Growth Hacking: Top 100 Influencers & Brands

If you’re a marketer (or you work in a startup) chances are you have heard of the term”growth hacking”.
Sean Ellis coined the term “growth hacking” in 2010 and in a few years it has become extremely popular. Check out the Google Trends graph below.

A growth hacker is somebody who is heavily focused on growth. Their goal is to install scalable growth strategies. Growth hackers are often marketers who know how to code. In our opinion, being able to code is just essential in 2015. Every marketer should know how to code (even at a basic level) to understand what it takes to build landing pages, websites, APIs and more.
In 2015, growth hacking is very popular and marketers quite easily use the term to define a growth tactic rather than a real “hack”. This is quite normal as growth hacking as a discipline matures. We get to a point where a lot of marketers are data driven and analytical and have more of a Growth Hacking spirit than before.
Most of the great “hacks” have been put together by creative people without any cash. They didn’t have advertising dollars to spend and had to look for unexpected growth channels. Most famous “growth hacks” include Hotmail’s tagline, Mailbox’s waiting list and PayPal’s referral program to name a few.
At Onalytica we always look at how topics and communities evolve on social media, we have done this for B2B Marketing and Content Marketing just recently. We were amazed by the huge volume surrounding the Twitter discussion on Growth Hacking. It’s one the biggest online discussions we have ever measured for our blog and we analysed 1,208,004 tweets from 84,198 Twitter handles.

WHAT ARE THE TOP GROWTH HACKERS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top 10 influencers to ask them for their ultimate growth tip.  We spoke to Patrick Cines (#2), Brian Balfour (#5), Casey Armstrong (#9), Nichole Elizabeth DeMere (#10) and Lincoln Murphy (#12). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on growth hacking, SaaS and marketing! (click on the names to see their Twitter profiles)

      Patrick Cines –  Growth at Planted

 

“Start building SEO and optimizing your website for conversions from the get-go. SEO is a long term play and Google, being the billboard of the internet, is your best friend. So what does that mean? Put up as much relevant content as possible. It’s hard work, but you can become a thought leader in your space. Once you have those eyeballs on your content, you optimize your site for better conversions.

I prefer LeadPages.net It’s an amazing tool to just build SEO or increase conversion off of SEM/FB ads and doesn’t cost a lot compared to some of the other tools out there. If you’re not using customized landing pages off for your SEM/FB ads, you’re burning money.”

     Brian Balfour – VP Growth at Hubspot

 

“Focusing on individual tactics is like chasing shiny objects.  Focus on creating a team and process that is great at understanding your growth model, choosing high impact areas, brainstorming ideas, testing those ideas, and then learning from those tests.  If you nail that, you will win in the long run.”

    Casey Armstrong – Owner at fullstackmarketer.com

 

“When looking at other growth hacks, focus on the “why” — for instance, with Dropbox, they obviously took the double-sided referral program to another level, but then seemingly every startup under the sun copied them with zero to little success and wondered why.

Think about why it worked for Dropbox, then how you can put your own spin on it, or not implement it at all.
For instance, most people want free cloud storage and know their friends do, but do your friends want you to refer them your on-demand-hipster-beard-trimming-in-your-car app that is only available in San Francisco? Maybe. But maybe not. Same goes for the “hacks” that worked for Facebook, Twitter, Uber, or any other company out there. Focus on the ‘why.'”

     Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré – SaaS Consultant and moderator at ProductHunt & GrowthHackers

 

“Before anything else, identify your ideal customer. Lincoln Murphy’s Ideal Customer Profile Framework is a great resource that will help you get this right”

   Lincoln Murphy –  SaaS Customer Acquisition Marketing & Growth Hacker at SixteenVentures

 

“There are basically two ways to drive growth: net new customer / user acquisition and expansion within your existing customer / user base. I spend a lot of time on the latter since that’s a captive audience and if they bring in others, there’s research (and science!) that says those they bring in will be better customers… and the simple act of advocating for you actually makes referrers better customers or users, too.

To do that, I work to understand the organic network effects that exist within the world of the customer or user… and then exploit it for gain! (in a legal and ethical way, of course) One of the most common methods of exploiting the customer or user’s network is the “invite a colleague” process. This is one of those super-common tactics across all product types and categories with millions of people referring their entire network for a few extra virtual goods in the latest mobile game sensation… but in B2B, the typical use case is full of problems.

