Direct Messaging export – a missing feature in social networks?

Some days ago, a Nielsen study said that in the US social network usage is more popular than email. This does not surprise me, when I think about Luis Suarez speech at the Web 2.0 Expo 2008 “Thinking outside the Inbox”. If we agree with him, then there is one feature definitely missing in social network…

How I came across this missing feature…
In my new job role I do a lot of business socializing which is quite normal when the business is done 90% with international business contacts. A lot of business brainstorming is being kicked off or happening on the fly and you don’t think where you communicate. Many of these conversations start via the direct messaging functionality -comparable to email communication- in social networks. Some of them end in nothing. Some turn out to be brilliant contacts which become interesting prospects. And suddenly these end up being leads or potential revenue drivers. And then there comes the problem…

Where is the direct messaging extraction functionality? Some kind of external saving or export module to save the content and communication? Not speaking of an “email archiving” technology?

If your business, or the business of the company you are working for, is meant to be compliant (and which is not today…?) how can you export a conversation that already started in a social network? OK, you could copy it, and send it via email again. Quite uncomfortable though, right…? Or you save all the emails that you get from the social network providers. A lot of redundant data saving…

In business networks like Bebo, XING or LinkedIn users are possible to export the database of their contacts in one go – … but not an email communication threat. Meaning, if you have had a good conversation and mentioned some kind of business critical data, pricing, or offering than you have to have the proof for tax or auditing service reasons – and ideally you can extract it in one go.

In my eyes, this is a missing feature that at least all social business networks should be offering. Don’t you think?

Study shows, Twitter is a real buzz-generator

It is undoubted that the Twitter users are the most influential crowd of people. A recent research by ExactTarget discovers now the outreach of the influence that these people have. It goes well outside the micro-blogging platform into blogs, forums and even the living room.

In it’s fourth study of their “Subscribers, Fans and Followers” research series, ExactTarget takes a deeper look at what makes Twitter users a special community crowd compared to other online channels. The study shows that the news that the users grab from the micro-blogging platform don’t stay on Twitter.

The news are spread via the following communication channels…
- 72% publish blogs at least monthly
- 70% comment on blogs
- 61% write at least one product review per month
- 61% comment on news sites

“While the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email, the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivalled – it’s become the gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every other corner of the Internet.” Morgan Stewart, Principal, ExactTarget’s research and education group

Spot On!
The study also provides insight that daily Twitter users are six times more likely to publish articles, five times more likely to post blogs, seven times more likely to post to Wikis. For business it has to be stressed that these daily Twitter users are three times more likely to post product reviews at least once per month than non-Twitter users.

Interested to know if Twitter users really create so many reviews and ratings? What’s your view on this topic?

News Update – Best of the Day

The latest Nielsen study makes us believe that email is loosing momentum to social media and games and comes in third place in web usage of the Americans. Not really correct, when you think of email communication being some integral part of games and social networks…

Ever wondered how long a b2b sales cycle from lead generation to sales conversion can be? Marketing Sherpa got the answer by asking over 1.000 B2B marketers… Yes, it takes LONG!

While the experts are still talking about the Old Spice interaction, this Australian campaign for the Cadbury Picnic chocolate bar sounds quite intersting. The audience had to eat a Picnic in a .30 sec commercial break, using mobile phones, webcams and handycams to create their own TV ads and setting it up here. In an Australian first, every single ad that went to air on television (200+) was unique. Naomi made me laugh…

The 3 types of social networkers that influence the buying process

It’s been a rumour in the industry for quite a long time now: Facebook and Twitter are becoming indirect shopping platforms and their buttons can boost sales. A recent survey by the research firm Gartner Inc. discovered that most of the users appreciate and take suggestions from their friends through social networking sites before purchasing products. And furthermore, they rely on three types of social networking friends for their purchasing decision process.

The Gartner study asked nearly 4,000 consumers across 10 key markets. The interesting part is that people in the social networks are taking different positions inside the purchasing process when recommending products to people they are connected with. Gartner identifies three types of people and roups them into three categories: ‘Connectors’, ‘Mavens’ and ‘Salesmen’.

