Sales leaders come in many flavors – from hospitality to high tech. The one thing they have in common? They are embracing social media to engage in conversations, share what interests them, and to do their jobs better. These sales professionals know that shaping perceptions and building relationships with prospects and customers starts long before, and continues long after, the sale. With that in mind, we developed this report: “How Sales Leaders Engage on Twitter”, using Leadtail’s Social Media Insights technology to analyze data from Twitter. The goal of this special report is to help you answer questions such as: How do sales leaders describe themselves on the Social Web? What topics are they talking about? Which content sources are these savvy sales professionals consuming and sharing? Who are the most influential publications and people with sales leaders? Armed with these social media insights, you can now take a more informed look at your strategy for reaching, engaging, and influencing sales professionals, and getting them to take the actions you care about most.

1. A Social Insights report from
Leadtail in collaboration with:
November 2014
How Sales Leaders
Engage on Twitter

2. Introduction
Sales leaders come in many flavors – from hospitality to high tech. The one thing they have in
common? They are embracing social media to engage in conversations, share what interests
them, and to do their jobs better. These sales professionals know that shaping perceptions and
building relationships with prospects and customers starts long before, and continues long after,
the sale.
With that in mind, we developed this report: “How Sales Leaders Engage on Twitter”, using
Leadtail’s Social Media Insights technology to analyze data from Twitter.
The goal of this special report is to help you answer questions such as:
} How do sales leaders describe themselves on the Social Web?
} What topics are they talking about?
} Which content sources are these savvy sales professionals consuming and sharing?
} Who are the most influential publications and people with sales leaders?
Armed with these social media insights, you can now take a more informed look at your strategy for
reaching, engaging, and influencing sales professionals, and getting them to take the actions you
care about most.
2 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

3. Methodology and Data Set
The methodology the Leadtail team used to create this report:
1. Identify sales leaders active on social media based on criteria such as job title, type of company,
location etc., to create the target audience data set.
2. Use the Leadtail Social Media Insights technology to extract insights around key social media
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 this report.
The specific data set analyzed for this report is comprised of:
} 580 North American sales leaders, active on Twitter during the report period
} Includes sales leaders from both B2B and B2C industries, and both inbound and
outbound sales operations
} Total of 68,310 tweets, and 44,043 shared links
} Total follower reach: 1,182,357; median # of followers per sales leader: 356
} Tweets published between July 1, 2014 – September 30, 2014
3 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

4. Key Takeaways
} Sales leaders on Twitter are early adopters and entrepreneurial in nature,
and turn to social media to learn about marketing and sales, become
better leaders, and share expertise and personal interests.
} Marketing, social selling, leadership, technology and (no surprise) sports,
are top of mind conversations for these sales executives.
} Sales leaders consume mainstream and industry media to grow as
entrepreneurs and sales professionals, and to stay on top of current
business news and sporting events.
} Somewhat surprising is how much these sales leaders read, share, and
engage with marketing oriented content. Clearly, they have embraced how
sales and marketing are converging with social media.
4 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

5. A Sample of the Sales Leaders We Analyzed
5
@jtmaddenjr
@justinendres
@markroberge
@PSandler2
@TrishMartinNYC
@Lameshia_eCMS
@JessicaRickson
@HeatherMSharkey@Gary_Kravitz
@jzaudtke
@jetismyname
@highlyranked1
@CailleyLynn
@Tahoe1022
@frehbein
Frederick Rehbein
Sales Leader
XO Communications
Patricia Sandler
Nat’l Sales Director
Omeros Corporation
James Madden
Regional Sales VP
iPR Software
Justin Endres
SVP of Sales
AlienVault
Mark Roberge
Chief Revenue Officer
HubSpot Sales Division
Gary Kravitz
Nat’l Sales Manager
Thompson Reuters
Trish A. Martin
Exec. Director of Sales
Halstead Brooklyn, LLC
Lameshia Mathews
Sales Executive
eCom Merchant Solutions
Jessica Rickson
Director of Sales
@GetLittleBird
Heather Sharkey
VP, Major Account Sales
ADP
Jason Teller
VP, Customer Solutions
Puget Sound Energy
John Zaudtke
Sr. Sales Executive
Brink’s Money
Robert Buchanan
Director of Sales
Axiom Financial
Cailley Lynn Chakeen
Director of Sales & Media
Ski Utah
Melanie Silva
VP of Sales
Smart Furniture
Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

6. Where Are They Located?
While many of the sales leaders we analyzed are located in major metro hubs, many
are also hard at work in smaller markets across North America.
Based on the location provided in the Twitter profile.
6 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

