How Top Brand Marketers Use Twitter

A Simply Measured Network Study - Q4 2013

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION | 01 KEY FINDINGS | 02 METHODOLOGY | 03 ACCOUNT COMPARISONS | 04 BRAND ACTIVITY | 04
58% of Top Brands Have Over 100,000 Followers on Twitter 78% of Top Brands Post Less Than 4 Tweets per Day

ENGAGEMENT | 07
Top Brands Average 43.1 Thousand Engagements per Month Audience Size Signicantly Affects Engagement Engagement per Tweet by Tweet Frequency Visual Content Is Key on Twitter Links in Tweets Drive Engagement Favorites and Retweets Make Up 91% of All Post Engagement Trended Brand Activity Over Q4 The Top 10 Brands Account for 60% of Engagement

FOLLOWER GROWTH | 13
Average Follower Growth Quarterly Follower Growth by Tweet Frequency Quarterly Follower Growth by Average Engagement per Tweet Two Retail Brands Account for More Twitter Engagement Than Any Other Industry

RESPONSES TO INBOUND TWEETS | 16 CONCLUSION | 16 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES | 17 ABOUT SIMPLY MEASURED

HOW TOP BRAND MARKETERS USE TWITTER: A SIMPLY MEASURED NETWORK STUDY - Q4 2013
This is the draw of the network known for its real-time action; a draw for both users and advertisers alike. Twitter keeps a massive user base engaged, and keeps them engaged regularly. The networks success which has been forefront since their IPO in November is widely due to their focus on, and enablement of, mobile activity. Over 76% of users on Twitter are active on mobile devices, and these users are 79% more likely than desktop users to be active on Twitter more than once a day. We took a look at the top brands in the world, as well as some of the fastest-growing brands, and examined the tactics theyve employed on the network. This study looks at what these leading brands are doing to reach engaged users, whether or not theyre nding success, and what we can learn from their strategy on the network.

KEY FINDINGS
92% of top brands Tweet at least once daily as audiences grow. Study shows Twitters maturity as a marketing and engagement platform. Top brands average 43,100 engagements per month. Over 36% of all brand Tweets contain links. As content marketing becomes increasingly important, and top brands are behaving more and more like media companies, Twitter is proving to be a critical distribution and engagement channel. Audiences this quarter grew by 20%. More and more consumers are opting into receiving brand messages. 98% of all top brands are active on Twitter. The social network has matured into a valuable and necessary channel for marketing organizations. The average Interbrand company Tweets 12 times per day. Top brands are all in when it comes to creating content, making a big investment in daily resources. Tweets that include photos and links receive 150% more engagement than brand averages. Visual content is effective on Twitter, driving more engagement on the content that brands post. 54% of Interbrand companies send less than one @reply per day. While top brands are dedicating resources to brand promotion, many arent engaging with users in a one-on-one capacity. 58% of these top brands have an audience of 100,000 or more. With audience sizes growing by an average of 20 percent throughout the quarter, these brands continue to reach new users.

129.3 brand tweets 12.7 million engagements 47.6 thousand links 52.7 thousand hashtags
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METHODOLOGY
This study analyzed the Twitter activity of two different sets of companies: The Interbrand 2013 Top 100 Brands and The Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America. The Interbrand 2013 Top 100 Brands ranks the worlds most valuable brands based on market, brand recognition, competitive, and nancial data. The Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America includes publicly-traded companies that are evaluated based on strong sales and earnings growth, and have an annual revenue of $5 million to $1 billion with a stock price of no lower than $5 a share. We chose to analyze the Interbrand 100 list because these are the best companies in the world at building and maintaining a brand and therefore we believe also exhibit a strong social media strategy and execution. This list is our report standard and has been the basis for our multiple studies analyzing their activity. For this study, we added the Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America as a way to compare and contrast the ndings from the analysis of the Interbrand 100 list. While learning from the very best has its benets, we realize that most companies dont have the resources, audience size or expertise that the Interbrand 100 companies have. We wanted to learn what companies that have less resources but perhaps similar ambitions are doing on Twitter. We used Simply Measured to track the Twitter activity of these 200 companies during the fourth quarter of 2013 (October 1st December 31st). Overall, we collected and analyzed 129.3 thousand brand tweets, 12.7 million engagements (@replies, mentions, Retweets, and favorites), 47.6 thousand links, and 52.7 thousand hashtags. Brand Tweets and engagement averages exclude brands that were inactive during the study period. Data used in this study comes from Simply Measureds industry-leading social media analytics and reporting platform. The ndings from this study are designed to better inform marketers on Twitter by highlighting successful tactics from the most engaging brands on the network.

