Patrick Curl

Social Media relevancy update: Twitter & Facebook followers 50-60% more likely to buy!

Think Social Media Doesn’t Matter? Think again!

A New Study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research found that consumers are twice as likely to make purchases from brands that they follow on facebook(51% more likely to buy) or twitter(67% more likely to buy). (via Econsultancy Blog)

Facebook Twitter Report

Still think social media is over-rated and over-hyped?

Today we found out from analytics service Hitwise(via techcrunch) that Facebook.com received more U.S. traffic than google.com.

For the critics and naysayers – who think social media is just a fad and will soon be forgotten, you can no longer dispute the reality of the numbers. According to the Nielsen Wire, in January alone the average person spent 7 hours on facebook, compared with 2 hours on google. It doesn’t get more sticky than that folks.

To top that off, facebook is naturally viral. If you build an app or a fan page, and it’s fun, educational, or entertaining people will share it, and you can easily get your brand in front of millions more people than you could had you only done search engine marketing, banner ads on popular websites, ads on adwords or other pay per click search engines, etc..

Why do people buy from brands on facebook, or twitter? One word: Trust.

If you go around asking people to trust you and buy your products (i.e. conventional marketing and advertising) the statistic is it takes at least 7-12 views of your ad to move a buyer to action, if they are even movable. If a friend who’s already built a level of trust were to refer the same product it would take much less to persuade the user to try that product or service.

This is why blogging is so popular and why many bloggers make good income. Bloggers don’t get rich from adsense ads, or from selling ads on their site, though some can make good money off those. They make their money from reviewing products and services. Whether someone paid them for the review or they get an affiliate payment based on sales, they make money. Blogs with a lot of good content build trust, and therefore readers are more likely to buy from a trusted blogger than from a product creator they don’t know.

Lets dig deeper into that study, shall we?

Of the 1500 consumers surveyed in the study, 60 % of people on facebook and 79% on twitter were more likely to recommend a brand after they’ve followed a company. This builds trust, because instead of you trying to sell something, your customers’ friends are selling it for you.

Why is twitter coming out a bit ahead? It’s simply that they are different networks with different paradigms. Twitter is about sharing little micro-moments with friends, family, and colleagues. Facebook’s fan pages on the other hand are about showing appreciation, or interacting with the brand.

For instance a fan page can be used as a FAQ, or as a place for customers to show their appreciation, or distaste – which you can address publicly for others who might be experiencing the same dissatisfaction, and by addressing it publicly it shows that you care about your customers which paints you in a better light. An alternative would be for you not to have a page, then when someone does have a bad experience they might create a negative page about your company thus spreading negativity and ire. One way or another your company’s products or services will likely end up being mentioned in social media, by being proactive you can make that a positive experience for people, or let others control the fate of your reputation – ultimately it’s your choice.

One key component of the success or failure of a brand on facebook or twitter is it’s involvement. It’s obviously not possible for every business, especially small businesses to staff social media coordinators, but someone must step up and be the voice of the company. I recommend when you do reach the stage where you can afford one, that you must hire a good PR person who has special emphasis in social media.

Having a facebook page with no updates, or a twitter account with no tweets will not get your brand out there. Also it can’t all be about yourself, and your products, there needs to be a feeling of connection with your followers and fans. People want to know there’s a real person behind the account, and it’s not just retweets or aggregated content being rechurned.

Your social media portfolio needs to focus on more than just making sales. It’s about building your brand. I like to use a 30/30/40 rule. That is to say 30% products/services, 30% customer service, and 40% interesting and engagine content Ultimately it’s the interesting news stories, or content that will get your followers to share you with their friends. In the age of information overload, every little bit or byte online is vieing for attention, and with so much to do or see – you need to stand out and keep viewers attention. If you fail to engage your followers, and keep their interest they will unfollow and it’ll be twice as hard to get them to re-follow. Twitterers and facebookers need to know that they are an important part of your business.

