As Twitter continues to grow, and see record activity, brand marketers are focusing more and more attention on their audience engagement across the network. As Twitter continues to grow, and see record activity, brand marketers are focusing more and more attention on their audience engagement across the network.

1. How Top Brand
Marketers Use Twitter
A Simply Measured Network Study - Q4 2013

2. 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 Significantly 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

3. HOW TOP BRAND MARKETERS USE TWITTER:
A SIMPLY MEASURED NETWORK STUDY - Q4 2013
Twitter’s 230 million monthly active users post over 500 million Tweets per day. 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 network’s 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 they’ve employed on the network. This study looks at what these
leading brands are doing to reach engaged users, whether or not they’re finding success, and
what we can learn from their strategy on the network.
1

4. KEY FINDINGS
• 92% of top brands Tweet at least once daily as audiences grow.
• Study shows Twitter’s 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 aren’t 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.
129,300 brand tweets
12.7 million engagements
47,600 links
52,700 hashtags
2

5. 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 world’s most valuable brands based on market,
brand recognition, competitive, and financial 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 findings from the analysis of the Interbrand 100 list. While learning
from the very best has its benefits, we realize that most companies don’t 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 Measured’s industry-leading social media analytics
and reporting platform. The findings from this study are designed to better inform marketers on
Twitter by highlighting successful tactics from the most engaging brands on the network.
3

6. ACCOUNT COMPARISONS
Account Comparisons
Interbrand 100
Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America
Total Tweets: 111,819
Total Tweets: 17,503
Average Tweets Per Day: 12
Average Tweets Per Day: 3
No. of Links: 47,638
No. of Links: 11,312
No. of Hashtags: 52,741
No. of Hashtags: 10,473
No. of Brand Tweets (excludes @replies and RTs): 34,707*
No. of Brand Tweets (excludes @replies and RTs): 9,045*
Average Brand Tweets per Day: 4*
Average Brand Tweets per Day: 2*
Average Brand Followers: 870,000
Total Brand Followers: 7,879
Average Monthly Engagement: 43,100
Average Monthly Engagement: 671
*Brand Tweets are Tweets published by a company that are not direct replies to specific 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
% of Interbrand 100 Brands
45%
40%
40%
Although 40% of top brands have less than 100K followers,
the average followers for all accounts is just over 870K.
35%
30%
25%
17%
20%
15%
17%
13%
8%
10%
3%
5%
0%
0-99k
100-249k
250-499k
500-749k
750-999k
1m+
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.
What’s most surprising about this is that 40% of these top brands still haven’t leveraged their
recognizable brand to crack 100,000 followers. As you’ll see below, these low volume accounts
see exponentially less engagement.
4
6

7. 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
Twitter’s not just for giant international corporations. While top brands find 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 specifically – that we haven’t seen to date. In fact, 3% of
these up-and-coming companies have already connected with over 50,000 followers.
5

8. 78% of Top Brands Post Less Than 15 Tweets per Day
Daily Tweet Frequency of Top Brands (All Tweets)
50%
% of Brands
% of Interbrand 100
56%
60%
42%
30%
19%
20%
10%
The majority of brands average at most ten Tweets per day.
This includes @replies and Retweets.
34%
40%
% of Forbes 100
8%
6%
11%
9%
2%
1%
4%
1%
7%
0%
0%
0 Tweets
1-5 Tweets
6-10 Tweets
11-15 Tweets
16-20 Tweets
21-25 Tweets
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. That’s an impressive figure,
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 Don’t 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: It’s 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 don’t have a need for that volume of outbound Tweets, but
can certainly be more responsive to mentions and retweets.
6

9. ENGAGEMENT
Top Brands Average 43.1 Thousand Engagements per Month
Average Monthly Engagement by Account Size
Follower Distribution
AVG Monthly Engagement
180K
160K
45%
160.8K
40%
40%
140K
112.6K
120K
100K
30%
25%
80K
17%
60K
40K
20K
35%
6,243
15.7K
62.8K
13%
61.8K
8%
17%
20%
15%
10%
5%
3%
0
% of Interbrand 100 Brands
AVG Monthly Engagement
0
0-99K
100-249K
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013
250-499K
500-749K
750-999K
1m+
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 brand’s Twitter handle, but don’t begin with
the @handle, making it public for the user’s audience (example: Just
read the new @SimplyMeasured report. Really interesting!)
Retweets: An action involving Twitter’s built-in “Retweet” button which allows
a user to share someone else’s 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 user’s profile.
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.
7

10. Audience Size Significantly Affects Engagement
Engagement per Tweet by Audience Size
Average Engagement per Tweet
350
289
300
232
250
200
150
94
100
50
43
49
16
0
0-99K
100-249K
250-499K
500-749K
750-999K
1m+
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 we’re calculating these figures 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 aren’t @replies or Retweets)
a day is the key to higher engagement per Tweet, but engagement per Tweet isn’t the goal of
interaction on Twitter. If it was, we’d 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 brand’s daily
average engagement on brand Tweets is only 424 a day. On the flip 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.
8

11. Visual Content Is Key on Twitter
Engagement per Tweet by Link Type
Average Engagement per Tweet
250
210
200
150
125
94
100
72
68
48
50
49
27
om
m
o
t.c
r.c
o
pi
nt
er
es
bl
m
tu
ce
fa
e.c
.co
ok
bo
ra
ag
st
in
vin
m
m
m
e.c
ub
yo
ut
wi
c.t
pi
.co
om
t.ly
bi
tte
r.c
o
m
0
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, it’s no surprise that the highest performing links are pic.twitter.com links, which is
Twitter’s image service, and allows photos to display directly in a user’s 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 don’t 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.
9
11

