Courtney Kehl:
Hi all. We are excited to be covering Twitter in the landscape. What this means for B2B marketers. So we’re just gonna dive right in. Have a brief overview of all the different changes that have been taking place as of recently. Obviously there’s been a lot Twitter is in the news morning, noon and night, so it’s hard to keep up.

But we’d like to just touch on that briefly. And what does this mean for you as a social media marketer for your b2b motions and then also the predictions as we are going into 2023? It’s that time of year for us to start putting our pens to paper and getting our plans in place.

Mm-hmm. So I’d like to introduce well, first myself, I’m Courtney. I oversee Expert Marketing Advisors. Try to stay outta the way the, the team as a whole. And then of course, Alexis, she is our social media expert. Alexis, go ahead and say hi.

Alexis Perez:
Hi everyone. I’m so, I’m Alexis Perez. I am the social media expert at Expert Marketing Advisors. And I am based out of Orlando.

Courtney Kehl:
Alexis has been moving the needle for I can’t even tell you how many different folks over this last two, two and a half years seen massive conversions and just incredible uptick across followers of all different platforms. There are different certifications that are applicable to the social media arena as a whole.

So just wanted to touch on those. Of course, Hootsuite, those are kind of, that’s kind of one of the legacy platforms to help manage different channels, sprout social. We also are a big fan of, we’re, are partners with And then kind of what I would consider Hootsuite on steroids. And then of course, we all know LinkedIn and HubSpot as well, we’re partners with.

And we just more recently received an award for being one of the best social media marketing agencies here in our local Bay Area. So with that, let’s go ahead and talk about what has been happening as of lately. Obviously there was a Twitter takeover, so with all of that craziness Alexis, maybe you can walk us through all of the various moments.

Alexis Perez:
Yeah. So at the end of October you have Elon Musk officially taking ownership of Twitter. And this is where it really all starts to kind of accumulate. You know, you have people, you have rumblings of layoffs you know, top level executives are ousted. And then by the next week, half of Twitter’s employees are.

So you have people wondering, well, what does this mean for the future of Twitter? On November 9th, you have the Twitter blue verification subscription that was previously announced, and that launches and creates a lot of controversy for the platform because you have people taking, essentially what Twitter Blue Verification is.

It is, is subscription platform that now allows you to pay $8 a month for that coveted blue Twitter check. And what people are doing with this are using it to impersonate companies and public figure. And so let me ask, was this

Courtney Kehl:
Just as I’m kind of getting my head around it, is this also because there were a lot of Twitter accounts that were not being utilized or ones that were kind of like these fake accounts.

So this was also maybe an attempt to kind of get those, those ones to bubble out or to, to filter out, or maybe I’m reading too far into it.

Alexis Perez:
I think what this was, was a chance to grow the Twitter platform from the from the monetary side of things. I am, I think that was what his intention was with these subscriptions.

Mm-hmm. And then we quickly learned that this is not a viable service. So it’s paused only two days later. Then immediately after that you have Twitter firing 80% of contract employees. So at this point it’s like, well, what’s happening? Is this a platform that we want to keep doing marketing on?

So amidst all of this, we have advertisers cutting their spend. We have big figures leaving the platform. And then on the 16th of November, of course, Musk issues in the hard work ultimatum to the remaining employee. He says, you can stay, you can work long hours, or you can take a severance package.

And the majority of employees do, they reject the ultimatum and they leave the. So there’s a lot of controversy around Twitter at this point. I’m sure you’ve all seen it in the news and on your social media feeds. And then at the height of this Donald Trump, former President Donald Trump’s account is reinstated which harkens in a new era, I think, of suspended accounts coming back onto the platform that were previously banned for bad behavior.

You know, being controversial. And Musk announces a general amnesty for these suspended accounts, which confirms what people were previously saying about, you know, the moderation on the platform kind of loosening. And these previously suspended accounts taking over and making the platform a bit more, I wanna say, not as viable for Advertis.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, it’s definitely been interesting in that regard. Because I, I think as we were discussing this whole area you know, also from an advertiser or brand point of view, there’s con, I I would say there’s concerns that, you know, you might have your brand next to some potentially controversial moments that are in the feed, so to speak.

We’re treading in some unknown water for sure. For sure. It’s been entertaining though, I will say from the sidelines. Okay. And then I, but the Apple piece here, I actually wasn’t even aware of that component. And I also think some of the employees are now kind of file filing a class action lawsuit on a, on account of the, sort of the whiplash that they’re are experiencing.

