Posts Tagged ‘Social Networking’

Social Networking… important trends you should know about

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Here are the important top level Social Networking trends:

  • Usage is up – including as a substitute for ‘email type’ communication
  • Global utilization is up
  • Ad spend is up

According to data compiled by eMarketer:

Global Social Network ad spend in 2010 is projected at $3.3 Billion, up about 30% over 2009 and 2011 is projected to go up another 30%.

The US accounts for just over half of that ad total. But in 2011 US spending will start to be become a lower percentage because international social network ad spending will increase more rapidly. There are several reasons why this is the case.

Social networks are very popular in the US with a reach of about 74% of Internet users. But SocNets are even more popular in many other markets. According to The Nielsen Company, the social network/blog category reached 86% of active Internet users in Brazil in April 2010 and 78% of active users in Italy for example.

Chinese social networks are strong performers. According to the Data Center of China Internet, the number of social network users in the country reached 245 million in 2009, up 34% over 2008. Social networks such as Tencents QQ, search giant Baidus Baidu Space and RenRen (formerly Xiaonei) dominate usage.

Although China has just over 500 million internet users, according to eMarketer estimates, QQ has even more accounts than that 587 million as of March 2010. Tencent, a public company, reported $141 million in online advertising revenue in 2009 and $30 million in Q1 2010.

Facebook is growing the most rapidly outside the US. In the US as well as in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada and Singapore, Facebook was the No. 1 website based on market share of visits in June 2010, according to Experian Hitwise.

Social Networks are where people are turning to exchange information, ask for recommendations, communicate about virtually anything, and… socialize. Many savvy businesses have joined the conversation and purchased advertising space. Many have not or have and done it wrong.

Does your busdiness know hot to:

  • Engage within the various social network websites in a targeted, effective manner?
  • Advertise in a cost effective manner?
  • Separate personal from business social network pages?
  • Create business branded pages in the various SocNet websites?
  • Create or apply special apps to fully leverage SocNet traffic?
  • Monitor, measure, analyze SocNet user activities?

If you struggle to understand, utilize, or measure SocNet results, talk to an Internet Marketing Company to develope a Social Media Strategy and to get training… contact us.

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If Your Biz Loses Its Trustworthiness… you’ve got a big problem

Friday, August 13th, 2010

One thing a business must have is the TRUST of its marketplace. Without TRUST the end is near and nothing can prevent that; not low prices, not useful products nor any other countermeasure.

How does a business lose its trust? You can do your own list, but I know the following types of things would be on it: bad quality; poor customer service; a bad buying experience; denying legit warranty claims; defective products with cover-up; frequent recalls; and shady management among many other things.

It was always hard to establish TRUST and in today’s world, even harder. The public has become cynical and suspicious of our institutions and businesses are no exception.

If you go back over the last 40 years we have a break down of TRUST from the effects of very negative events.

  • A President resigned because of a cover-up attempt of an impeachable offense
  • Another President was incompetent leading us to 20% interest rates and unemployment
  • Another President who told us it depends on what ‘is’ means
  • Our government has over-spent us into $14 Trillion of debt and the number is climbing
  • Leaders of government and industry have been convicted of fraud and corruption
  • There have been questionable wars
  • There was the Internet Bubble
  • There was the end of the world Y2K that was a non-event
  • There was the housing bubble and resulting financial collapse
  • Main stream media is widely viewed to be highly biased one way or the other
  • We are in the midst one proclaimed crisis after another that often fizzles into a fraction of the predictions blown up to manipulate us: the swine flu, the oil spill, man-made global warming, etc, etc, etc.

So what does this have to do with Internet Marketing?

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media is one of the most trustworthy sources of information left in a world of questionable information sources.

Click here to view an article that qualifies the above statement.

Information delivery channels and relationships affect how social media users perceive information and advice. One thing that makes social media marketing powerful is consumers trust in people like them, their friends, family and other online peers.

Businesses need to tap into that trust via the power of what is called “earned media” or by engaging in a conversation with their marketplace.  And where social conversations take place has an effect on their perceived trustworthiness as well as who is taking part in them.

