CFOs on Social Media: Social Insights Report

Social Insights: CFO Edition

How CFOs engage with people, brands, and content

on Twitter

A Social Insights Report from: In collaboration with:

Are CFOs Really on Social Media?

There is a persistent belief that CFOs don’t participate in social media; even as they are leading organizations that are increasingly being challenged by social media and the disruption it enables. As a matter of fact, best in class financial executives are now actively getting social, both so they can better understand social media’s implications and to benefit from all it can offer. We developed this report: “How CFOs Engage on Twitter”, using Leadtail’s Social Media Insights Technology to analyze data from Twitter and share what real CFOs are really doing on social media. The goal of this special report is to help you answer questions such as:

}  How can you find and connect with other finance leaders on the social web? }  What topics are CFOs discussing and debating on social media? }  Which online publications do finance executives turn to for news and information? }  Who are the most influential publications and people with CFOs?

So whether you’re already in the CFO seat trying to navigate the social media waters, or aspire to the role in the future, these insights will help you take a more informed look at how you can use social media to communicate, collaborate, and build your own network of relationships and influence.

Social Insights for Decision Makers | CFOs & Finance Leaders 2015 |

Methodology & Data Set

The methodology the Leadtail team used to create this report:

1.  Identify CFOs active on social media based on criteria such as job title, type of company, and location as provided in their Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, to create the target audience data set.

2.  Use the Leadtail Social Media Insights Technology to extract insights from their public Twitter data, such as what links are shared, who is mentioned and retweeted, popular hashtags, popular platforms used to share content, etc.

3.  Leadtail’s Social Insights team reviews, analyzes, and package these insights into this report.

The specific data set analyzed for this report is comprised of:

}  501 North American CFOs and senior finance executives active on Twitter

}  Titles include CFO (full-time, fractional, and former), VP Finance, Controllers, and CPAs }  Total of 48,050 tweets, and 25,216 shared links

}  Total follower reach: 460,699; median # of followers per CFO: 218 }  Tweets published between September 15, 2014 – December 15, 2014


About the Data

14,106 retweets

and

37,023 mentions/

replies

7,738 unique

hashtags

That includes

links shared in those tweets…

25,212

Leadtail & Intacct

collaborated to identify

CFOs and senior finance executives

active on social media

501

Leadtail analyzed

public tweets published by these executives between

Sept 15 – Dec 15, 2014

48,050


Key Takeaways

}  Overall, CFOs are still in the early stages of social media participation. This means there’s plenty of “green field” topics and niches for ambitious up-and-comers and seasoned pros to claim as their own.

}  CFOs use social media to talk about the issues they’re currently dealing

with in their jobs, but they also use it to engage in lively conversations about politics, sports, and current events.

}  The trend toward mobile-friendly, visual content doesn’t stop at the CFOs

desk; CFOs share multi-media content from YouTube and Instagram even more than they share content from LinkedIn.

}  Despite the perception that CFOs are “all business” their social media

relationships and behavior, on the whole, tend to reveal more personal affinities and interests than other C-Suite executives.


Who Are These CFOs?

Examples of the CFOs in Our Sample

@exuberantacct

@bryanleblanc

@ctanenbaum

@drazahn

@deniseinmc

@Wade_Erickson

@ChrisGattenio

@DaniMonaghan @J_Todd_King

@b_w_whalen

@aprildowning1

@Tyler_Hoffman

@DowneyMCPA

@richpirrotta

@LivestrongCFO

Greg Lee Chief Financial OfficerLIVESTRONG Foundation

Andy Zahn Chief Financial OfficerWilsonHCG

Scott Heintzelman VP of FinanceMartin’s Potato Rolls

Bryan LeBlanc Chief Financial OfficerJive Software

Cheryl Tanenbaum Chief Financial OfficerIntracoastal Bank

Todd King Chief Financial OfficerAdecco Group N.A.

Denise Howell Chief Financial OfficerVolunteerMatch

Wade Erickson Chief Financial OfficerHorizon Health Care

Christine Gattenio VP Finance & Admin Svcs.IBM

Dani Monaghan Chief Financial OfficerAnnapolis Visitors Bureau

April Downing Chief Financial OfficerWP Engine

Brian Whalen Chief Financial OfficerNetwork for Good

Tyler Hoffman Chief Financial OfficerSkyword

Mike Downey Chief Financial OfficerNew England Center for Children

Rich Pirrotta Chief Financial OfficerLogicalis US


While many of the CFOs we analyzed are located in major metro hubs, many are also hard at work in smaller markets across North America.

Where Are CFOs Located?

Based on the location provided in the Twitter profile.


How Do CFOs Describe Themselves?

The way these senior finance executive describe themselves on social media reveals affinities, interests, and keywords that can help you reach and engage them across web.

Based on keywords used in the Twitter profile.


What Do CFOs Talk About?