So, how do they differentiate from each other?
The ‘Connectors’ are defined as those who “perform a bridging function between disparate groups of people and enjoy introducing people to each other”. The ‘Mavens’ are “knowledge exchangers or information brokers”, who are experts in particular area and people go to them for advice. But they are not people who wish to convince people to buy certain items; they are more interested in acquiring new knowledge, it said. The ‘Salesmen’ are those, who have “extensive social connections” and the personality trait that persuade people around them to “act on information in highly directed ways”.

“Our survey results showed that one-fifth of the consumer population is composed of Salesmen, Connectors and Mavens. These are three roles that are key influencers in the purchasing activities of 74 per cent of the population.” (…) “Salesmen and Connectors are the most effective social network influencers and the most important groups for targeted marketing based on social network analysis.” Nick Ingelbrecht, Research Director, Gartner

Gartner advises companies based on the findings of its survey to pro-actively engage with these different types of people on social networking sites. Not surprisingly, they define these categories of social media influencers as the “critical, but underutilised, aspect of the marketing process” for the future.

“Companies attempting to use social networks should develop relationships with key customers over a period of time and progressively refine the social network profiles of those individuals.” (…) “Retailers who run small shops have instinctively done this with their best customers for years with the intention that these ‘VIP’ customers will not only buy the new products but recommend them to their friends.” Nick Ingelbrecht, Research Director, Gartner

Spot On!
For me, there is a strange thing about this study. It causes a Deja-vu, I have never had before in my life. Two years ago, I published and explained -in German- in a long post the importance of these three types of people in business networks for business decision makers, and how businesses should focus on them when talking about their social media approaches. And guess what: Two years ago, I came to the same conclusion and refered to the same types of people. In these days, I have read the book “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell for the second time. And in this book you will find the same categories of people, and you are told to rely on them and work with ‘Connectors’, ‘Mavens’ and ‘Salesmen’.

The main question is now, how to address these social networking influencers? Can you call them up and talk to them directly? Send an email? Invite them for dinner or lunch? What is the best way to start the conversation with them?

News Update – Best of the Day

What is the effect of web 2.0 technology on business results? It seems to be proven that it increases business results. This is the main insight that the latest survey by McKinsey offers, derived from asking more than 3.000 business executives. 31% of the respondents whose companies use six or more Web 2.0 technologies increased market share above their nearest competitor compared to 20% of respondents using just one or two technologies. 60% indicated that Web 2.0 had some impact on bottom-line profitability. From a technology usage perspective these decision makers favor Social Networking (63%), Blogs (48%), Video sharing (42%), Wikis (35%), and Podcasts (32%). See more results in this post by Michael Hamlin.

BUT… New findings of studies show the importance of freshing up relationships and networks by meeting offline – and not only staying in touch (via email and social networking) with friends and business contacts in the social digital space. While we may be gaining time with social web technologies, we cannot rely on their connecting power. The quality of relationships may suffer from too less offline networking, says the TIMES Magazine.

Nevertheless, when looking back at our social web activities in 2020, 85% of Americans will say that web socializing -the way we know it today- has impoved their lives. This is the result of a Pew Internet study.

Could be interesting to see how the rest of the world would evaluate web socializing in the future. Don’t you think?

Im Kommentar Social Media Newsroom promoten

Es freut mich immer wieder, wenn meine User mir mit Kommentaren interessanten und neuen Input liefern.

Manchmal überlegt man, wie man jetzt auf einen Kommentar reagieren soll. Da mir das in nachfolgendem Beispiel schon mehrfach so gegangen ist, brauche ich mal Input von meinen Usern und Social Media Experten.

Das Beispiel des Kommentars bezieht sich auf das Phänomen der Promotion eigener Social Media Newsroom. Und die Frage ist, ob und wenn ja, wie man auf diesen Kommentarfall reagieren und eingehen soll.

Dem Verfasser möchte ich für die ausführlichen Infos danken. Ein wahrlich interessanter und diskussionwürdiger Ansatz, den die DVAG da fährt und der mir bisher unbekannt war. Dort werden wahrlich alle sozialen Medien als Kommunikations-Channel bespielt.

Nun aber eine grundsätzliche Diskussion hierzu…

Inwieweit sind Blogs dazu da, seine unternehmerischen Botschaften und klassischen PR aktivitäten in aller Ausführlichkeit dazustellen und zu platzieren?

