharing?
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With built-in features that promote sharing content to social networks, it’s not surprising that iPhone
apps dominate mobile sharing by senior marketers.
10!
9%
10%
10%
11%
12%
13%
20%
23%
27%
56%
Photos on iOS
Twitter for Android
Vine - Make a Scene
Twitter Mobile Web
Camera on iOS
iOS
foursquare
Twitter for iPad
Instagram
Twitter for iPhone
% of Marketing Executives that published at least 1 tweet from this platform during the report period
11. Leadtail Your Online Marketing and B2B Social Marketing Experts!11!
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
5%
16%
16%
22%
63%
75%
Spotify
Paper.li
Twitter for Mac
Pinterest
Facebook
Buffer
HootSuite
TweetDeck
LinkedIn
Tweet Button
Twitter.com
% of Marketing Executives that published at least 1 tweet from this platform during the report period
What Drives Sharing on the Web?
Most of the tweets we analyzed that originated from the web come from two touch points:
Twitter’s web interface, and the distributed Tweet button.
12. What Types of Content Do They Share?
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Apps & Tools
3%
Social/User
Generated
Media
21%
Industry Media
32%
Mainstream
Media
44%
Mainstream media sites are the most commonly
shared – but that doesn’t mean it’s all celebrity
gossip and sports (though there is a fair amount
of that… we’re human after all!) The vast majority
of mainstream media content shared is business,
technology, and media focused – typically
covering broad industry issues and trends.
Industry media plays an important role in defining
the conversations marketers have with each
other, their internal teams, and ultimately clients
and customers. Many of these publications
feature submissions from marketing and PR
thought leaders and experts, and have robust
email and social media distribution that keeps
their content in front of senior marketers daily.
User generated content includes everything from
“of the moment” memes captured on Tumblr, to
behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram, to
YouTube videos featuring marketing guru Seth
Godin, and everything in between. % of 100 Most Popular Shared Content Sources
13. Mainstream Media Industry Specific User Generated
New York Times Mashable YouTube
Forbes TechCrunch Instagram
The Huffington Post Business Insider LinkedIn
BuzzFeed Advertising Age Twitter
Wall Street Journal Ad Week Facebook
Fast Company All Things D foursquare
HBR Blogs The Next Web Vine
USA Today Mediapost TwitPic
Inc. Digiday Pinterest
Wired VentureBeat SlideShare
What Are the Top Content Sources?
The table below shows the 10 most shared content sources in each category. These top sites
tend to be fairly stable over time, making them solid targets for PR and media programs to build
awareness with marketing decision makers.
13!
14. 26. THE NEXT WEB
27. MEDIAPOST
28. CNN
29. DIGIDAY
30. CNET NEWS
31. SLIDESHARE
32. VENTUREBEAT
33. VIMEO
34. WASHINGTON POST
35. THE VERGE
36. WSJ BLOGS
37. GUARDIAN UK
38. PAPER.LI
39. MEDIA BISTRO
40. AMAZON
41. THE ATLANTIC
42. PR DAILY
43. BLOOMBERG
44. NPR
45. SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY
46. BIZ JOURNALS
47. TUMBLR
48. ESPN
49. GOOGLE
50. HUBSPOT
51. REUTERS
52. EMARKETER
53. FASTCO DESIGN
54. BBC UK
55. ABC NEWS
56. LA TIMES
57. READ WRITE WEB
58. ENTREPRENEUR
59. GIGAOM
60. NYT BITS BLOG
61. SLATE
62. MARKETINGPROFS
63. BUSINESS 2 COMMUNITY
64. YOUTU.BE (SHARED)
65. ECONSULTANCY
66. SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER
67. BUSINESS WEEK
68. YFROG (TWITTER PICS)
69. THE ONION
70. FASTCO CREATE
71. CNN MONEY
72. GIZMODO
73. KICKSTARTER
74. CBS NEWS
75. YAHOO NEWS
76. LOCKERZ (TWITTER PICS)
77. PSFK
78. MARKETINGLAND
79. FASTCO EXIST
80. YAHOO FINANCE
81. SPOTIFY
82. SEARCH ENGINE WATCH
83. TED
84. PANDO DAILY
85. ITUNES
86. ZD NET
87. ALL FACEBOOK
88. GOOGLE PLUS
89. NY MAG
90. NYT MEDIA DECODER BLOG
91. SOCIAL MEDIA MKTG MAG
92. JEFF BULLAS
93. GAWKER
94. ENGADGET
95. CLICKZ
96. SOUNDCLOUD
97. GETGLUE
98. THE NEW YORKER
99. FLICKR
100. MARKETWATCH
1. YOUTUBE (ON SITE)
2. INSTAGRAM
3. LINKEDIN
4. TWITTER (PHOTOS)
5. MASHABLE
6. NEW YORK TIMES
7. FORBES
8. FACEBOOK
9. HUFFINGTON POST
10. FOURSQUARE
11. TECHCRUNCH
12. BUSINESS INSIDER
13. AD AGE
14. BUZZFEED
15. VINE
16. WALL ST JOURNAL
17. FAST COMPANY
18. AD WEEK
19. TWITPIC
20. PINTEREST
21. HBR BLOGS
22. USA TODAY
23. ALL THINGS D
24. INC
25. WIRED
The following are the top 100 Content Sources shared by senior marketers in Q1 2013, based
on the number of unique people from our set that shared the source during the report period.
