QCA Study Identifies Industry’s Top Social Media Influencers

Originally Posted to PPAI Publications 

The Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), working with social media research firm The Social Studies Group, has identified the promotional products industry’s top 25 online influencers. The QCA created the list to facilitate learning from and emulating promotional products thought leaders in the digital space.

In developing the ranking, The Social Studies Group collected extensive Twitter lists from several industry companies and organizations in North America, and worked with social media technology company Brandwatch to monitor the 2015 content of those on the list.

“There were so many, it took four queries to fit everyone in,” says Wendy Scherer, managing partner at The Social Studies Group. “The top 150 authors were selected based on their impact score, which is a normalized calculation of the sum of the number of mentions by the author and the maximum values achieved for potential (how much potential a mention has to be seen) and engagement (how often a mention has been viewed, shared or retweeted). Impact scores were given a score of one to five.

“Next, social reach (number of followers on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube) was calculated for each author, again giving a score of one to five,” says Scherer. “Our analyst reviewed the top 50 authors for content quality and industry topics (rather than personal or off-topic content) for a content relevancy score of 1-5. The final list represents the top 25 impact score + social reach + 2x content relevancy. Content relevancy was given twice the weight, as one of the primary goals of creating this list was to identify content that provides great value to the industry.”

Top 25 Promotional Products Industry Social Media Influencers

1. ASICentral (@asicentral)
2. PPAI (@PPAI_HQ)
3. Danette Gossett (@MarketngTidbits)
4. Tervis (@TervisTumbler)
5. BIC Graphic (@BICGraphic)
6. Stahls’ ID Direct (@StahlsIDDirect)
7. 4imprint (@4imprint)
8. Dana Zezzo (@danazezzo)
9. Motivators (@MotivatorsPP)
10. Heidi Thorne (@heidithorne)
11. Perfect Imprints (@perfectimprints)
12. GreenBiz (@GreenBiz)
13. FreePromoTips (@FreePromoTips)
14. Kirby Hasseman (@kirbyhasseman)
15. Promo Marketing (@Promo_Marketing)
16. Steve Woodburn (@SteveWoodburn)
17. Imagination Branding (@ImagineBranding)
18. Mediacation (@Mediacation1)
19. PromoPlacement (@PromoPlacement)
20. Vickie MacFadden (@VickieMacFadden)
21. U.S. CPSC (@USCPSC)
22. Danny Rosin (@DannyRosin)
23. Jason Hess (@JasonHess14)
24. Bodek And Rhodes (@bodekandrhodes)
25. Matt Gray (@MyLogoSource)