Wäre der Hinweis auf den Social Media Newsroom genug gewesen, indem ich EINEN Link setze? Wenn ja, wo setze ich diesen Link: Bei der Angabe meiner Daten (Name, Email und Webadresse) oder erst im Text oder an beiden Stellen?

Ein Social Media Newsroom sollte alle Verlinkungen in die soziale Web-Welt in sich bergen. So kann jeder Web-User sehen, was das Unternehmen im Social Web so macht.

Sieht man sich die Seite der DVAG an, so ist das auch der Fall. Und dieser Lin wurde ja auch angegeben. Nur ist mir unklar, ob man dann die anderen Link ebenfalls benötigt (Gefahr des “Linkschleuder-Ansatzes”)?! Sollte man trotzdem alle Social Seiten einzeln auflisten?

Wäre es ein gutes Vorgehen gewesen, mal via eine Business Networks wie XING oder LinkedIn die Konversation mit mir zu suchen und auf die Präsenzen hinzuweisen?

Diese Fragen gingen mir durch den Kopf als ich kommentieren wollte. Der kommentar wäre zu lange geworden. Dieser Post kam zustande…

Ich denke, es hilft allen, wenn wir hier mal Feedback sammeln. Freue mich auf Eure Meinungen…

Only few websites trustworthy? Yes, says OTA study…

Adopting standards to cut down online fraud is obviously not one of the major topics retailers are checking their web site business for. The Online Trust Alliance confirms this stement. Their recent study results illustrate that only 8% of consumer web sites made it onto the organization’s “honor roll” of sites taking stringent measures to reduce online fraud enabled by forged emails, phishing sites and malware.

The survey looked at 1,200 web sites and 500 million emails purporting to be from either Fortune 500 companies, top Internet retailers or federal government web sites.

The group set up an honor roll of companies that it said are free of malware and free of links to sites containing malware. Sites that got listed also have extended validation SSL certificate which is used by web sites that scramble or encrypt sensitive data transmitted during online transactions.

The 500 top Internet retail sites had the highest percentage on the OTA honor roll at 14%. Federal government sites finished with the worst results. Only 3% made it to the honor roll.

Some further findings…
- 8% (113 companies) earned entry into the OTA 2010 Online Safety Honor Roll, for their adoption of EV SSL Certificates, one or more forms of email authentication and successful scan for malware.
- Over 26% of the Internet Retail 500 and top 100 financial services companies have adopted EV SSL certificates.
- Worldwide growth of EV SSL certificates has exceeded 90%, growing to 23,000 deployments.
- 14% of the Internet Retail 500 and 13% of the Top 100 FIs have adopted both email authentication and EV SSL certificates.

“While major corporations, banks, governmental agencies and industry working groups talk about best practices, the majority are failing to adopt, risking demands for added regulations.” Craig Spiezle, Executive Director and President, OTA.

On the honor roll were top technology companies like Apple Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., eBay Inc. and PayPal.

Wie Landing Pages konvertieren…

In den letzten Tagen habe ich mir mal die Anzeigenkampagnen der Firmen angesehen, die über Google Adsense auf meinem Blog werben – also sogenannte Suchmaschinen-Kampagnen fahren. Um es kurz zu machen… Das Ergebnis ist nicht gerade positiv ausgefallen. Nach ungefähr 50 Webseiten stand bei 37 meine Testurteil-Frage: Was ist das Ziel der Kampagne? Oder: Wollen die nicht mit mir als potentiellem Kunden sprechen?

Zielführung einer Kampagne fängt mit der Teaseranzeige, auch Text-Anzeige genannt, an. Vor ungefähr einem Jahr habe ich darüber mal geschrieben, wie die zur Lead Generierung führt.

Offensichtlich ist manchen Firmen noch nicht klar, daß man mit einer guten Textanzeige eine hohe Erwartungshaltung beim Kunden weckt. Denn, wenn dort steht “Erhalten Sie Ihr Exemplar hier!”, dann will man auch an sein Ziel geführt werden, und nicht in die Irre. Oder mit zahlreichen anderen Promotions ins Nirvana der Unternehmenskommunikation gelangen.

