When Gen Z Write the Marketing Script: What Brands Can Learn
By Emily SmithOct 31
No one can set social on fire like Taylor Swift.
Not only is she the third most followed person on Twitter (one place ahead of none other than the President of the United States), she’s a prolific tweeter and is known to interact with fans on social media.
It’s as if anything she says or does turns into Twitter gold dust.
It’s no wonder that an incredible (and growing) number of accounts have sprung up that are dedicated to documenting her every triumph.
There’s no bad blood here
Social analytics tools aren’t necessary to know that Taylor Swift gets a lot of love online, but we decided to get a little more scientific.
We used Audiences to identify and rank Tay Tay’s most influential super-fans.
Profiles with “Taylor Swift” in their bios were ranked according to a selection of criteria, added together to create an influence score.
While followers, inclusion on Twitter lists, retweets and replies will help, the more influential the people they engage with, the better the score.
Here are the accounts that scored highest.
10. @amazinswift (Taylor Swift)
Deploying the trusty follow-grabbing trick of using Taylor Swift’s name to identify the account, @amazinswift is an interesting addition to the list.
It doesn’t seem like the account has been active since December, but it still has an incredible 174k followers. Whoever this phony One Tree Hill loving “Taylor Swift” is, their last tweet wished a happy birthday to Tay Tay and we haven’t heard from them since.
Come back soon @amazinswift!
Happy birthday to the girl who defines my early teenage years. Love you forever @taylorswift13
— Taylor Swift (@amazinswift) December 14, 2015
9. @gomezquality (Lexie™)
With a following of 18k people, Australia based “Lexie” has successfully built a substantial audience around their sassy pop cultural commentary.
Taylor Swift isn’t the only person who appears on their feed (if their Twitter handle didn’t already give that away). Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande feature heavily, but Lexie is obviously a big Swiftie.
Taylor is so cute people hate on her way too much :(((
— Lexie™ (@gomezquality) February 18, 2016
8. @paulsidoti (Paul Sidoti)
Taylor’s much loved guitarist/vocalist Paul Sidoti certainly doesn’t hide his allegiance to the pop star online. He is without doubt one of the biggest Swifties on the internet.
The best & sweetest in the biz… @taylorswift making more history at The Grammy's.. What a great album, tour, year, & decade.. Can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings.. ?
A post shared by Paul Sidoti (@paul_sidoti) on Feb 17, 2016 at 8:59am PST
7. @itsohsotay (Ashli)
Ashli is so connected with Taylor Swift that their bio claims that the popstar might be following them around and writing songs about their life. No seriously.
@itsohsotay is a mixed account, full of support for Taylor Swift alongside insight’s into Ashli’s personal life. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, and with a following exceeding 240k, maybe Tay really is taking inspiration from the account.
I can’t wait for the New Romantics music video ✨
— Ashli (@itsohsotay) February 20, 2016
6. @TSwiftNZ (Taylor Swift NZ)
This New Zealand based account, run by Taylor Swift superfan Megan offers followers daily updates on the worldwide megastar. Megan is no Tay Tay novice.
She claims to have travelled to three different countries to see 11 of the 1989 tour shows, and set the account up in 2012 to try to connect with other fans in her home country.
A list of all the awards that Taylor has won during the 1989 era! ?pic.twitter.com/nPKKrKn2i6
— Taylor Swift NZ (@TSwiftNZ) February 23, 2016
5. @Taylorswiftbr (Taylor Swift Brasil)
Heading into the top five we begin with Taylor Swift Brasil.
The account, with an accompanying Facebook page that boasts 80k members, tweets pictures and updates for fans in Brasil and beyond. Here’s one of Taylor at her childhood friend Britany Maack’s wedding where she was a bridesmaid.
Nova foto do casamento de Britany neste fds! Desta vez só as madrinhas e damas de honra ♥ https://t.co/s3ERvkLHzypic.twitter.com/wfrAsEaQLU
— Taylor Swift Brasil (@taylorswiftbr) February 23, 2016
4. @TSwiftLA (Taylor Swift Updates)
Influential super-fan accounts don’t get much bigger than this. With over 100k followers, @TSwiftLA are prolific tweeters about the star.
In fact, they tweeted 20 times about the Grammys on February 15th and got more than a little excited about the seating plan.
More views of the #GRAMMYs seating arrangement including Taylor, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Rhianna, and Tori Kelly! pic.twitter.com/n8Dr0aTW8L
— Taylor Swift Updates (@TSwiftLA) February 13, 2016
3. @SimplySFans (Taylor Swift Updates)
The second of three fan accounts in the top 10 entitled “Taylor Swift Updates”, @SimplySFans prove just how much people love Taylor Swift updates with their incredibly popular tweets.
Taylor Swift out and about in New York City tonight, black on black ?pic.twitter.com/IuJUs0Guwi
— Taylor Swift Updates (@SimplySFans) February 22, 2016
2. @TSwiftOnTour (Taylor Swift Updates)
The most influential of the Swiftie updates accounts, @TSwiftOnTour has nearly 250k followers.
They keep their fanbase up to date on all things Taylor by retweeting the big headlines and sharing positive Taylor Swift news. They certainly know how to rake in the likes.
The beautiful post Taylor wrote for Ed for his birthday and his Grammy wins. pic.twitter.com/ciFewAPSVY
— Taylor Swift Updates (@TSwiftOnTour) February 18, 2016
1. @TaySwiftdotcom (Taylor Swift Web)
Run by the organisers of tayswift.com, Taylor Swift’s “number 1” fan site, Swifties don’t need to look any further for their daily fix of Tay Tay news.
While their website wasn’t working for us when we tried (perhaps too many Swifties were visiting at once), their immense Twitter following and incredible influence in the Swiftie community was enough for them to be crowned number one most influential Taylor Swift super fan on Twitter.
Check out the official cover for Taylor’s single #NewRomantics! https://t.co/V3QqkUjSLy pic.twitter.com/SlMCXHsxJX
— Taylor Swift Web (@TaySwiftdotcom) February 22, 2016
Fandom comparison
We recently ran a similar test with Justin Bieber fans, taking a look at the top 10 most influential fan accounts surrounding the superstar. There are interesting differences between the nature of the accounts that can be identified.
First of all, Justin’s most influential Twitter follower is his own mother, Pattie Mallette, and his father and guitarist also appear in the top half of the list. Taylor’s number one fan accounts are far more centred around groups of fans than individuals with personal relationships with the star.
Both Swift and Bieber had a number of top followers that weren’t entirely focused on them. Fan accounts often give commentary on a number of different celebrities’ antics, particularly surrounding One Direction, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.
We’ll continue to delve into the realm of huge groups of super-fans – which fandom should we analyze next?
Follow @BW_React on Twitter for more pop cultural data stories.