But I’ve cracked the code for making the “invite” system in B2B super-effective at driving expanded use within a customer organization and/or driving expansion beyond their walls. I go into a lot of detail in this post, but the TL;DR version is to ask them to invite their colleagues at the right time (after they trust your product) and to ask in the right way.”

 

MAPPING THE GROWTH HACKING COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which Growth Hacking professionals and brands were leading the online discussion, so we analysed over 1.2M  tweets matching the following query: “growth hackers” OR “growth hacking” OR “growthhackers” OR “growthhacking” OR “#growthhacking” and identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion.
We discovered a very engaged community with much discussion between individuals and brands. Below you can see a network map of the online conversation, be sure to click on the map to enjoy the full size network diagram in greater detail.

Also interesting to note that the brands take the lead (at least in volume) in the growth hacking discussion. In our past analyses on marketing related subjects we have often found the opposite to be true.

TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top 100 most influential individuals in Growth Hacking. It wasn’t a surprise when we saw Sean Ellis at the top of the list. He is one of the main drivers behind the growth hacking revolution and has created an awesome community with Growth Hackers.
Other great growth people in the list include Nilan Peiris, Patrick Cines, Casey Armstrong, Brian Balfour, Andrew Chen, Karol Pokojowczyk and actually all the people on this list ;). If you’re interested in growth hacking be sure to follow these people.

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	PageRank (Normalised)
1	@SeanEllis	Sean Ellis	100
2	@patrickcines	Patrick Cines	9.6
3	@nilanp	Nilan	5.11
4	@jonmiller	Jon Miller	4.73
5	@bbalfour	Brian Balfour	4.57
6	@ibringtraffic	Andy Johns	4.3
7	@Everette	Everette Taylor	4.21
8	@morganb	Morgan Brown	4.05
9	@CaseyA	Casey Armstrong	3.5
10	@NikkiElizDemere	Nichole Elizabeth	3.01
11	@sabben	Peter van Sabben	2.87
12	@lincolnmurphy	Lincoln Murphy	2.87
13	@andrewchen	Andrew Chen	2.68
14	@KarolPokojowczy	Karol Pokojowczyk	1.95
15	@Pv	Patrick Vlaskovits	1.76
16	@Patticus	Patrick Campbell	1.76
17	@IrisShoor	Iris Shoor	1.74
18	@matthewbarby	Matthew Barby	1.65
19	@andy_carvell	Andy Carvell	1.58
20	@rahulvarshneya	Rahul Varshneya	1.38
21	@sfgrowthacker	Jesse Dawson	1.38
22	@metehan777	Metehan Yesilyurt	1.32
23	@noahkagan	noah kagan	1.29