A study of frequent social media users by market research firm Invoke Solutions found that the most trusted information was posted between people who knew each other.  And blog posts were more likely to be trusted completely than posts from other distribution channels like Facebook and trust drops off from there, but is still relatively high compared to traditional information sources.

So if you want to guard your company’s TRUST factor, you need to pay attention to Social Media. We can help. Contact Us.

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Internet Marketing – trends, June 2010: SEARCH, SURF, SOCIAL

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Internet Marketing is still a relatively new game.  The rules of the game are still evolving and new players are entering the game all the time.

Every sane business by now has a website, but a website alone only enters your business into the game, it doesn’t make you a winner. To achieve web success, your website needs targeted traffic and it must provide a high level of conversions (traffic converted into customers).

You can’t win the game if you don’t know the rules. The three rules of the game for securing website traffic involve: Search, Surf, and Social. 

  1. People SEARCH for specific information or products via search engines – high organic ranking via SEO and/or sponsored ads (PPC) is needed to reach these people.
  2. and… People SURF their favorite websites for news and entertainment – display ads placed in popular websites that geographically and demographically match your marketplace are needed to reach these people.
  3. and… People SOCIALIZE in SocNets and content-sharing websites – participation in and advertising in social media websites is needed to reach these people.

If you have a website, but are not dealing with the realities of the SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIAL behavior of people, then you are not a real player and you will not win the game.

It does not matter if your business is B2C or B2B in nature. In the end, it’s a person who buys your stuff and all people SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIALIZE online all of which influences their buying decision. You need to be where the people are if you are going to influence them.

Internet Marketing is a mix of direct marketing, branding, reputation management, lead generation, and customer relations.  To accomplish all of the above you need to deal with search, surf, and social environments.  

The end game is more sales and prosperity for your business which can’t be accomplished without targeted traffic. If you want to win the game, you need  Internet Marketing strategies and tactics that funnels the Searchers, Surfers, and Socailizers to your website where you have a chance to convert them into customers.

You need an Internet Marketing roadmap to guide you along the way. We have provided a roadmap to web success for many, many companies… contact us for your copy.

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Is Social Media Marketing Measured in Velocity, Acceleration, or Jerk?

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

In physics, speed is defined as Velocity. Velocity is a measure of average or constant distance covered per unit of time like feet/second. Acceleration is a measure of the rate of change in speed or velocity and is measured in feet/second/second.  The term ‘Jerk’ (AKA Jolt, Surge, or Lurch in some systems) is a measure of the rate of change of Acceleration measured in feet/second/second/second.

If something is traveling at a constant speed its progress can be measured by Velocity. If the object or activity is speeding up at a costant rate, its change in progress can be measured by Acceleration. If an object or activity is speeding up at an increasing rate, its change in progress can be measured by Jerk.

So what does this have to do with Social Media Marketing (SMM)? 

Is SMM moving along at a constant Velocity or experiencing uniform Accelerating or is the reality that SMM is being Jerked at a pace that could propel SMM into a position of Marketing dominance?

In the last 3 years, Social Media has gone from a relative unknown to a major activity for the majority of Internet users. Networking portals like Facebook are challenging old standbys like email as the online communication method of choice. Sharing websites like YouTube are challenging traditional news sources for attention.  Twitter keeps followers in touch in real time.  Clearly SMM has been in, and continues to be in, a Surge period.

Marketing budget emphasis is changing to follow the Surge in Social Media user activity.  Marketing budgets are being reallocated to SMM activities. Sure… websites, SEO, PPC, Banner Ads, and email are still part of the game, but those activities are not Accelerating, much less Surging; they are moving along at a constant pace.  

The budget Surge in SMM is coming at the expense of traditional media like radio, newspapers, Yellow Pages, and similar old-line media that is in a Decelerating period. Is your marketing budget still dominated by activities in declining media? If yes, why?

SMM is leaving what marketers call the early adapter stage and is entering the mainstream stage.  The biggest obstacle to successful utilization of SMM among businesses is lack of understanding how to profit from SMM.

If you see the light and don’t want to miss the Surge, contact us. We can provide a Social Media Marketing Plan tailored to your business and marketplace.