12. Links in Tweets Drive Engagement
Post Engagement (replies & retweets)
Links in Tweets Drive Engagement
Brand Tweets
Performance Compared to Brand Engagement Average
30K
200%
25K
150%
20K
15K
10K
79%
150%
100%
98%
50%
5,000
0
0%
No link
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
brand’s average engagement (excluding @Replies and Retweets). Tweeting with one link is the
most common practice for brands, and therefore sets a brand’s 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.
It’s 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 brand’s average engagement. This is why
Tweets without links underperform; users don’t 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.
10

13. Favorites and Retweets Make Up 91% of All Post Engagement
Sent Tweets by Type
Brand Tweets
Retweets
Engagement with Brand Tweets
Replies
Retweets
Replies
Favorites
31%
47%
61%
44%
7%
9%
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 don’t amplify your message
or create a conversation with a user), let’s 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
company’s message in a way that other forms of engagement don’t. 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.
11

14. Trended Brand Activity Over Q4
Post Engagement (replies & Retweets)
Trended Brand Activity & Engagement with Tweets
Regular Tweets
400k
3,500
Post Engagement
350k
3,000
300k
2,500
250k
2,000
200k
1,500
150k
1,000
100k
12
/2
8/
13
12
/2
1/
13
12
/1
4/
13
12
/7
/1
3
11
/3
0/
13
11
/2
3/
13
11
/1
6/
13
11
/9
/1
3
11
/2
/1
3
10
/2
6/
13
0
10
/1
9/
13
0
10
/1
2/
13
500
10
/5
/1
3
50k
*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 retailer’s 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
traffic that is heavier during those peak times.
The Top 10 Brands Account for 60% of Engagement
Twitter Account Details: 3 Months Totals
Account Name
Total Engagement
Total Followers
Total Tweets
@Replies Tweeted
Tweets w/Links
Industry
@eBay
1,651,877
295,596
1,652
5
99%
Retail
@MTV
1,392,274
10,284,879
3,981
1,269
58%
Media
@amazon
1,161,673
882,550
272
4
97%
Retail
@Starbucks
985,500
5,527,769
1,179
1,014
15%
Restaurants
@McDonalds
493,488
2,077,556
2,087
1,137
36%
Restaurants
@NintendoAmerica
387,894
562,532
608
6
65%
Electronics
@pizzahut
383,985
673,808
34,029
33,659
8%
Restaurants
@google
369,384
7,798,946
424
15
97%
Technology
@Disney
365,896
3,427,949
139
1
95%
Media
@nokia
300,862
1,164,052
2,515
1,782
39%
Electronics
The top 10 brands (by engagement) from the Interbrand 100 companies account for 60% of
the list’s 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.
12

15. 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 Hut 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
23%
Follower Growth Rate
25%
20%
21%
18%
18%
19%
14%
15%
10%
5%
0
0-99k
100-249k
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013
250-499k
500-749k
750-999k
1m+
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.
13

16. Quarterly Follower Growth by Tweet Frequency
Follower Growth Rate
Quarterly Follower Growth by Audience Size
30%
24%
25%
20%
20%
15%
19%
15%
13%
11%
9%
10%
5%
0
0 Tweets
1-2 Tweets
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013
5-6 Tweets
3-4 Tweets
7-8 Tweets
9-10 Tweets
10+Tweets
Tweets per Day
Brands who Tweet between 7-10 times per day saw a higher follower growth rate than most
other brands, but this isn’t 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
Follower Growth Rate
30%
26%
25%
20%
19%
14%
15%
16%
13%
11%
10%
5%
0
0-24
24-49
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013
50-99
100-149
150-199
200+
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+.
14

17. Two Retail Brands Account for More Twitter Engagement
Than Any Other Industry
Top 10 Industries by Engagement
Total Engagement
16
14
2.5M
Total Engagement
Number of Brands
14
11
2.0M
12
11
10
8
1.5M
4
500k
6
6
1.0M
5
4
4
4
2
Number of Brands
3.0M
4
2
*Data for Interbrand 100 Brand accounts during Q4 2013
l
re
pa
Ap
ge
ra
ve
Be
vic
er
lS
Fi
na
nc
ia
s
es
y
ur
Lu
x
tro
ec
El
ot
m
to
Au
ni
ive
y
og
ol
Te
ch
n
ia
ed
nt
ra
au
Re
st
M
il
ta
Re
cs
0
s
0
While only two retail brands are included in the Interbrand collection, it’s 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
isn’t necessary, and any brand with something to say can find the right audience to say it to.
15

18. RESPONSES TO INBOUND TWEETS
Brand Habits for Responding to Individual Users
Brands Habits for Responding to Individual Users
% of Interbrand 100 Brands
100%
89%
80%
54%
60%
40%
20%
9%
0%
Reply
Avg less than 1 reply per day
Don’t reply
*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 haven’t.
While growing an audience on Twitter and regularly engaging requires time, patience, and work;
there’s 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.
16

19. 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/
17

20. ABOUT SIMPLY MEASURED
Simply Measured is a fast-growing team of data geeks dedicated to making
the world of analytics and reporting a better, more beautiful place.
Our goal is to put the tools to understand business data in the hands
of business users. We think reporting should be simple, beautiful, and
accessible for everyone – not just data scientists. Our software streamlines
the process from data to deliverables and eliminates the countless hours
spent on everyday reporting tasks. We do this by putting cloud data sources
at your fingertips, providing a marketplace of best practice reports, and
generating beautiful deliverables on the web, in Excel, and in PowerPoint
with a couple of clicks.
Want to try Simply Measured?
Request a Free 14 Day Trial
Copyright © 2010–2014 Simply Measured, Inc. All Rights Reserved.