24	@anthonyjz17	Anthony Zhang	1.27
25	@ingejk	Inge Keizer	1.25
26	@JamesCurrier	JamesCurrier	1.23
27	@ZukowskaAsia	Asia	1.23
28	@otaupin	Olivier Taupin	1.19
29	@sloane	Sloane Davidson	1.19
30	@mattangriffel	Mattan Griffel	1.18
31	@Sofiaqt	Sofia Quintero	1.16
32	@TheRyanRobinson	Ryan Robinson	1.13
33	@hnshah	Hiten Shah	1.09
34	@SEO	AJ Ghergich	1.09
35	@DustinChristian	Dustin Christian	1.09
36	@linkdesigns	Neil Link	1.06
37	@martinjonesaz	Martin Jones	1.01
38	@Shteiwey	Mahmoud Shteiwey	1
39	@dannyprol	Danny Prol	1
40	@RickKuwahara	Richard Kuwahara	0.99
41	@ValGrowthLabs	Val	0.98
42	@JGshort	John Short	0.96
43	@brandwinnie	Brand Winnie	0.96
44	@alphabetsuccess	Tim Fargo	0.96
45	@markfidelman	Mark Fidelman	0.93
46	@MindofSari	Sari Abdo	0.93
47	@bernino	Bernino	0.93
48	@kamilrextin	Kamil Ali Rextin	0.93
49	@hibaganta	Hiba Ganta	0.93
50	@rkenedi	Rob Kenedi	0.93
51	@MatchMaker_Inc	Emily Miller	0.93
52	@lauramorenogh	Laura Moreno	0.91
53	@RBwalksintoabar	Richard RB Botto	0.85
54	@darnocks	David Arnoux. Growth	0.84
55	@kjosephabraham	Joseph Abraham	0.84
56	@sujanpatel	Sujan Patel	0.8
57	@natedesmond	Nate Desmond	0.77
58	@MJB_SF	Melinda Byerley	0.77
59	@thomascornelius	Thomas Cornelius	0.75
60	@jeroentjepkema	Jeroen Tjepkema	0.74
61	@shivsingh	Shiv Singh	0.74
62	@johnkoetsier	John Koetsier	0.73
63	@jose_garde	Jose Javier Garde	0.73
64	@BrennerMichael	Michael Brenner	0.69
65	@tdkinser	Tim Kinser	0.67
66	@PierreLechelle	Pierre Lechelle	0.66
67	@V4Violetta	Violeta Nedkova	0.66
68	@craigdeakin	Craig Deakin	0.64
69	@marshawright	Marsha Wright (228k)	0.62
70	@kesbutters	Kerry Butters	0.62
71	@sliver86	Matteo Gamba	0.6
72	@timothymoran	Tim Moran	0.6
73	@DrSTLT	Frank	0.6
74	@rrhoover	Ryan Hoover	0.59
75	@RKWDC	Robert K. Williams	0.58
76	@ycaseau	Yves Caseau	0.57
77	@SashaMirchi	Sasha Mirchandani	0.56
78	@vincentdignan	Vincent Dignan ?	0.54
79	@jamesgummer	James Gummer	0.53
80	@sdelbecque	Stephane Delbecque	0.52
81	@webmadhan	VenkatesaMadhan	0.51
82	@StevenPesavento	Steven Pesavento	0.49
83	@OCVC	Marc Averitt	0.49
84	@mccannatron	Chris McCann	0.48
85	@rdkhatch	Ryan D. Hatch	0.48
86	@adrienm	Adrien Montcoudiol	0.46
87	@Steveharrry	Steve Harry	0.46
88	@jjimenez	José M. Jiménez Shaw	0.45
89	@joshelman	Josh Elman	0.45
90	@koralozderya	Koral Ozderya	0.45
91	@ZazzleMedia	Zazzle Media	0.45
92	@Neil_Sperling	Neil_Sperling	0.44
93	@1ncom1ng	Vadim Zmievskiy	0.44
94	@oligardner	Oli Gardner	0.44
95	@Steli	Steli Efti	0.43
96	@CaraTarbaj	Cara Tarbaj	0.42
97	@noordinaryco	Robin La Pere	0.4
98	@thenikhilvero	Nikhil Verma	0.4
99	@iSocialFanz	Brian Fanzo	0.4
100	@mattddrchs	Matt Diederichs	0.39

