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The Tech C suite is listening

By Elaine Starborg |

immediate future

|

The Drum Network article

This content is produced by The Drum Network, a paid-for membership club for CEOs and their agencies who want to share their expertise and grow their business.

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June 17, 2019 | 4 min read

We don’t need to tell you that C-suite buyers are notoriously hard to reach. They’re time poor and they might be a touch cynical of sales-led approaches. But what if we told you that they’re a social bunch too, and that they’re listening.

A smartphone displaying social icons.

C-suite execs are more active on social media than you might think. / Photo by Matam Jaswanth on Unsplash.

Our work with a well-known global IT services brand, in conjunction with a deep dive piece of research we undertook, reveals that the senior buying audience is on social – and when we say on social, don’t be under any illusions, they are a very social bunch!

The Social CTO

The main reason most of these people go online is to visit a social network – and when they do, 22% of them will actually spend more than four hours a day there (!). Perhaps in an effort to justify spending all that time on social, 39% follow content that’s relevant to their work, and 37% will use social media to network for work purposes, with 69% using chat and messaging apps alongside social networking.

And the reason for these high numbers is that they clearly want to be kept up to date, over-indexing in comparison to their C-suite colleagues when it comes to following news organisations (38%), bloggers (25%), journalists (23%) and politicians (30%).

Ok that’s a lot of %s we are throwing at you (and we have more!) but this only demonstrates that this audience are actively seeking out up to date information, opinion pieces and relevant content to stay in touch with what is going on. They are looking for value content, then consuming it in a vast quantity. And that shouldn’t be a surprise – they have worked hard to get where they are – and they are constantly looking to be informed.

So where are they being social?

We understand why they are being social, but the key question is where? This audience visit Facebook, You Tube, Instagram and Twitter most frequently, with 70% using Facebook and 43% using Twitter more than once a day. As the traditional B2B social channel, there are in fact SIX social media platforms they favour over LinkedIn.

How to get in with the IT crowd

While it’s easy to assume then that the favoured platforms mean it is all personal content – birthday wishes and Game of Thrones memes – that simply isn’t the case. Specific IT themes such as AI, machine learning and blockchain (to name a few) shows that our audience want to be more specific in their conversations. They are not passive observers but actively listening, no question, and anyone wanting to reach this group need to take note.

Ok we are listening now! What does this mean for tech brands?

Of course, this audience has a strong interest in technology – it’s what they do – but don’t take the broad-brush approach, it’s a waste of time. Seek out the specific IT themes that matter to them right now and consider where you can add value.

Also look at how you can relate your content to the topics that we know resonate with their interests too: business, politics, news and even the weather. Be social on social!

Want to find out more? Our Tech C-suite report further details the topics most discussed, the audience profiles and the messaging that works on differing social channels. See more of the research here.

Elaine Starborg is director of audience strategy and planning at Immediate Future

Social Media Marketing Marketing

Content by The Drum Network member:

immediate future

Brands come to us when they are serious about social.

They come when they want social marketing without the fluff and bullshit. We are marketers. We are experts with over 15 years’ in social (when MySpace was a thing!).

And brands come to us because they want thumb-stopping creative. They want relevance based on solid data insights and an understanding of marketing that will drive customers through the purchase journey.

Launching the same year as ‘The Facebook’ ?, we have a long-standing reputation for being the best at social. Hiring the cream of the marketing talent, teaching skills to our teams (and to our clients) and sharing oodles of experience. We’ve been there, seen it, and done it.

We work with brands you’ll recognise from Sony Music to Mission foods and lastminute.com, and B2B superstars including Fujitsu, Thomson Reuters and Google (There are more, but you get the gist).

Oh, and we’re also co-authors on three books on social, and (like all agencies!) award-winning – including over 15 awards in the last two years from the Drum, B2B Marketing and CIM.

Unsurprisingly we love to chat - on social or otherwise. So join us on our profiles, or give us a call on 0208 547 1830.

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