ACCOUNT COMPARISONS
Account Comparisons
Interbrand 100
Total Tweets: 111,819 Average Tweets Per Day: 12 No. of Links: 47,638 No. of Hashtags: 52,741 No. of Brand Tweets (excludes @replies and RTs): 34,707* Average Brand Tweets per Day: 4* Average Brand Followers: 870,000 Average Monthly Engagement: 43,100

Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America

Total Tweets: 17,503 Average Tweets Per Day: 3 No. of Links: 11,312 No. of Hashtags: 10,473 No. of Brand Tweets (excludes @replies and RTs): 9,045* Average Brand Tweets per Day: 2* Total Brand Followers: 7,879 Average Monthly Engagement: 671

*Brand Tweets are Tweets published by a company that are not direct replies to specic users, or Retweets of other user content.

BRAND ACTIVITY
58% of Top Brands Have Over 100,000 Followers on Twitter
Follower Distribution of Top Brands
45%

% of Interbrand 100 Brands

40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

40%

Although 40% of top brands have less than 100K followers, the average followers for all accounts is just over 870K.
17% 17% 8% 3%
0-99k 100-249k 250-499k 500-749k 750-999k 1m+

13%

Account Followers

Of the Interbrand 100 Companies on Twitter, 58% have an audience that exceeds 100,000+ followers. 17% of top brands cater to a Twitter audience of over 1 million followers. Whats most surprising about this is that 40% of these top brands still havent leveraged their recognizable brand to crack 100,000 followers. As youll see below, these low volume accounts see exponentially less engagement.

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Forbes Small Companies Comparison

Growing Companies See the Value of Twitter Early On

17% 9% have 10K+ Followers 3% have 50K+ Followers

of Forbes Companies have 5K+ Followers

Twitters not just for giant international corporations. While top brands nd a unique connection with their audience, growing companies of all sizes have found ways to interact, engage, and grow their presence on the social network. 17% of these small companies have 5,000 or more followers. While not overly impressive next to the Interbrand audience (which is 85.3 million in total), these numbers demonstrate a dedication to social and Twitter specically that we havent seen to date. In fact, 3% of these up-and-coming companies have already connected with over 50,000 followers.

78% of Top Brands Post Less Than 4 Tweets per Day

Daily Tweet Frequency of Top Brands (All Tweets)
60% 50%

56% 42% 34%

% of Interbrand 100

% of Forbes 100

% of Brands

40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

0 Tweets

The majority of brands average at most ten Tweets per day. This includes @replies and Retweets.
19% 9% 2%
11-15 Tweets

8%

6%
1-5 Tweets 6-10 Tweets

11% 1%
16-20 Tweets

4%

1%

7% 0%
25+ Tweets

21-25 Tweets

Total Sent Tweets Per Day

Regardless of industry, brand marketers see the value in Twitter. Of the Interbrand Top 100 Brands, 98% have Tweeted at least once during the last quarter. Thats an impressive gure, but even more so is the fact that 92% of those companies Tweeted more than once a day during Q4 2013. The majority of brands (42%) Tweet 1-5 times per day. This number includes all Retweets and @replies. Only 7% of the brands on the Interbrand list Tweet more than 25 times per day.

Forbes List Comparison

56% of Companies Dont Tweet on a Daily Basis.

Forbes 100 Best Small Companies Tweets on a Daily Basis

64%
Tweet at least once a quarter from their account

56%
Average less than one Tweet per day

44%
Average more than one Tweet per day

4%
Average more than ten Tweets per day

Lesson for Marketers: Its important to note that the majority of the high-volume Interbrand accounts are Tweeting @replies and engaging with their audience on a 1-on-1 basis. Smaller brands with less inbound activity dont have a need for that volume of outbound Tweets, but can certainly be more responsive to mentions and retweets.