 

TOP 100 BRANDS

Growth Hackers take the first spot, this community has really been the driver behind the growth hacking discussion in the last years. Other great brands include, Product Hunt (#5), Planted (#8), BetaList (#9), Kissmetrics (#13) and many more. Check out the full list below.

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	PageRank (Normalised)
1	@GrowthHackers	GrowthHackers	100
2	@QualarooInc	Qualaroo	5.99
3	@ColibriTool	Colibri IO	2.97
4	@thepressfarm	pressfarm.co	2.77
5	@ProductHunt	Product Hunt	2.45
6	@tint	TINT	2.21
7	@GrowthHackerAm	GrowthHacker.am	2.17
8	@planted	Planted	2.05
9	@BetaList	BetaList	2.03
10	@GrowthHackersUK	GrowthHackers UK	1.91
11	@tnwacademy	TNW Academy	1.78
12	@VentureBeat	VentureBeat	1.71
13	@Kissmetrics	Kissmetrics	1.69
14	@onemonthedu	One Month	1.48
15	@Mention	Mention	1.47
16	@Startup_Mind	Entrepreneur Mindset	1.44
17	@captora	captora	1.44
18	@Inc	Inc.	1.38
19	@GrowthHacker	Growth Hacker	1.33
20	@recurly	Recurly	1.32
21	@HootCommunity	Hootsuite Community	1.31
22	@segment	Segment	1.12
23	@LemonStand	LemonStand	1.04
24	@RJMetrics	RJMetrics	1.04
25	@FoundersGrid	FoundersGrid	1.04
26	@VMGDesigns	VMG Designs	0.94
27	@mobileactionco	Mobile Action	0.94
28	@Platformula1	Platformula Group	0.93
29	@WIRED	WIRED	0.92
30	@EvolveCorp	Evolve! Agency	0.88
31	@giantapp	GIANTWeb	0.77
32	@Wishpond	Wishpond	0.76
33	@jsmarketingcom	JSMarketing	0.7
34	@fuelforgrowth	Growthhacks	0.68
35	@NewCoCincinnati	NewCo Cincinnati	0.67
36	@Inboundorg	Inbound Dot Org	0.67
37	@deuxio	DEUX•IO	0.64
38	@GrowthTribe	Growth Tribe	0.64
39	@Publisuites	Publisuites	0.61
40	@EvaIsWorking	meetEva. com	0.56
41	@500Startups	500 Startups	0.55
42	@GrowthHackTalks	Growth Hack Talks	0.52
43	@PopcornMetrics	Popcorn Metrics	0.51
44	@gleamapp	Gleam	0.49
45	@unbounce	Unbounce	0.47
46	@firstround	First Round	0.46
47	@MyNarmis	narmis.ca	0.46
48	@UsertestingJedi	Usertesting Jedi	0.44
49	@priceintel	Price Intelligently	0.43
50	@Closeio	Close.io	0.42
51	@B2Community	Business 2 Community	0.41
52	@buffer	Buffer	0.4
53	@SmartGrowthHack	Smart Growth Hacking	0.38
54	@Moblized_Grow	Moblized Grow	0.38
55	@TheNextools	The Nextools	0.37
56	@getriver	getriver	0.36
57	@whissocialmedia	WhistlerHQ.com	0.35
58	@growthhacktop	Growth Hacking News	0.33
59	@GrowthHackerPro	Growth Hacker Pro	0.33
60	@growthhackertv	Growth Hacker TV	0.32
61	@Optimizely	Optimizely	0.32
62	@Adweek	Adweek	0.32
63	@NDRC_hq	NDRC	0.3
64	@senginepeople	Search Engine People	0.3
65	@BoldRocket	BOLD ROCKET	0.29
66	@500Distribution	500 Distribution	0.28
67	@usabilla	Usabilla	0.28
68	@msgrow	Grow.ms	0.28
69	@rockstart	Rockstart	0.27
70	@iGrowthHack	Growth Hacker News	0.27
71	@poweredbysearch	Powered by Search	0.26
72	@backlinkfy	Backlinkfy	0.25
73	@_TheFamily	TheFamily	0.25
74	@Crowdfire	Crowdfire	0.25
75	@inboundideas	Inbound Marketing	0.24
76	@cloudswave1	Cloudswave	0.23
77	@WHSRnet	WHSR	0.22
78	@GrowthFundi	GrowthFundi	0.21
79	@RyanAcademy	DCU Ryan Academy	0.2
80	@GrowthHackingz	Growth Hacking Tips	0.2
81	@leanUX_Bala	Bala S.	0.2
82	@sbizhour	Social Business Hour	0.2
83	@trinityventures	Trinity Ventures	0.2
84	@sejournal	SearchEngineJournal®	0.19
85	@Moz	Moz	0.19
86	@GrowthhackAsia	Growth Hacking Asia	0.19
87	@Metricool	Metricool	0.18
88	@WordStream	WordStream	0.18
89	@Over_Graph	Over-Graph	0.18
90	@workhomeaddict	Growth Hacking Life	0.18
91	@WeWorkLDN	WeWork London	0.17
92	@justforward_co	Mobile App Marketing	0.17
93	@MakeYourBstSelf	Makeyourbestself.com	0.17
94	@RyersonDMZ	The DMZ	0.17
95	@ChartMogul	ChartMogul	0.17
96	@SmallBiz_promo	Grow your Business	0.16
97	@WayraUK	Wayra UK	0.16
98	@hubraumberlin	hub:raum Berlin	0.16
99	@tractionboard	Tractionboard	0.16
100	@thecounter	TheCounter	0.15

At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to provide great insights for digital communities. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Machine to Machine, Wearables, Internet of Things, …) be sure to have a gander on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on twitter? We also build some very cool software to manage all of these influencers. Get a free demo today by clicking the button below!

REQUEST A FREE DEMO
Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The individuals and brands listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion around growth hacking.
The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations are independent of a user’s number of followers, but we do filter our lists based on how much a user is engaged in the conversation and the influence they drive through their networks.

---

TAGS