7. How Do They Describe Themselves?
The way these sales professionals describe themselves reveals keywords that can
help you reach and engage them across the Social Web.
Based on keywords used in the Twitter profile.
7 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

8. What Do Sales Leaders Talk About?
Hashtags reveal the topics and events, global and local, business-related and
personal, that captured the attention of sales professionals during the report period.
Business Personal
8 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

9. Which Social Networks Do They Share From?
2%
3%
3%
4%
6%
19%
19%
25%
36%
39%
100%
Quora
Pinterest
Vimeo
Swarm*
Vine
SlideShare
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
Twitter
% of Sales Leaders that shared between this network + Twitter during the report period.
Twitter continues to be a “hub” for cross-posting
content between social networks, particularly
content easily consumable in both the desktop and
mobile environment like video, pictures, and slide
decks.
*Swarm is the location-based spin-off of the Foursquare app.
9 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

10. How Do Sales Leaders Engage with Content?
10 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

11. 3%
4%
4%
4%
5%
6%
14%
15%
16%
18%
21%
36%
56%
60%
63%
Post with Klout
Foursquare
Twitter Mobile Web
Facebook
TweetDeck
Buffer
Hootsuite
Instagram
Twitter for Android
iOS
Twitter for iPad
LinkedIn
Twitter for iPhone
Twitter for Websites*
Twitter Web Client
% of Sales Leaders that published at least 1 tweet originating from this platform during the report period.
What Apps + Platforms Drive Twitter Sharing?
The relatively prominent showing for
social media management tools like
TweetDeck, Buffer, and HootSuite
suggests Sales Leaders are actively
focused on building their presence
and credibility on social media, using
a variety of apps to create, publish,
and curate relevant content.
Desktop
Mobile
Twitter for Websites includes the Tweet Button and embedded Twitter widgets.
11 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

12. What Types of Content Do They Share?
Mainstream media sites are the most
common type of content shared by sales
leaders. The majority of mainstream media
content shared is news, business, and
strategy focused – typically covering broad
business and technology issues and trends.
Industry media plays an important role in
defining the conversations sales leaders
have with each other, their prospects, and
ultimately clients and customers. Many of
these publications feature submissions from
sales and marketing thought leaders, and
have robust email and social media
distribution that keeps their content in front
of this audience every day.
The social media content shared by sales
professionals includes everything from
highlight videos of local sports teams, to
personal photos on Instagram. % of 100 Most Popular Shared Content Sources
Mainstream
Media
48%
Industry
Media
38%
Social
Media
11%
Other
3%
12 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

13. Which Topics Are Most Popular?
Which topics grab the attention of sales leaders? Our analysis of headlines shared by this
audience provides insights into the topics and keywords that engage them most.
13 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

14. 11. BusinessWeek
12. WIRED
13. USA Today
14. Medium
15. Time
16. The Washington Post
17. CNN Money
18. The New York Times (Free)
19. Bloomberg
20. BuzzFeed
21. CNBC
22. Yahoo! Finance
23. The Guardian
24. MarketWatch
25. ABC News
Following are the Top 25 Mainstream Media Content Sources shared by sales leaders during
the report period, based on the number of unique people who that shared each source.
What Are the Most Shared Mainstream Sources?
1. Forbes
2. Inc. Magazine
3. The New York Times (Paid)
4. HBR Blogs
5. Entrepreneur
6. The Wall Street Journal
7. The Huffington Post
8. Fast Company
9. WSJ Blogs
10. ESPN
14 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

15. 11. MarketingProfs
12. The Sales Blog
13. Gigaom
14. Salesforce Blog
15. The Verge
16. Re/Code
17. ZDNet
18. Buffer Blog
19. Marketing Land
20. Social Media Today
21. Top Sales World
22. MediaPost
23. Digiday
24. Social Media Examiner
25. Sales Benchmark Index
Following are the Top 25 Industry Media Content Sources shared by sales leaders during the
report period, based on the number of unique people who shared each source.
What Are the Most Shared Industry Sources?
1. Business Insider
2. Mashable
3. TechCrunch
4. HubSpot Blog
5. The Business Journals
6. VentureBeat
7. Adweek
8. Business2Community
9. AdvertisingAge
10. The Next Web
15 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

16. 11. Pinterest
12. Quora
13. Yelp
14. Google+
15. SoundCloud
Following are the Top 15 Social Media Content Sources shared by sales leaders during the
report period, based on the number of unique people who shared each source.
What Are the Most Shared Social Sources?
1. YouTube
2. LinkedIn
3. Instagram
4. Facebook
5. SlideShare
6. Twitter Photos
7. Paper.li
8. Vine
9. Swarm
10. Vimeo
16 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