So don’t be a jerk; but rather take advanatge of the Jerk – Surge that is – In SMM.

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Social Media… what is the number 1 barrier?

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

What is the #1 barrier to a successful Social Media Marketing Business Strategy?

According to a survey conducted by MarketingSherpa, lack of knowledge is the number one barrier to social media adoption. This means many organizations that try to play in the social media realm are at the risk of creating an atmosphere that can backfire on their marketing strategy if they are not knowledgeable.

You might or might not understand that starting a conversation online is important – but listening to what users are saying is not something that should be overlooked.  The first thing to know is that Social media is not one of those ‘set it and forget it’ strategies. You need to monitor, listen to, and participate in what users are saying about your brand, product or service.  There is a self defense aspect to Social Media if you start things or not.

The challenge for most organizations is finding the time to respond to threads, comments, and tweets. The more social networks you are on, the more resources are required for tracking the activity in those channels. A lot of organizations fear opening a channel of conversation also calls for opening a can of worms for users to post their frustrations, complaints, and bad experiences. Sometimes, but that is going on if you are participating or not.

What most organizations fail to realize is if they do not start the conversation on a positive note in the first place, where they do have control over what is being said, that is not going to stop anyone from creating that Facebook Group, or YouTube Channel, or blog that focuses on the negative experience with your brand.

For example, there are many Social Media pages, like in Facebook, that are dedicated to users who hate Microsoft. There are over 50,000 websites, 5500 blogs, 200 Facebook groups, 500 videos online, and dozens of tweets on Twitter hourly that have some reference to ‘Microsoft Sucks’. In the case of Microsoft, they have a large enough installed base of more or less satisfied clients who are tolerant to the nuances of Microsoft products so Microsoft can survive such banter. Even so, Microsoft watches this dialogue carefully and conducts counter measures.
 
Most small to medium sized businesses do not have to worry at such a large scale about brand protection, but remember even 1 website, 1 video, 1 Facebook page or 1 tweet can be enough to do some serious brand damage for a small business. By proactively participating in and monitoring Social Media channels even small businesses can protect their reputation and build brand loyalty.

The key is finding the right Social Media mix – tro get started, find out where your customers hang out online.  Social Media might be the question that is being discussed at meetings in your organization, but it is not always the answer. You need to look at what the objective of the campaign is, what you consider a success, and then determine if Social Media is a mechanism that is going to help fulfill that plan.

Social Media should not be a replacement for a marketing strategy you are implementing, but should be part of the mix of activities you are executing.

  • Your Internet Marketing System including a website
  • Pay Per Click
  • Email Marketing
  • Banner Ads
  • Social Media
  • Search Engine Optimization

Forward thinking, contemporary companies have already started and feel that Social Media is an important aspect to their business strategy. So whether it is a large portion or small percentage of your overall campaign, success comes with testing, measuring and analyzing results.

Conclusion -
So where do businesses start? Should they create a page on LinkedIn or MySpace? Should they start a blog or start a Twitter campaign? To answer these questions, it is important to understand that different social networks attract different types of people – so you need to match the users of your product and service to the network your target audience is most likely to engage in.

For example, if you are selling consumer goods, Facebook might be the better area to start promoting opposed to LinkedIn, which is a more B2B environment.  We can consult and help put the pieces of the Social Media puzzle together and recommend a plan that is right for your business. Social Media can be fun, drive a lot of targeted traffic, increase visibility, and generate more business, but without the knowledge and experience of executing the campaign, your social strategy is going to turn, well… very unsocial.

Get the advice and consult with experts.

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Social Media… don’t believe the myths

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Don’t Believe These 5 Social Media Myths 

There is a lot of information floating online that rants about everything from how great social media is to how much of a waste of time it is. Below is a list of common misconceptions around this topic that I often encounter when educating businesses about social media.

1. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are for Kids -
Fear: Businesses have a difficult time grasping the concept that the same network their children use to gossip to their friends about the party they went to over the weekend is the same channel that is going to connect businesses with their customers.