Interesting. Okay. So with all of this you know, I mean, it, it’s, it running a business is never easy. There’s always gonna be some changes taking place at any given day. This one has a ton of eyeballs on it. I think a lot of folks are also watching to see what this means for their own go.

Mm-hmm. Going forward, if they were. Make some mass changes of their own. But what does this mean for us as individual marketers and, you know, as we navigate our own social media presence. And so with that, let’s dive into what, what we’re thinking and what we’ve been seeing.

Alexis Perez:
Yeah. So with these recent changes and Twitter kind of being in the conversation about a viable marketing platform, people are kind of looking at Twitter and saying, well, was it really ever a good place for B2B marketers?

So we have a couple statistics appear. About 82% of B2B marketers are using Twitter to promote their products or service. Five 59% of businesses are using it as a digital marketing tool. And then on the flip side, you have 33% of Twitter users. They use their accounts to follow these brands and companies.

And 54% report taking action after seeing a brand mentioned on Twitter. And these last two aren’t all b2b. There’s a lot of B2C in there too, which is I think what really thrives on Twitter. If you look at it in comparison to platforms like LinkedIn, which is on the next slide you’ll see that this is kind of not a fair, not a matched comparison, right?

When you look at how LinkedIn performs versus Twitter, You’ll see that 80% of all B2B leads are coming from LinkedIn versus about 13% on Twitter. And that’s a huge gap that people are noticing and saying, well, if we’re putting all this effort into Twitter, why aren’t we seeing the results that a platform like LinkedIn can deliver us?
For example, Twitter’s visitor to lead conversion rate is about three times lower than LinkedIn’s. 38% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is generating revenue versus 13% for Twitter. So all these different factors when you compare it to other, I call them legacy kind of B2B social media platforms it makes the question, was Twitter ever really, you know, doing something for us in the first place is it really worth keeping on as a social media platform that we should be focusing our efforts?

Yeah,

Courtney Kehl:
Those are all really great points. I mean, we’ve been at this for, we’re, we’re rounding on six years and then of course the team as a whole is plenty of years of experience before that. And we’ve always looked at LinkedIn, as you know, that’s where your decision makers are. It’s a professional platform and then Twitter is secondary as far as your influencers.

And more and more each year. We kind of leave that to the wayside. But. Definitely a channel that we, we still pay attention to in that regard. Just as a voice as a whole for your brand. However, I will say we see tremendous conversion. I will, I would be one of those 38 percenters that’s a LinkedIn is generating revenue.

And it just, for us as an in, as an individual company, we do. 35 to 40% new business through LinkedIn as a whole. It is, it is an an avenue that we do not we don’t ignore. It is a great channel for us.

Alexis Perez:
Great.

Courtney Kehl:
Absolutely. So what does this mean for Twitter as a whole and, you know, is it worth it?

Do we just abandon it or, or should we at least give some energy and effort there? The pros and the cons. Let’s go.

Alexis Perez:
So I was recently asked by a customer is, you know, with all this controversy surrounding Twitter, is it, should we keep it? You know, let me know your thoughts. And this is what I replied to them.

I said, there’s a case for keeping Twitter and there’s a case against it. Ultimately when you have a company, you want to be present on social media platforms. I don’t see being present on any social media platform as a. In fact the research shows that 85% of users are clicking through to a company’s social media profile before they visit their website.

So having that active brand presence really helps up your social currency. It keeps your brand relevant and it really acts as a footprint kind of to your growth as a company. And then the case against keeping Twitter is mostly to do with these recent changes in this uncertainty with advertisers pausing or cutting their ads spend completely.

People kind of wondering if there are platform security concerns with all the layoffs security breaches. And you know, in general people just see they’re seeing very little ROI for their B2B effort. Especially when it comes to lead conversions and or lead generation and conversions. And they’re seeing a negative growth growth despite these large time investments.

Investments,

Courtney Kehl:
It’s sort of input versus output in where you wanna put your time and energy. This year, more than ever, we always hear it. Every sort of q4, November and December we’re, it’s kind of rinse and repeat. We always hear folks saying, I, I’m being asked to do more with less. This year it’s definitely with a, a lot more sort of emphasis, we have to do more with less.

So it is a, a bit of a you know, time constraint I would say. One thing that you know, the 10 x sort of emphasis around if you’re put more activity and more effort in, you do have the potential of standing out even more. Mm-hmm. as other folks are pulling back. If you’re leaning in, your voice could, could actually bubble up.
So something to think about there. It’s just up to you as to far as to what your comfort level is and what efforts you want to put in, in, in which AR area, what.