17. Which Publishers, Brands, and People Are
Most Influential with Sales Leaders?
17 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

18. Publishers & Brands Sales Leaders Retweet the Most
As social media continues to reshape
how information is consumed and
shared, creating high-quality content on
a regular basis is no longer enough to
succeed as a publisher.
Successful publishers must also
develop high-quality social audiences,
and get their content in front of those
audiences on a regular basis. (After all,
you have to tweet to get retweeted!)
The word cloud to the right reflects the
publishers who are doing the best job
creating content for, and reaching,
sales leaders in a way that drives
retweets of their content.
18 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

19. Top 50 Publishers & Brands Most Retweeted by Sales Leaders
* Based on unique # of sales leaders in the sample who retweeted the person.
11. @nfl
12. @ForbesTech
13. @EntMagazine
14. @Adweek
15. @salesforce
16. @Sports_Greats
17. @bridgegroupinc
18. @BleacherReport
19. @HuffingtonPost
20. @MLB
21. @TIME
22. @USATODAY
23. @adage
24. @ESPNNFL
25. @linkedinselling
26. @socialmedia2day
27. @WIRED
28. @VentureBeat
29. @cnnbrk
30. @AP
31. @BuzzFeed
32. @InsideSales
33. @CNBC
34. @ABC
35. @MarketWatch
36. @PGATOUR
37. @TheTweetOfGod
38. @washingtonpost
39. @StanfordBiz
40. @TheNextWeb
41. @NBCNews
42. @lifehacker
43. @businessinsider
44. @MensHumor
45. @MLBGIFs
46. @DepressedDarth
47. @CNNMoney
48. @Sports_HQ
49. @SAI
50. @MensHealthMag
1. @Inc
2. @Forbes
3. @HarvardBiz
4. @WSJ
5. @mashable
6. @SportsCenter
7. @TechCrunch
8. @HubSpot
9. @nytimes
10. @FastCompany
19 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

20. People That Sales Leaders Retweet the Most
Whether their tweets are timely, topical,
provocative, or data-driven, the people
who sales leaders retweet the most are
an indicator of who shares content that
not only engages sales people, but
drives them to share it with their
networks.
And while it helps to be an eccentric
billionaire curing diseases or flying into
space, we mere mortals can increase
our impact by taking a page from the
playbooks of these influencers. Each
has built a personal brand based, in
large part, on the type and quality of
content they create, curate, and share.
20 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

21. Top 50 People Most Retweeted by Sales Leaders
* Based on unique # of sales leaders in the sample who retweeted the person.
11. @gitomer
12. @levie
13. @Leadershipfreak
14. @ManagersDiary
15. @mike_weinberg
16. @LeadToday
17. @MeghanMBiro
18. @GlenGilmore
19. @kokasexton
20. @BrennerMichael
21. @DanWaldo
22. @motoceo
23. @dmscott
24. @BruceVH
25. @ShawnUpchurch
26. @jillkonrath
27. @jeffbullas
28. @2morrowknight
29. @AdamSchefter
30. @AnnTran_
31. @jowyang
32. @gabevillamizar
33. @GerryMoran
34. @conradhackett
35. @jeffweiner
36. @funnelholic
37. @evankirstel
38. @SteveGutzler
39. @JoelOsteen
40. @srichardv
41. @pmarca
42. @RussThoman
43. @markroberge
44. @StuartScott
45. @kenkrogue
46. @Benioff
47. @chrisbrogan
48. @gerhard20
49. @BillGates
50. @JohnCMaxwell
1. @ValaAfshar
2. @jill_rowley
3. @iannarino
4. @richardbranson
5. @darrenrovell
6. @JeffSheehan
7. @LollyDaskal
8. @HeinzMarketing
9. @jeffshore
10. @DavidRoads
21 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

22. Publishers & Brands Sales Leaders Mention Most
Which publishers sales leaders
mention on Twitter can give us yet
another perspective on the forces that
shape their views on trends,
techniques, and strategies.
As with mentions of individuals,
mentioning a publication or brand can
be a reference to an experience, a
thank you, a question or even a highly-
coveted social recommendation. That
means mentions can represent a
deeper level of engagement than a
retweet.
In any case, the publications that are
frequently mentioned have captured
mindshare with the sales leaders that
they’re looking to engage.
22 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