One person asked me via twitter what’s the big deal about social media, doesn’t all media include people and therefore make it social?

My response was that with regular old school media, I could be watching a broadcast, and that’s it. It’s single sided, there’s no flip-side. In the world of 2.0 old media is boring, and dieing – take the Newspaper industry for example. Today some news shows integrate social media to the point that they will broadcast interesting tweets live, or answer user questions as they come in.

The bottom line is this: Social media isn’t the media, it’s the social, it’s the interaction. Media isn’t new, video isn’t new, sharing stuff via email isn’t new – but having a way to leave a small comment on a company’s twitter account and having them address you publicly is a big deal. A lot of it’s also about the feeling of importance one gets when someone famous, or a famous brand actually reaches out to you, or someone you know and personally answers their questions.

Hopefully if you’re still on the line about taking your company social, this blog post will move you in the right direction, and if you still don’t think social matters – leave me a comment as to why and I’ll be sure to address it for you.

Like this blog post? Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook!

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Heavyweight Champion of the Internet(Google), Loses title! Facebook Triumphs Supreme!

According to Hitwise (via TechCrunch ), Facebook has now surpassed Google as the most visited website on the internet. When I read this I got a bit overly excited, not that I’m a huge Facebook fan, but that Google can be challenged. A part of me hates the big guy and always routs for the underdog. Though Andy Beal brought me back down to reality.

Apparently these results don’t include traffic to Youtube, which I’m told is a pretty popular website, nor do they include the traffic to Flickr as part of yahoo. Which makes the awe-inspiring feat lose some of it’s awe and inspiration. Still it does go to show that you can build a small application or website, and 5 years later do the un-imaginable and become the most visited website in the world (though I wouldn’t quit the day job to focus on this dream just yet.)

Nifty Graphic from Hitwise:

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Save the Twitter Bird before it’s an endangered Species!

Is Twitter Dying?

According to Barracuda networks an internet research company via Readwriteweb, Twitter looks to be an app that the majority of users pick up for a second, play with for a minute, get a puzzled look on their face then never touch again.

Yet, other numbers show that the number of Tweets per day is higher than ever.

So how can a resource that’s losing momentum and growth gain in use?

Is Twitter doomed? Or can it be saved? What can Twitter do to bring back the users it’s lost?

First off – I absolutely love twitter. As a tool to reach out to people in my niche. The people I friend they really get and understand Twitter. Then again they’re social media consultants and experts so they had better grasp the basic fundamentals, or find a new line of work.

But what does twitter do about the person who joins, and never tweets their first tweet?

Think that this is only a few people? Guess again – according to a report from Hubspot 55.5 percent of twitter users don’t follow anyone, and 54.9 percent have never tweeted.

Last time I checked anything over 50% is a majority.

Here’s some more startling numbers on the usage of Twitter from Hubspot via ArsTechnica:

• 79.79% of users provided no homepage URL.
• 75.86% of users have not entered a bio.
• 68.68% have not specified their location.
• 55.50% are not following anyone.
• 54.88% Have never tweeted.
• 52.71% have no followers.

What these numbers say is that as little as a quarter of Twitter’s members actually use the service on a regular basis.

In my opinion, when you have the sheer amount of hype and publicity as Twitter has had, and you lose 50-70% of your members before they even get two feet in the door, you’ve got a major problem.

How can Twitter Turn the Tide?

These are just some suggestions, but twitter needs to maybe instigate some sort of point / karma system. They could then have ‘points’ and some ‘quests’ which would really be a tutorial showing some of the things you can do with twitter.

The problem isn’t that people are stupid, and just don’t get it. It’s not that twitter is dumb, and not worth anything. There’s no reason for everybody not to get something out of twitter.

The problem is people’s attention spans are short, and they don’t have the time to figure out what the fuss is all about. They try it out, don’t get it or understand it, and they leave. Probably never come back.