Alexis Perez:
Exactly. And I think more people are finding as well with Twitter that it’s really a place for thought leadership on the individual level.

So leaders of these companies, for example they have the time and the, if they have the time and the resources to put into growing their personal mm-hmm. Twitter following and engaging in that larger conversation then that can also lead to positive results for their company as.

Courtney Kehl:
Right, right.

The evangelists of the bunch and yep. Mm-hmm. , that’s a really great point. So does that lead us into 20, 23 and w where we can kind of look into our crystal ball? It’s like I said, absolutely. Everybody’s putting out their predictions. I’m sure we’ve all kind of seen a few of those prediction blogs and some of the newsletters coming, coming around the corner.

All right. Let’s look into a couple of those bullets that we’re, we’re we, we would put on our own articles for these.

Alexis Perez:
Yeah, so LinkedIn will continue to reign as the number one platform for B2B social media marketing. It’s in the statistics, it’s where all the decision makers are. That’s where you’re going to see the most positive growth from social media marketing for the foreseeable future.

But you also have these new new, I guess two the B2B space platforms coming through like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest. As there are these disruptions in platforms like Twitter where people are used to focusing their marketing efforts, they’re turning to the sort of non convent. At least for B2B marketing and trying to figure out how we can leverage this these platforms to our advantage.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, no, absolutely. And this conversation comes up often. Definitely the last two quarters. More so I’ve been hearing TikTok, I’ve been hearing Instagram. These people want to tell these stories, these very quick hitting stories. And that’s, that’s that those are their arenas to, to be able to display them.

So we’ve paying close attention as to whether this is a good place for time and effort, and it just becomes a matter of activity and whether your brand has the, again, the bandwidth and the, the, the appetite for it. Mm-hmm. . So with all of that, we wanted to keep this, you know, rather brief and just kind of touch on some of the quick hitting facts that we’re that we’ve been seeing and the trends.

Let’s jump into some of the q and. I’ve got one here. What approaches do you see companies taking that do not have a dedicated social media resource, but have a successful social media program? That’s a great question actually. It’s it, so I, I’m just gonna my, my 2 cents here. Social media is not for the faint of heart.

It’s not like waving a magic wand. My background goes all the way back. I’m like dating myself here. But you know, I started with marketing in, in the event space and events, same thing. It’s not like waving a magic wand. It’s you gotta, there’s a lot of little details. And then, you know, fast forward and here comes the social media era and it’s, it’s, I I kind of resonate in Same, same Sort of pain that Alexis goes through , and it takes, it takes a lot between keywords and knowing the right hashtags and the creative and tagging the right folks.

And you, you look at your competitors and so, you know, not having a dedicated social media resource is is, is, is, is difficult. And, and if you do have some, a dedicated resource that’s, you know, a godsend. But if you have a successful social, social media program step. Great for you. Good for you. And the strategy can just kind of lay out from there.

So what are your thoughts on this, Alexis?

Alexis Perez:
Yeah. Everything you said and you know just to. Reiterate that even if you don’t have a social media resource really if you have a successful social media program, that’s the first step to continuing that growth. And I’m kind of figuring out what’s been working for you.

A lot of companies start from, you know, scratch. They don’t have any social media presence, and they’re looking to people to see, well, how can we grow this? So if you have that social media program, Seeing what’s been successful in the past how can we take from this and continue to expound on it.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, absolutely. And there, you know, there are, there there’s agencies that would, can like ourselves, that can help you manage your, your social media program. , you know, a full-time resource may not be, you may not be at that stage. We, we help with folks all the way from early stage through to, you know, the global companies and on, on over to the finish line acquisition of the I P O.

But it’s always great to make sure you’re touching all areas. Mm-hmm. Another question here and, and we actually kind of predicted that this question would come over the line. Mm-hmm. is do you foresee any newer platforms? Discord Mastodon . So to replace Twitter in the future. My opinion, there’s always gonna be, you know, new folks coming through in, in, in any technology, in any space.

So it’s, it’s great to have that. And we’re living in a world where it’s always, you know, there’s always gonna be newbies and and that kind of keeps it interesting. So your opinions on this, Alexis,

Alexis Perez:
I do, I think with Twitter you have to consider that its growth is really a flash in the pan moment where you have the Twitter began when there weren’t really that many social media platforms to compete with.