Fact: Yes, it is true that there are a lot of teenagers and college students that are on social networking sites. However the fastest growing demographics on Facebook are those 35 years and older (Facebook). On Twitter, 45 to 54 year olds make up the highest indexing age group (eMetrics) and Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6% of MySpace visitors (comScore). So, social media is not just for kids, but a way for organizations to reach out and connect with the right people to grow their business.

2. Building Online Relationships is a Waste of Time -
Fear: There is no point of networking with people you are never going to meet. It is simply a waste of time as it will not drive me any more business.

Fact: This is far from true – social media has opened the doors where it is possible to network with your customers, clients, prospects at ease. Not all of them are going to turn into customers, but that does not mean you cannot collect valuable feedback on your product or service. In addition, building your online fan base is another way for you to promote your products and services and help keep people informed about what is happening in your organization. There is no such thing as time being wasted when it comes to networking with your target audience.

3. You Can Not Measure Social Media -
Fear: It is not possible to measure an ROI on social media.

Fact: The very fact that social media is Internet based means it can be measured. When it comes to measuring social, there are typically different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) businesses look at when determining ROI. For example, the goal of your website may be to measure the number of completed downloads, the number of items added to the shopping cart, or the number of newsletter sign-ups you receive. However, on your social media campaign, you might look at the number of fans that increased over time, the number of comments posted on your channel, the number of discussion threads on your forum, or the number of ratings your video received. All these Key Performance Indicators can be measured and analyzed to determine if the campaign was indeed successful.

There are several tools available that allow you to measure the traffic you receive from social sites and analytic software such as Google Analytics can be used to determine which social sites brought the most conversions for your product / service.  So yes, considering all this, social media can be measured.

4. Social Media is Free –
Fear: I can create my own YouTube channel, or LinkedIn page, or Twitter account. There is no cost for me to set up my network on those portals, so why am I being told it is going to cost me money to implement a social media campaign?

Fact: A lot of the technology is free, but simply creating an account on Facebook or registering your product name on Twitter is not a social media campaign. You need to ask yourself:
• How do I increase the number of fans I have on my Facebook page?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
• How do I get people to retweet my message to their followers on Twitter?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my blog?

You still need the campaign, the creative, and the drive to get your social media plan working for you.

5. This is Something I Can Probably Do In-House –
Fear: We have employees that use social networking sites on a regular basis, and they are familiar with the technology, so why not use them to grow our business online?

Fact: In most cases, employees are using social media for personal reasons, and use it to connect with their friends, share photos, and find out what’s happening and where. But when it comes to leveraging and monetizing social media for business purposes, it is a completely different ball game. This is where creativity, campaign ideas, and of course experience is key.  Organizations need to turn to the experts in this field to help them put that plan in place. There is no pre-defined process for social media. Depending on your target audience and your product or service, the networks you participate in, the message you decide to deliver and the way you deliver it are crucial to the success of the overall campaign.

Contact experts with years of social media business strategy experience. 

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Social Media… what is the buzz all about?

Monday, March 29th, 2010

The buzz about Social Media is because it is where a lot of people ‘hang out’, it is growing, and it really works as a business promotional tool. About 50% US Internet users visited social networking sites several times a month in 2009 and this number is increasing. 

Businesses today need to look at all the alternatives to get in front of their customers. This is true for national and local businesses. Print Yellow Pages, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc are all in decline relative to viewership.  So a business must be online, but simply having a website is not enough anymore. Going social must be part of the mix to reach the broadest audience and to be more easily found via search engines.

Consider the promotion of your brand. Have you ever searched for a company name, brand name or product in a search engine before you made a purchase or decided to do business with that organization? Your online brand is extremely important to monitor and manage. Very often social media links show up with website listings in search engines.

Having one negative listing in the top 10 results of a search engine could be enough to cause prospects to steer away, leave your existing customers in a state of panic, and damage your brand to the point where business starts to go south.