Heck, I was almost one of these people. I joined twitter, and had an account a few months before I really became involved in the service, and I was a blogger, blogging about social media and blogging.

I’ve played online games where the learning curve is pretty steep, there’s a lot going on. These games always start you out with ‘quests’. Little things that you do that teaach you the basic concepts of the game, till you’re ready to branch out on your own. Without these quests it would be almost impossible to get very far in the game. Most people would quit before they got very far.

That’s where Twitter has failed. To retain their new members they need to have a tutorial as part of their signup. They could even have some kind of incentive for people who finish the tutorial, filling out all their profile information, follow at least 10 people, and send at least 10 tweets. They could team up with an online game like Zynga’s farmville for instance and offer free in game rewards for those who complete the twitter quest.

Twitter has to do something. It has to retain new customers, or it may never become a viable resource. Yet, the numbers do show that those who do get Twitter and use it regularly are keeping it afloat – but how long will that happen? What happens when facebook integrates all of twitters features and there’s no real use left for the microblogging service?

What do you think Twitter Could do to keep the customers it Already has, and to get new customers to keep using the service??

BTW & FYI you can follow me on twitter! @PatrickCurl

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Don’t Get Screwed! 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Social Media Consultant

Jump in the Social Media Pool – The water is Perfect!

Everywhere you look your competitors are jumping in on the social media bandwagon. Even your plumber, and housekeeper have facebook fan pages for their business. You’ve decided it’s time to jump in and figure out what Social Media is all about.

Learning social media is a lot like swimming, jump in too soon, too fast, or just after eating and you might just drown. Better hope that there’s a social media cpr certified medical squad to bring you back.

One reason many companies fail to join the social media craze, is because many view it as some sort of fad.

Well a bit of news for you – SOCIAL MEDIA is a FAD! It’s the next big thing, everyone’s doing it and there’s loads of money to be had for all! I say this in that everyone is jumping on board, and many are drowning. Believe it or not there are drowning people out there in social media, who are trying to each others to swim, while they themselves are drowning. Self-professing your expertise in social media, does not make you a social media expert – just as sticking feathers up your rear does not make you a chicken.

MORAL: Buyer beware, but still be excited.

Social media is exciting. Everyday new technologies are forming around the social web. Applications like foursquare and gowalla that let your friends know what businesses you’re in. Right now many social networks and mobile developers are gearing up for what they’re calling the Location Wars. Mobile apps are currently in development that will use your actual location for a range of things from augmented reality role-playing games, to finding the closest bathroom, to finding and choosing a new restaurant, and even letting you know what stores nearby are having specials.

With that said I will show you some criteria you should look for when seeking out a Social Media Consultant.