Hashtags reveal the topics and events, global and local, business-related and personal, that captured the attention of CFOs during the report period.

Business Personal


How Do CFOs Compare to Other Execs?

CFO Hashtags #CFO

#entrepreneur #finance #smallbiz

#jobs #accounting

#entrepreneurs #video #Twitter #CEO

CIO Hashtags #CIO #IoT #IT

#GartnerSYM #CIOs

#security #CMO

#technology #healthcare

#infosec

CMO Hashtags #CMO

#contentmarketing #IoT

#Facebook #social

#content #Infographic #advertising

#brand #sales


Each function has unique topics and key concerns, but the hashtags in the word cloud below impact the entire C-Suite and are frequently used by CFOs, CIOs, and CMOs.

How Do CFOs Engage with Content?

Which Social Networks Drive CFOs Twitter Sharing?

2%

2%

2%

2%

4%

5%

7%

13%

15%

21%

24%

100%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Google+

Yelp

Kickstarter

Vimeo

Slideshare

Paper.li

Vine

Facebook

LinkedIn

Instagram

YouTube

Twitter

% of CFOs that shared between this network + Twitter during the report period.

Twitter is an extremely popular platform for cross-posting content from other social networks. This chart shows which social networks CFOs use most often to share content on Twitter. Considering the “buttoned up” image of CFOs, it’s somewhat surprising to see that YouTube, and Instagram drive more content sharing to Twitter than LinkedIn. Simply put, even CFOs like to share videos and pictures on social media!


Which Apps + Platforms Drive Twitter Sharing with CFOs?

2%

3%

3%

3%

4%

5%

9%

12%

16%

16%

19%

21%

43%

50%

50%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Twitter Mobile Web

Flipboard

Foursquare

Buffer

Facebook

TweetDeck

Hootsuite

Instagram

LinkedIn

Twitter for Android

iOS

Twitter for iPad

Twitter for Websites

Twitter for iPhone

Twitter Web Client

Increasingly, CFOs (and just about everyone else!) consume content on the go via mobile devices. Though 8 out of 15 of the most popular sharing apps/platforms are mobile, also be sure your content is easily shareable via Twitter.com or the Tweet button, as they remain among the most popular ways to share content. Desktop

Mobile


What Types of Content Do CFOs Share?

Politics 2%

Sports 4% Other

5%

Social 11%

News/Lifestyle 34%

Business/Tech/Finance

42%

Business, tech, and finance sites make up the largest portion of shared content, comprising 42% of the top 100 content sources shared by CFOs. These sites play an important role in defining the conversations finance execs have with their boss (CEOs), peers, and internal teams. These sites help CFOs keep current with both broader business trends and issues impacting corporate finance. News and lifestyle content makes up 34% of the top sources. Shared content in this category is typically focused on current events, covering issues and trends that impact the broader business climate. Many of the top publications in both categories feature submissions from business thought leaders and experts, and have robust email and social media distribution that keeps their content in front of this audience every day. % of 100 Most Popular Shared Content Sources


Top News and Lifestyle Publications with CFOs

11.  Quartz 12.  Slate 13.  Medium 14.  VentureBeat 15.  New York Post 16.  ABC News 17.  NPR 18.  Fox News 19.  Daily Mail 20.  NBC News 21.  BuzzFeed 22.  Vox 23.  The Telegraph 24.  The Boston Globe 25.  Yahoo! News

Following are the Top 25 News, Culture, and Lifestyle Content Sources shared by CFOs during the report period, based on the number of unique CFOs who shared each source.

1.  The New York Times 2.  The Washington Post 3.  The Huffington Post 4.  USA Today 5.  Time 6.  The Atlantic 7.  The Guardian 8.  CNN 9.  Mashable 10.  The Los Angeles Times


Top Business, Tech, and Finance Publications with CFOs

11.  CNBC 12.  Fortune 13.  The Economist 14.  WIRED 15.  Fast Company 16.  Yahoo! Finance 17.  CFO.com 18.  MarketWatch 19.  Financial Times 20.  Businessweek 21.  Reuters 22.  CNN Money 23.  Accounting Today 24.  Re/code 25.  The Verge

Following are the Top 25 Business, Tech, and Finance Content Sources shared by CFOs during the report period, based on the number of unique CFOs who shared each source.

1.  The Wall Street Journal 2.  Forbes 3.  Business Insider 4.  WSJ Blogs 5.  TechCrunch 6.  Harvard Business Review 7.  Inc. 8.  The Business Journals 9.  Bloomberg 10.  Entrepreneur


Which People and Publications Influence CFOs?

Who Do CFOs Retweet the Most?

As social media continues to reshape how information is consumed and shared, creating high-quality content has become an imperative – not only for publishers, but for thought leaders and industry influencers as well. But creating content is only part of the equation – successful creators must also master the art of building a quality social audience. (After all, you have to tweet to get retweeted!) The word cloud to the right reflects the people and publications doing the best job creating content that appeals to CFOs in a way that drives retweets of their content.