Let’s take a look at United Airlines, a major United States airline that faced a public relations nightmare after an angry passenger created a music video about his guitar being broken during a trip using the airline. The passenger, Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician spent a year trying to get compensation from United Airlines, and when he received no response, he proceeded to take his own actions by creating a song about how United Airlines broke his guitar. The music video became an instant hit, and has millions of views registered on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Not only did this video go viral in nature, but even doing a search in Google for United Airlines showed the video on page one of the search engine results page. So with recent numbers like 5,752,254 views, 22,614 comments, 36,357 ratings, 27,567 users adding this video to their favorites, and 2,240,000 monthly searches in Google for the term United Airlines, you be the judge if this simple 4-minute, 36-second video clip did any damage to the United Airlines brand.

And you need to reserve your brand. Much like purchasing a branded domain name, it is important that companies also register their branded names on social channels. Each social site has their own rules on registering trademark or branded names, but there are a number of companies that have become victims of users squatting on their branded channel because the companies were not quick enough to act.

For example, Microsoft does not own http://www.youtube.com/Microsoft, a channel with considerable number of views.  And you would think that McDonalds owns http://www.youtube.com/McDonalds, but they are another victim of a company that had their channel name taken.   Apathy and sloth can result in painful consequences within the online business world.

The next article I will post is about the myths surrounding Social Media

In the meantime, if you are seeking a professional approach to social media, contact experts who have been in the social media marketing arena since its beginning.

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Social Networks… did you know?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Did you know this about Social Networks (SocNets)?

USA web users currently spend on average just over 6 hours per month in SocNets?

In the top 10 countries, web users spent about 5.5 hours in SocNets in February.

About half of all SocNet traffic is within the USA

The unique SocNet audience in the USA grew about 30% year to year, from 115 million in February 2009 to 150 million in February 2010.

Facebook is the most popular SocNet site with about 50% of global SocNet traffic. MySpace is in second at about 15% of traffic.

Facebook passed Google last week as the most trafficked website. Facebook is more popular than email for communications.

Almost 50% of all global marketers currently use SocNets for business purposes with another 20% planning to jump in this year.   Almost 60% of USA marketers currently use SocNets.

About 50% of users (especially those under 25) log into Social sites like Facebook and Twitter during the night or as the first thing they do in the morning.  Almost 20% of all user age groups log into SocNets before turning on the TV or radio.

60% of users under 25 years old do not go longer than a day before using a SocNet and 50% for users over 25 do not let more than a day go by without going to a SocNet.  About 40% of <25 and 25% of >25 year olds check SocNets several times a day.

Mobile devices are popular SocNet connectivity methods because users check into SocNets so frequently whenever they have a spare moment wherever they are.

Is your business adapting to the SocNet environment and trend with valuable Social Media Marketing tactics? Not sure how? Get some help from experts.  Contact Us.

Join our webinar this Wednesday, March 24:

Topic: Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/957409281

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Social Media Tip… Facebook visits surpassed Google visits

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

For a long time, Google has been the undisputed leader in web visits. Not anymore.  According to Industry watcher Hitwise, last week visits to Facebook surpassed visits to Google in the USA. 

Facebook and Google both have about a 7% market share of all Internet traffic with Facebook currently having a slight lead in visits over Google. If the other top Social Media and Social Networking websites are added in, collectively they far surpass Google traffic.

Being social is the top single online activity – let that sink in and think about the business opportunity that creates. Social does not mean just friends getting together.  Social includes business networking, idea sharing, lead generation, advertising opportunities, recruitment or job hunting, and linkages to improve search optimization and increases in your website traffic – all good things.

The growing popularity of Social websites underscores why Social Marketing has become a must-do for the business world. A foundation of marketing & advertising is to put your message where the crowds are located - where your customer’s eyes and ears are hanging out.

Marketing is done where people prefer to spend their time and you have a chance to grab some of their attention: watching TV, listening to Radio, reading newspapers & magazines, etc, etc. But those traditional hang-outs are in decline. More and more people are online doing searches and being social.

Businesses can not afford to ignore this trend – shift happens. Marketing budgets must be flexible to change with the times.

Some businesses are adverse to change, especially if it involves technology. If you have not already adjusted to the new normal in the marketing universe , my advice is to get over your apathy or fear or whatever is causing you to ignore reality and embrace Digital Media Marketing.

If you are not sure how to approach integrating Digital Marketing into your overall marketing mix, get help from Digital Marketing professionals.  Contact Us.

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