1. Google them. Who needs to pay for background checks in the age of social media. If they are truly a good social media consultant, and marketer. Then they will be marketing themselves as well. If they own a business google their business. If there aren’t very many results in google for their name, or business name then they’re obviously not very popular, definitely not very successful, and certainly not worth the money.One tip when googling: Be sure to use parenthesis. Example type “Patrick Curl” in google and see what you find.
2. Follow the tweets. Number of followers, and tweets is not a guarantee on the value of a person’s social media prowess, but it’s a good indicator. You’d be a bit naive to take social media advice from someone with less than 1,000 followers on twitter, and only 5-10 tweets total. You want a social media superstar, an evangelist. You want someone who is passionate about any and everything there is to offer in the world of social media.
3. Ask them for references, and case studies. If they can really deliver for your business, then they must’ve done it for someone else before. The only exception here is if they’re admittedly striking out as a consultant for the first time, and are just building up their experience. If this is the case, most of the time you’ll probably get a better deal, they’re needing your business, and your testimonial to show that they can do what they say they can. If they don’t deliver, then getting more clients won’t be easy.It’s not always a bad choice to go with someone who is new to the industry if they show potential. Sure it could be a risk, but they could also undersell the competition because they’re more needing of the job, and the references. They are also more passionate about making you happy, so that you give them a good review, or testimonial. I’d rather hire someone who is 30% social media genius and 70% passionate social media evangelist, than the other way around.
4. Get the stats: Real success stories have numbers to back them up. Every social media consultant has a blog, it’s very possible their website / blog is where you found out about them in the first place. If they don’t have a website run away and run fast!Building a successful blog is a lot of work, and getting to the top of the search engines is extremely daunting. However, it’s not impossible, and it’s not too much to ask to find someone who has at least some search engine optimization skills. You need to know where their blog / website ranks on sites like Alexa, and Google. One good tool to use is PopURI I’ve found it’s not always 100% accurate on backlinks, and some of the results, but it does a good job of pulling Alexa rank and Google pagerank. There’s also other tools out there that are probably better, I personally use some firefox and google chrome plugins that are amazing when it comes to viewing a site’s website statistics, and will write about them at a later time.Now you don’t need to be too harsh here, this is one area we all can improve on, and if their website is new then it may take some time to build up a web presence for it – if it is new ask if there’s any other sites that they’ve built or own. You just want to know that they have at least one site with at least a google pagrank of 2 and an alexa rank under 1 Million. This isn’t too hard, if you only get 4-500 hits per day then your website should be at an alexa rank of 200-300k give or take.
5. Meet with them in person, or over the phone if they’re out of the area. Ask them some questions, find out what they might do in certain situations relating to social media. This is your chance to interview them to see if they will be a fit for the job. Remember also that just because someone is talented at social media doesn’t mean they can perfectly represent any brand. If you’re a democrat running for office, you might want to look for a social media consultant who shares the same political belief. If you’re business is oriented around sports, for instance if you’re business is a business relating to nascar collectibles, then you might want to try and find someone who at least knows a little about Nascar.Part of them building your social media presence may include them writing blog posts for you, and to write good posts they need to be able to familiarize themselves with the material.

One last tip when choosing a social media consultant – set yourself a budget. Set a budget on what you’re willing to pay them, you could do some research around to see what other consultants charge, a good going rate is $500 for initial consultation, and thorough social media profile overhaul. This should include: Updating all your online profiles, or setting up new ones; inter-linking all social profiles so that they talk to each other; building your blog, which should be the hub of all your social media efforts; training you on what you can personally do to help with the social media.

A good consultant is one who not only does the social media optimization but one who teaches the client how to fish. You may choose to use them one time to setup a strategy for your social media marketing, or you may choose to hire them full-time to be your company social media community manager. Either way is up to you, and depends on how much time and money you have to invest, if you have plenty of time, and not so much money then the first option may apply, if your time is your weakest asset, but money is not an issue then the second option may be what you’re looking for. Also note that there may be some costs associated with social media above the consultant fee, for instance if you’re going to buy ads on facebook, or twitter, you’ll need to add this into your final social media budget. You may also benefit from creating a social media app, in which case you may need to hire, or work with the consultant to find someone who can develop the application, this is just another cost that could go into your total social media tally.

You’ve made a big decision to get your feet wet in social media, being prepared and not rushing in is the best surefire way to make sure that you don’t get screwed. Having a bad social media consultant CAN not only slow your growth, but can actually give your business bad PR, which is the total opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish.  Don’t worry though, the water is warm, and there’s many people in this industry out here ready to lend a hand. Social media is a baby industry, we’re all still learning how to swim to some degree, even the best social media consultants are constantly learning more and more about the industry and finding new tools.

It’s safe to say a new social media app is developed probably every few minutes. Apps for facebook, twitter, myspace, linkedin, and more. They’re everywhere you look, and it is the future of the web, and the world. The way we communicate with others is changing forever. It’s an exciting time to be in marketing, but if you don’t get in now, your competition WILL!

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cybercoder

Don’t Get Screwed! 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Social Media Consultant -Patrick Curl http://bit.ly/bJTqsz This comment was originally posted on ...

16 March 10 at 07:19