23. Top 50 Publishers & Brands Most Mentioned by Sales Leaders
* Based on unique # of sales leaders in the sample who mentioned the publisher or brand.
11. @WSJ
12. @salesforce
13. @nytimes
14. @nfl
15. @USATODAY
16. @washingtonpost
17. @TopSalesWorld
18. @VentureBeat
19. @BW
20. @B2Community
21. @marketo
22. @SlideShare
23. @united
24. @EntMagazine
25. @espn
26. @Uber
27. @WIRED
28. @MLB
29. @twitter
30. @Starbucks
31. @MakingTheNumber
32. @AmericanAir
33. @SportsCenter
34. @Digiday
35. @guardian
36. @Microsoft
37. @buffer
38. @businessinsider
39. @CMIContent
40. @BuzzFeed
41. @CNN
42. @AA_ISP
43. @Seahawks
44. @gigaom
45. @inc5000
46. @Delta
47. @Marketingland
48. @CMO_com
49. @TIME
50. @SAI
1. @LinkedIn
2. @Forbes
3. @YouTube
4. @Inc
5. @HarvardBiz
6. @ShareThis
7. @HubSpot
8. @FastCompany
9. @mashable
10. @TechCrunch
23 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

24. People That Sales Leaders Mention Most
Mentioning a person by name can
mean a few different things in social
media: giving credit to someone for an
idea or piece of content being shared,
engaging someone directly in
conversation, or giving a shout-out to a
person you’ve recently met.
In any context, being mentioned is a
sign that a person is an active part of
the social conversation, and those
mentioned most are the people you’ll
find at the center of engaging
conversations between sales
professionals.
This word cloud shows the people
mentioned most by sales leaders
during the report period.
24 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

25. Top 50 People Most Mentioned by Sales Leaders
* Based on unique # of sales leaders in the sample who mentioned the person.
11. @scoremoresales
12. @jill_rowley
13. @markroberge
14. @TiborShanto
15. @TheSalesHunter
16. @motoceo
17. @funnelholic
18. @nflcommish
19. @Mike_Kunkle
20. @BarackObama
21. @mcuban
22. @ReferralSales
23. @keenan
24. @simonsinek
25. @jeff_haden
26. @jimmyfallon
27. @RobertTerson
28. @jeffbullas
29. @bhalligan
30. @darrenrovell
31. @StuartScott
32. @GrantCardone
33. @kenkrogue
34. @babettetenhaken
35. @barbaragiamanco
36. @DanWaldo
37. @markwschaefer
38. @jamietshanks
39. @srichardv
40. @jaybaer
41. @gerhard20
42. @JoePulizzi
43. @milesaustin
44. @BrennerMichael
45. @rwang0
46. @Steveology
47. @TimHowardGK
48. @iSocialFanz
49. @chiefmartec
50. @jeffshore
1. @iannarino
2. @jillkonrath
3. @MarketingProfs
4. @HeinzMarketing
5. @KingJames
6. @Sales_Source
7. @dmscott
8. @davidabrock
9. @kokasexton
10. @ValaAfshar
25 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

26. Conclusion
Imagine if you could listen to the daily conversations of sales leaders. How would you
use that information to better reach, engage, and influence these sales 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 build relationships 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 sales
professionals.
And since the topics, content sources, and influencers are constantly changing so,
too, are the social media insights.
Sign up to receive new social insights reports, studies and blog posts at Leadtail.com
26 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail

27. About Hoover’s
Hoover’s Inc., a subsidiary of The Dun and Bradstreet Corporation (D&B), offers proprietary
business information through our online platform and integrated workflow solutions. Whether you
are looking for leads, companies, or industries, our data on more than 85 million corporations,
100 million people, and 1,000 industries fuels powerful data cleansing, analysis, list building, and
corporate linkage capabilities that accelerate your sales and marketing cycles.
See how we help you use social media data to better understand your customers.
Visit www.hoovers.com/knowyourcustomers
Want more tips? Learn why you should say YES! to social media advertising.
Visit www.hoovers.com/socialadvertising
27 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail
Bizmology.Hoovers.com
@Hoovers

28. About Leadtail
Leadtail came about from our desire to help B2B marketing leaders tap into the power of social
media to get closer to target buyers and radically improve their marketing strategies.
We work with innovative companies to create social media strategies and leverage social
insights research. Our team has developed and implemented programs for leading business
brands and venture backed startups including: WageWorks, Trend Micro, Adaptive Insights,
Peoplefluent, DNN, and NetBase.
We also publish social insights reports about different decision maker groups such as digital
marketers, HR executives, and CFOs. These reports are a must-read if you sell to businesses
and have been referenced in major publications including: The Wall St. Journal, Business
Insider, Forbes, Huffington Post, Adweek, and MarketingProfs.
Interested in collaborating on a future social insights report? Email us: hello@leadtail.com
28 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Sales Leaders 2014 | Leadtail
LinkedIn.com/company/Leadtail
Leadtail.com/blog
@Leadtail