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What Are the Most Shared Content Sources?
14!
15. Who Do Marketers Retweet the Most?
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There is persistent myth in social
media that content is retweeted
because the reader likes it.
While that is undoubtedly true
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 because it’s funny,
timely, provocative, or topical -
who gets retweeted is a reflection
of what people believe their own
audience will find relevant.
The word cloud to the right
shows the people that were
retweeted the most amongst
marketing executives in Q1 2013.
16. Who Did Marketers Mention the Most?
1. @BARACKOBAMA
2. @BEYONCE
3. @BRIANSOLIS
4. @JTIMBERLAKE
5. @JOWYANG
6. @TEDRUBIN
7. @JAYBAER
8. @CHRISBROGAN
9. @VALAAFSHAR
10. @MARKWSCHAEFER
11. @BRENNERMICHAEL
12. @ARMANO
13. @GARYVEE
14. @JEFFBULLAS
15. @GUYKAWASAKI
16. @SCOTTMONTY
17. @SHERYLSANDBERG
18. @EKATERINA
19. @PAMMKTGNUT
20. @PONTIFEX
21. @BRITOPIAN
22. @JACK
23. @SHELLYKRAMER
24. @SCOBLEIZER
25. @CKBURGESS
26. @CORYBOOKER
27. @GEOFFLIVING
28. @JUSTINBIEBER
29. @CC_CHAPMAN
30. @DMSCOTT
31. @GINIDIETRICH
32. @NICKKELLET
33. @KINGJAMES
34. @LENADUNHAM
35. @MITCHJOEL
36. @OPRAH
37. @SAMFIORELLA
38. @DUKEO
39. @LINKEDINEXPERT
40. @MACKLEMORE
41. @TONIA_RIES
42. @ARKARTHICK
43. @BRYANKRAMER
44. @DANNYSULLIVAN
45. @GLENGILMORE
46. @MARISMITH
47. @MEGHANMBIRO
48. @PROBLOGGER
49. @SHAQ
50. @SOCIALMOUTHS
51. @STEVERUBEL
52. @AARONSTROUT
53. @BERRIEPELSER
54. @CSPENN
55. @LEEODDEN
56. @DBERKOWITZ
57. @DINODOGAN
58. @ELONMUSK
59. @FLOTUS
60. @JKCALLAS
61. @KYLEPLACY
62. @LILACHBULLOCK
63. @MARGIECLAYMAN
64. @MIKE_ALLTON
65. @THISISSETHSBLOG
66. @ADAMKMIEC
67. @DANIELNEWMANUV
68. @DAVEKERPEN
69. @JASONFALLS
70. @MARCORUBIO
71. @MELISSAONLINE
72. @PRSARAHEVANS
73. @AMYVERNON
74. @ANDERSONCOOPER
75. @BRAVOANDY
76. @HEIDICOHEN
77. @JTSYRUP
78. @MARKRAGANCEO
79. @PETERSHANKMAN
80. @RHIANNA
81. @TAYLORSWIFT13
82. @UNMARKETING
83. @WITTLAKE
84. @ADAMBAIN
85. @ARIANNAHUFF
86. @DANIELSHARKOV
87. @DANIELZEEVI
88. @FRANK_STRONG
89. @IANCLEARY
90. @IANNARINO
91. @KOBEBRYANT
92. @MARGARETMOLLOY
93. @NEALSCHAFFER
94. @PIERSMORGAN
95. @ADAMLEVINE
96. @ANTDEROSA
97. @ASKAARONLEE
98. @JEFFREYHAYZLETT
99. @KENTHUFFMAN
100. @KIMGARST
Another measure of influence is how often a brand or person is mentioned on Twitter. Following
are the Top 100 PEOPLE mentioned by senior marketers in Q1 2013, based on the number of
marketers in our sample that mentioned the user during the report period.