ENGAGEMENT
Top Brands Average 43.1 Thousand Engagements per Month
Average Monthly Engagement by Account Size
AVG Monthly Engagement
180K

Follower Distribution
160.8K
45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0
1m+

AVG Monthly Engagement

160K 140K 120K 100K 80K 60K 40K 20K 0

40% 112.6K

17% 15.7K

62.8K 13%

61.8K 8%
500-749K

17%

6,243
0-99K

3%
750-999K

100-249K

250-499K

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

Account Followers

Engagement on Twitter is calculated by adding the total number of: @Replies: Direct responses to Tweets. A direct response begins with the Twitter handle of the account being replied to (example: @SimplyMeasured Thanks for the information!). Mentions: Responses that include the brands Twitter handle, but dont begin with the @handle, making it public for the users audience (example: Just read the new @SimplyMeasured report. Really interesting!) Retweets: An action involving Twitters built-in Retweet button which allows a user to share someone elses Tweet with their own followers. Favorites: A passive form of engagement similar to liking a Facebook post. Tweets that a user has favorited are available to view in a tab on the users prole. For the entire collection of Interbrand companies, there were over 12.7 million total engagements during Q4 2014, and brands averaged 43.1 thousand engagements each month. This average, however, is deceiving: The top 20% of brands (by size) accounted for over 2.3 million monthly engagements, while the other 80% accounted for just over 1.8 million, meaning that the top 20% drive 56% of all engagement. Brands with under 100 thousand followers average only 6,243 engagements per month.

% of Interbrand 100 Brands

Audience Size Significantly Affects Engagement

Engagement per Tweet by Audience Size
350

Average Engagement per Tweet

300 250 200 150 100 50 0

0-99K 100-249K 250-499K 500-749K

289 232

94 43 16
750-999K 1m+

49

Account Followers
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

We calculate Engagement per Tweet by excluding direct @replies and Retweets that the brand posts, to ensure that were calculating these gures based on their own content. The 40% of brands with under 100k followers average only 16 engagements per Tweet, while the top performing brands have between 750-999k followers, and average 289 engagements per tweet.

Engagement per Tweet by Tweet Frequency

It would appear that posting under two Brand Tweets (Tweets that arent @replies or Retweets) a day is the key to higher engagement per Tweet, but engagement per Tweet isnt the goal of interaction on Twitter. If it was, wed see more brands posting one killer give-away each month, and then ignoring the network for the remainder of the month. Example: If posting 1-2 Tweets per day averages 212 engagements per Tweet, a brands daily average engagement on brand Tweets is only 424 a day. On the ip side, brands who post 5-6 times per day average 105 engagements per Tweet, which results in 525-630 engagements on brand Tweets each day.
Lesson for Marketers: Grow your audience. Since engagement per tweet as well as total engagement are highly affected by audience size, you should focus at least some of your time and budget on growing your audience.

Visual Content Is Key on Twitter

Engagement per Tweet by Link Type
250

Average Engagement per Tweet

210
200

150

125 94 68 48 27 49 72

100

50

0
om .co .co e.c r.c o r.c o bi e.c vin t.c pi nt er es om t.ly m m o m m tu m bl

tte

ub

ra

wi

ut

ag

c.t

yo

st

pi

in

Link Type
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

Twitter is known for content sharing, and top brands are no exception. Looking at some of the top link types, its no surprise that the highest performing links are pic.twitter.com links, which is Twitters image service, and allows photos to display directly in a users Twitter feed. Pic.twitter.com links average 210 engagements per Tweet. The next highest performing types are Tumblr.com and Pinterest.com, followed by another Twitter property, Vine.co. Visual content performs well on any network, and with Tumblr, certain types of images are supported by Twitter cards and are natively displayed. Pinterest, on the other hand, is a surprising leader, considering the visual assets dont display directly in Tweets. Bit.ly links are one of the most common link types, and a default option with Twitter management software like Tweetdeck. The links however, which show no indication of what to expect, are some of the lowest performing links we see large brands using.

11 9

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bo

ok

Links in Tweets Drive Engagement

Links in Tweets Drive Engagement
Post Engagement (replies & retweets)