Same as Instagram and Facebook. And now you have, you have the same thing with TikTok where it really blew up due to the pandemic. Everybody, you know, being indoors and looking for ways to share their lives in these short little snippets. So I think with the rise of these new platforms, they’re going to have to kind of figure out a way to tap into well what are people lacking on other platforms like Twitter?

And how can we kinda use the state of social media as a whole right now and really market our. As, you know, a different kind of new solution, and I think their success in the future will be really dependable on how they can differentiate themselves.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, that’s a great point. And kind of within each of those examples And also looking at these, these newbies, what, what we find is they’re great watering holes dependent upon which industry you’re in and what audiences you’re looking, looking to get in front as, as they grow, they may obviously expand other audiences, but as of today and what you’re planning for your 2020.

Social media program. That’s what I would recommend is you know, are they attracting a specific audience for you and, and your business as you kind of lean into that for the future. Absolutely. So what are the best KPIs to measure for your social media program success? I’ve got a few of ’em sort of memorized, but I don’t wanna put my foot in my mouth.

And I obviously, Alexis, this one you’ve got down to a, to a science so some of the KPIs that we use and, and always measure ourselves and make sure we’re reporting.

Alexis Perez:
Yeah. So you have, I guess the most commonly known one is your followers. That’s your audience. The number of people who. Subscribe, so to speak to your social media platforms.

But too often I see that companies kind of get hung up on followers when that’s not the only way to measure social media success. And oftentimes it’s not even the most important way. Engagements I think, are really coming into play as one of the most important KPIs for social media. Who.

Liking your post, who’s commenting on them, who’s sharing them. That in itself is going to bring your content and your brand to a wider audience than just people following your individual pages. And then you have the ones like the smart ones like impressions the number of eyes that are on your posts.

You have click through rates which is, you know, the number of people that. Clicking on your post and going through to your website, which helps seo. So all these things, I think together you have to strike a balance with KPIs and figure out how to make them work together to really produce results.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, absolutely. And then we do have, I mean, we, we have a social media playbook on our website. We can send that out to everybody after this. And along with the recording. I have a frog in my throat. But there are some actual like 4% versus, you know, then the follower growth rate. You know, you’re not gonna be tripling your followers but just some of what you can kind of study as she goes.

I always like to look at the competitors and see if you can do some competitor takeouts along the way to kind of keep the, the momentum. And then one of the things that, sorry, I just heard you say, and it’s something, call, call out is SEO. Is now actually taking into account your, your social media engagements mm-hmm.

and pulling that into your, your page one ranking. So something to also make sure you’re conscious of as you’re choosing your keywords and your hashtags and. Great. Oh, I think we’ve got one more question in here. Oh. What tools are you using to measure sentiment?

Oh, that, that’s a great one. What are you, Alexis?

Alexis Perez:
Yeah. I’m a big advocate for Sprout Social. I think it’s the most robust social media platform management platform out there right now. And it really gives a high level overview of all your analytics from Platform performance to, you know, right down to the individual posts, how each one of those are performing.

There’s also Hootsuite which doesn’t, you know, usually provide kind of the same caliber of results as Sprout social, but it is another good tool to use, especially with the scheduling capabilities. And then looking into the native. Analytics of your platform as well. LinkedIn has very comprehensive sentiment tools when it comes to follower growth, your demographics.

So I guess it’s really just a matter of finding out using all these platforms in tandem, if that makes.

Courtney Kehl:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I, I remember way back when, when you know, marketing was kind of like, is it fluff or is there actual stuff? And then the tools started when I say way back when, the early two thousands.

And then all of a sudden we had, we started getting tools to like measure our results, you know, Marketo and and then layering on the Mar MarTech stack. And same here. , you know, with social media and now there’s, we have a lot more to start analyzing our results and figuring out what’s actually working and who’s, what’s the best time of day and what’s the best content, what’s performing, what type which is great cuz it really allows us to, you know, move the needle with much more, much, much faster and much more accurately.
But it does go back to, you know, when. Looking to measure. Sometimes you just need to go straight to the tool, straight within the platform and kind of aggregate it all, bring it all back to back together. Yeah. Yeah, without a doubt. Well, thanks so much for everyone for joining. We’ll be sure to get this recording out.

And again, the social media playbook is a, a fantastic one. It ends up being one of our more popular downloads. And be sure to reach out if you have any other questions or would like us to dive in as well. We’d be happy to do a social media audit or give some recommendations or anything of the, of the above.

Great. Well thanks Alexis for steering us through this and thank you. Look forward to seeing it all. Great. Have a good day!

Alexis Perez:
Thanks everyone.