People & Publications Most Retweeted by CFOs

* Based on unique # of CFOs in the sample who retweeted the handle.

11.  @nfl 12.  @HuffingtonPost 13.  @CNBC 14.  @ESPNNFL 15.  @FoxNews 16.  @SBNation 17.  @TEDTalks 18.  @danprimack 19.  @ESPNStatsInfo 20.  @mashable 21.  @thereaIbanksy 22.  @cdixon 23.  @FastCompany 24.  @washingtonpost 25.  @darrenrovell 26.  @waltmossberg 27.  @WIRED 28.  @TheOnion 29.  @hblodget 30.  @CNNMoney

31.  @FT 32.  @sama 33.  @CollegeGameDay 34.  @MarketWatch 35.  @ValaAfshar 36.  @VentureBeat 37.  @CFOCoach 38.  @IngrahamAngle 39.  @ReformedBroker 40.  @TheAtlantic 41.  @megynkelly 42.  @SenTedCruz 43.  @BleacherReport 44.  @UberFacts 45.  @businessinsider 46.  @pdacosta 47.  @WhiteHouse 48.  @cfo 49.  @NASA 50.  @Bill_Gross

1.  @WSJ

2.  @HarvardBiz

3.  @SportsCenter

4.  @Inc

5.  @TheEconomist

6.  @nytimes

7.  @Forbes

8.  @pmarca

9.  @AP

10.  @TechCrunch


Who Do CFOs Mention Most?

Looking at which brands CFOs mention on Twitter can give us yet another perspective on the forces that shape their views on products, services, and industry trends. Mentions can be a reference to an experience, attribution on a shared piece of content, a big thank you (or no thanks), or even the highly-coveted social recommendation. That means mentions can represent a deeper level of engagement than a retweet. This word cloud shows the publishers, brands, and people most mentioned by our sample of finance executives.


People & Publications Most Mentioned by CFOs

* Based on unique # of CFOs in the sample who mentioned the handle.

11.  @BarackObama 12.  @FortuneMagazine 13.  @TheEconomist 14.  @TechCrunch 15.  @YahooFinance 16.  @FastCompany 17.  @bloombergnews 18.  @nypost 19.  @Royals 20.  @pmarca 21.  @Reuters 22.  @twitter 23.  @CNBC 24.  @NBCNews 25.  @SportsCenter 26.  @amazon 27.  @mashable 28.  @FT 29.  @Uber 30.  @BW

31.  @EntMagazine 32.  @businessinsider 33.  @nfl 34.  @TIME 35.  @CNN 36.  @kickstarter 37.  @FoxNews 38.  @SFGiants 39.  @espn 40.  @HuffingtonPost 41.  @darrenrovell 42.  @WhiteHouse 43.  @Slate 44.  @ABC 45.  @cfo 46.  @msuster 47.  @AP 48.  @AccountingToday 49.  @google 50.  @Starbucks

1.  @Forbes

2.  @WSJ

3.  @nytimes

4.  @LinkedIn

5.  @YouTube

6.  @Inc

7.  @ShareThis

8.  @washingtonpost

9.  @HarvardBiz

10.  @USATODAY


Conclusion

Imagine you could listen to the daily conversations of hundreds of CFOs and finance executives. What could you do with that information? Would the collective intelligence of your colleagues provide pointers to the people and companies that are influencing your industry? Surface new ways to tackle difficult problems? Improve your ability to identify potential partners and reliable vendors? Sure it would. We created this special report to help you make more strategic decisions about how (and with whom) to communicate, collaborate, and build your own influence on the social web. And since the topics, content sources, and influencers are constantly changing so, too, are the social media insights. Sign up to get future social insights reports on C-Suite decision makers delivered to your inbox.

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Intacct is 100% invested in meeting the needs of financial professionals, 100% focused on customer success, and 100% committed to the cloud. We are the preferred provider of financial applications for the AICPA. More than 8,500 companies, from start-ups to global public companies, use Intacct best in class cloud ERP software to help their organizations run better and grow faster. We give finance professionals a solution that provides unsurpassed depth of functionality, real time insights based on true financials, and the ability to automate critical processes. All this enables them to use their time and people more wisely, improve results, and make their team and organization the best they can be. Headquartered in San Jose, we have a nationwide award-winning channel program, and a U.S. based customer support team. But at the end of the day, what distinguishes Intacct most is the company we keep—the customers, developers, partners, and employees that inspire our continuous innovation. Learn more at www.intacct.com.

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@Intacct

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, Robert Half, Hoover’s, Neustar, Adaptive Insights, NetBase, and Brightidea. 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, CFO.com, and Adweek.

Interested in collaborating on a future social insights report? Email us: [email protected]

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Leadtail.com/blog

@Leadtail


CFOs on Social Media: Social Insights Report

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