Brand Tweets
30K 25K 20K 15K 10K 5,000 0
No link

Performance Compared to Brand Engagement Average

200%

150%

150%

79%

98%

100%

50%

0%
1 link 2 or more links

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

For brands, Tweeting with links seems to pay off, while Tweets without links underperform the brands average engagement (excluding @Replies and Retweets). Tweeting with one link is the most common practice for brands, and therefore sets a brands per-post engagement average. Why? This ties back into the pic.twitter.com engagement rate we saw above. On Twitter, brand marketers have started posting pictures with links in the Tweet copy. This allows them to capitalize with space and catch more eyes, but still drive viewers to their off-Twitter content. Since these pictures also show a link, the Tweet copy has two links in it. There were over 3,900 Tweets with two or more links during our study period, and 73% of these contained pic.twitter.com images. Many brands Tweet almost exclusively with links. eBay, Amazon, Google, and Disney are brands among the Top 10 who post Tweets with links over 95% of the time. Its no surprise that the majority of posts contain links, as Twitter is a network known for content syndication. Tweets containing two or more links saw 150% of the brands average engagement. This is why Tweets without links underperform; users dont get what they expect from a brand that they follow.
Lesson for Marketers: Tweeting with pictures can help your brand see more exposure, and if you include a link alongside the image, your potential visibility is much higher than average.

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Favorites and Retweets Make Up 91% of All Post Engagement

Sent Tweets by Type
Brand Tweets Retweets Replies

Engagement with Brand Tweets

Retweets Replies Favorites

31% 61% 7% 9% 47% 44%

Among Interbrand companies, @replies make up 61% of all Sent Tweets (Tweets posted from the brand handle). Brand Tweets (Tweets posted from the brand handle that are neither replies or Retweets) make up nearly 1/3 of brand activity, and Retweets account for only 7% of activity. Top brands @replied to 68,000 mentions during the 3-month period, but this was less than 1% of their inbound Tweets, which add up to over 93 million mentions. Half of those @replies are from Pizza Hut, so the percentage of replied Tweet from remaining brands is even lower. Engagement on branded Tweets comes mainly in the form of favorites and Retweets. Since Favorites are a passive form of engagement (meaning they dont amplify your message or create a conversation with a user), lets exclude those for a second. Without Favorites, 84% of engagement on Brand Tweets comes in the form of Retweets.
Lesson for Marketers: This is one of the biggest draws of Twitter. Retweets amplify companys message in a way that other forms of engagement dont. During our study of the Interbrand 100 on Facebook, we found that nearly 90% of engagement came in the form of likes and that shares accounted for less than 10%. The even split between Retweets and favorites should be appealing to marketers.

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Trended Brand Activity Over Q4

Trended Brand Activity & Engagement with Tweets
Post Engagement (replies & Retweets) 400k 350k 300k 250k 200k 150k 100k 50k 0
10 /1 2/ 13 10 /1 9/ 13 10 /2 6/ 13 11 /1 6/ 13 11 /2 3/ 13 12 /1 4/ 13 12 /2 1/ 13 11 /3 0/ 13 12 /2 8/ 13 10 /5 /1 3 11 /2 /1 3 11 /9 /1 3 12 /7 /1 3

Regular Tweets

Post Engagement

3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

A driving factor in the high level of engagement that retail brands saw is the time of year this study was conducted. The fourth quarter is an internet retailers dream, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas driving more and more shoppers to interact, mainly with retailers like Amazon and eBay, but other top brands are quick to get involved and capitalize on the consumer trafc that is heavier during those peak times.

The Top 10 Brands Account for 60% of Engagement

Twitter Account Details: 3 Months Totals
Account Name @eBay @MTV @amazon @Starbucks @McDonalds @NintendoAmerica @pizzahut @google @Disney @nokia Total Engagement 1,651,877 1,392,274 1,161,673 985,500 493,488 387,894 383,985 369,384 365,896 300,862 Total Followers 295,596 10,284,879 882,550 5,527,769 2,077,556 562,532 673,808 7,798,946 3,427,949 1,164,052 Total Tweets 1,652 3,981 272 1,179 2,087 608 34,029 424 139 2,515 @Replies Tweeted 5 1,269 4 1,014 1,137 6 33,659 15 1 1,782 Tweets w/Links 99% 58% 97% 15% 36% 65% 8% 97% 95% 39% Industry Retail Media Retail Restaurants Restaurants Electronics Restaurants Technology Media Electronics

The top 10 brands (by engagement) from the Interbrand 100 companies account for 60% of the lists engagement, even though they only account for 38% of the total audience. These top ten brands averaged 1562 Tweets each month, over 4x as many as the average of 380 for the entire list.

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Lesson for Marketers: While there may be an inclination to do the bare minimum on Twitter and your audience may not rival that of a McDonalds or Starbucks it should be noted that aside from Disney and Amazon, every company on the list Tweets more than the list average. Pizza Hit sent 33,659 @replies during the three month period. This level of involvement has helped them become one of the most engaged brands on the list.