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17. Which Brands Do Marketers Retweet Most?
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It’s not just individual people who
influence the conversation
amongst senior marketers on
Twitter.
Perhaps more than any other
group, marketers are open to
(and at times, expect!) brands to
engage them directly and
participate in a two way dialog.
And while marketers can be
harsh when a brand gets it
wrong, they are just as likely to
amplify examples of social media
done right by sharing examples
with their own network via
retweets.
The word cloud to the right
shows the brands that were
retweeted the most amongst
marketing executives in Q1 2013.
18. Which Brands Did Marketers Mention Most?
1. @MASHABLE
2. @FOURSQUARE
3. @WSJ
4. @YOUTUBE
5. @LINKEDIN
6. @TWITTER
7. @TECHCRUNCH
8. @NYTIMES
9. @SHARETHIS
10. @FASTCOMPANY
11. @FORBES
12. @HARVARDBIZ
13. @BUZZFEED
14. @ADAGE
15. @OREO
16. @HUFFINGTONPOST
17. @MEDIAPOST
18. @INC
19. @PINTEREST
20. @SXSW
21. @DIGIDAY
22. @KLOUT
23. @GOOGLE
24. @SAI
25. @USATODAY
26. @CNET
27. @ESPN
28. @STARBUCKS
29. @SLIDESHARE
30. @HUBSPOT
31. @MARKETINGPROFS
32. @BURGERKING
33. @ZITE
34. @ADWEEK
35. @AMERICANAIR
36. @BLOOMBERGNEWS
37. @CNN
38. @VENTUREBEAT
39. @INSTAGRAM
40. @KICKSTARTER
41. @TODAYSHOW
42. @B2COMMUNITY
43. @ECONSULTANCY
44. @ENTMAGAZINE
45. @GUARDIAN
46. @KETCHUMPR
47. @SMEXAMINER
48. @VINEAPP
49. @EDELMANDIGITAL
50. @FACEBOOK
51. @COPYBLOGGER
52. @EMARKETER
53. @JEEP
54. @JETBLUE
55. @FORTUNEMAGAZINE
56. @PEPSI
57. @DELTA
58. @FASTCOCREATE
59. @GIGAOM
60. @HUFFPOSTTECH
61. @TACOBELL
62. @VERGE
63. @WIRED
64. @REUTERS
65. @SALESFORCE
66. @YAHOO
67. @AUDI
68. @BW
69. @MARKETINGLAND
70. @SENGINELAND
71. @FASTCODESIGN
72. @GAWKER
73. @GIRLSHBO
74. @KRED
75. @NEWYORKER
76. @NPRNEWS
77. @PANDODAILY
78. @TARGET
79. @THEONION
80. @TIME
81. @8MANDATES
82. @AMAZON
83. @AP
84. @MLB
85. @MTV
86. @SOUTHWESTAIR
87. @49ERS
88. @BUDWEISER
89. @MAILBOX
90. @WHOLEFOODS
91. @WORDPRESSDOTCOM
92. @YAHOOFINANCE
93. @CLICKZ
94. @FORD
95. @HISTORY
96. @NETFLIX
97. @PSFK
98. @BUZZFEEDFOOD
99. @DUNKINDONUTS
100. @MARKETO
While some of the people on the Top 100 People list are approaching personal “brandom” – the
following are the Top 100 BRANDS mentioned by marketing execs, based on the number of
unique marketers in our sample that mentioned the user during the report period.
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19. Conclusions
Imagine if you could listen to the daily conversations of brand marketers and
agency executives? How would you use what you heard to better reach,
engage, and influence these marketing decision makers to take the actions you
care most about?
For example, would it provide you insights into where to advertise, what
content to create, who to build relationships with, and how best to develop and
implement your social media strategy? Sure it would.
We created the B2B Social Marketing Report: Marketing Executives on Twitter
to provide you with social media insights to help you make more informed
decisions for reaching, engaging, and influencing marketing decision makers.
And since the topics, content sources, and influencers are constantly changing
so, too, are the social media insights for marketing executives. With this in
mind, keep an eye out for our upcoming Q2 2013 report!
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20. About Leadtail
Leadtail is an agency 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, Alcatel-
Lucent, Symantec, Avaya, and Xerox PARC; and technology startups such as
Zuberance, Socialtext, and PunchTab.
Connect with us!
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@Leadtail, @BestB2BSocial
www.linkedin.com/companies/Leadtail
www.Leadtail.com/blog/
888.705.4777