FOLLOWER GROWTH
Average Follower Growth
Quarterly Follower Growth by Audience Size
25%

23% 18%

Follower Growth Rate

21% 18%

20% 15% 10% 5% 0

19% 14%

0-99k

100-249k

250-499k

500-749k

750-999k

1m+

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

Account Followers

Overall, the average brand follower growth is 20%. The average follower growth varies by size of company, but not by much. This is promising for companies planning a long-term Twitter initiative. Not only are new, growth-stage companies seeing strong growth rates. Established brands are as well. For brands with under 1 million followers, the expected quarterly growth rate is between 1823%. Brands with over 1 million followers only see understandably a 14% growth rate during a quarter.

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Quarterly Follower Growth by Tweet Frequency

Quarterly Follower Growth by Audience Size
Follower Growth Rate
30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0
0 Tweets 1-2 Tweets 3-4 Tweets 5-6 Tweets 7-8 Tweets 9-10 Tweets 10+Tweets *Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

24% 20% 15% 11% 13% 9% 19%

Tweets per Day

Brands who Tweet between 7-10 times per day saw a higher follower growth rate than most other brands, but this isnt necessarily indicative of a sweet spot. The sporadic distribution of follower growth suggests a low correlation between Tweet frequency and follower growth.

Quarterly Follower Growth by Average Engagement per Tweet

Quarterly Follower Growth by Average Engagement per Tweet
30%

26% 19% 14% 16% 11% 13%

Follower Growth Rate

25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0

0-24 24-49 50-99 100-149 150-199 200+

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

Average Engagement per Tweet

Not surprisingly, the brands who average the highest engagement-per-Tweet, also average the highest growth rate, at 26%. These brands also generally have an audience of 750k+.

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Two Retail Brands Account for More Twitter Engagement Than Any Other Industry
Top 10 Industries by Engagement
3.0M 2.5M 2.0M 1.5M 1.0M

Total Engagement

Number of Brands

16 14

14 11 11

12 10 8

6 4 4 2

4 2 0

500k 0

ive

es

cs

ia

il

ta

og

ur

nt

ed

ni

vic

ge

Re

ra

Lu x

ol

tro

ra

Te ch n

to

ec

lS

st

Au

Re

El

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

While only two retail brands are included in the Interbrand collection, its not surprising that they account for such a high level of engagement. eBay and Amazon, who are already internet giants, tallied 1,651,877 and 1,161,673 engagements respectively during Q4 2013. Restaurants, media, and technology companies were other top performing industries among Interbrand companies.
Lesson for Marketers: An interesting facet of this list is the diversity of top industries on the network. For contrast, our study of the Interbrand companies on Instagram revealed that automotive, media, and luxury brands proved to be the most successful, taking advantage of the opportunity to showcase their visually focused ad collateral. On Twitter, this visual focus isnt necessary, and any brand with something to say can nd the right audience to say it to.

15

Fi

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Be

ve

Ap

au

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Number of Brands

Total Engagement

RESPONSES TO INBOUND TWEETS

Brand Habits for Responding to Individual Users
Brands Habits for Responding to Individual Users
100%

% of Interbrand 100 Brands

89%

80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reply Avg less than 1 reply per day Dont reply

54%

9%

*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013

Only 9% of Interbrand companies on Twitter ignore user Tweets. While 54% reply to less than one Tweet a day, 89% of these companies do reply to Tweets, however sparse their replies may be.

CONCLUSION
As Twitter continues to grow, and see record activity, brand marketers are focusing more and more attention on their audience engagement across the network. While 98% of Interbrand companies have invested in the network, several of the growing brands from the Forbes list havent. While growing an audience on Twitter and regularly engaging requires time, patience, and work; theres an established value to doing so. The example from the successful Interbrand companies speaks to the importance of a dedicated presence. While over-Tweeting has a diminishing return on audience growth and engagement, there is a happy minimum for each brand, and an opportunity to make a big splash in a big pond.

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://www.forbes.com/best-small-companies http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/Best-Global-Brands-2013.aspx https://about.twitter.com/company https://blog.twitter.com/2013/new-compete-study-primary-mobile-users-on-twitter http://simplymeasured.com/ http://simplymeasured.com/blog/category/studies/ http://simplymeasured.com/blog/2013/07/23/facebook-study/

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ABOUT SIMPLY MEASURED

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