Die Landing-Page ist der Schlüssel des Erfolges einer Online-Kampagne. Der User erwartet nach dem Klick auf die Anzeige maximal noch einen weiteren Klick auf der Landing Page, um sein Ziel zu erreichen.

Jegliche Ablenkung -grafisch oder textlich- sowie das Nichterkennen eines Mehrwert nach dem Klick, führt zum Verlassen der Webseite durch den User (vermutlich langfristig). Das Web bietet leider zu viele Angebote und so mancher Mitbewerber wird einen optimaleren und zielführenderen Weg den Kunden offerieren. Auch wenn Konkurrenz das Geschäft belebt, sollten man das Feld dem Mitbewerb nicht so einfach kampflos überlassen.

Ein paar Denkanstöße zur besseren Konvertierung von Landing Pages…

Adressierung
Machen Sie Tests mit ihren Kunden, auf welche Textbausteine ihre Zielgruppe anspringt. Die Suchbegriffe sollten schon in der Überschrift erkennbar sein und in verschiedenen Varianten ausprobiert werden.

Wording
Die Textanzeige sollte immer dieselbe Sprache wie die Landing Page sprechen. Verschenken Sie nicht Werbegelder, indem falsche Hoffnungen, Erwartungen und Bedürfnisbefriedigungen beim Kunden geweckt werden, die die Landing Page nicht halten kann.

Führen
Nehmen Sie den User bildlich gesprochen bei der Hand und führen Sie ihn über die Landing Page zum Ziel. Was der User nicht sofort erkennt, ist ein Abwanderungsgrund. Klare Ansagen sind notwendig. Wenn Sie in ein Museum kommen, wollen Sie auch nicht erst die Kasse suchen müssen.

Link Setting
Sucht ein User nach Äpfeln, will er nicht in der Oberkategorie Obst landen. Und wenn jemand einen Fussball sucht, will er nicht mit Plastikbällen konfrontiert werden. Seien Sie also lieber ehrlich zu sich sowie vor allem ihren Kunden. Stellen Sie eine exakte verlässliche Verlinkung zu Produkten oder Services her.

Registrierung
In der Kürze liegt die Würze. Man benötigt heute nicht einen Datensatz von 15 Pflichtfeldern. Die Telefonnummer oder Email reicht allemal aus. Es sei denn, Sie schicken immer noch Printmailings und Flyer raus. Nicht vergessen im Zeitalter des Social Web: Online is talking, print is silence!

Kommunikation
Gespräche konvertieren am besten. Wenn Sie den Kunden gleich in ein Gespräch einbinden möchten, bieten Sie doch mal ihr Blog, Facebook, Twitter oder sonstige Social Networks als Gesprächsplattformen über die Landing Page an.

Spot On!
Nur 15% nehmen Textanzeigen auf Suchseiten wahr. Den meisten Landing Pages fehlt die Führungslinie zur Call-To-Action. Wenn ein Kunde ihrer Anzeige also die Aufmerksamkeit schenkt, sollten sie wissen, daß im F-Modus eine Landing Page gescannt wird. Die Headline und der linke Frame ebnen letztendlich den Weg, welcher ihnen die Tür zum Kunden öffnet.

Study: The importance of cross-channel sales

Most companies wonder how the purchase funnel looks like when consumers evaluate products they think about buying. A recent study from ATG helps: 30% of consumers reach out to more than three commerce channels to research a product and make a purchase. This shows that retailers and merchants need a broader cross-channel approach to boost sales and enhance customer purchase decisions.

The consumer study found that more than three-quarters of consumers use two or more channels and nearly one-third work with even three or more channels to research and purchase products. While we have all expect that mobile use and social media find their way into consumers’ online commerce activities, it is surprising that traditional catalog channels are still popular.

“Merchants have heard the call for a stronger cross-channel strategy for many years, but what has been lacking is a deeper explanation about why this is so important. We are seeing a multi-channel revolution now, with a vast majority of consumers using multiple channels and now almost one-third actually relying on three or more channels to complete transactions. Retailers must direct their energy toward fulfilling the unique role and sales potential of each channel. This research illuminates the expectations consumers have for the Web, call centers, the store, catalogs, and email.”
Nina McIntyre, Senior Vice President Marketing and CMO, ATG

The key findings of consumers’ cross channel experiences…

- 78% use two or more channels to browse, research and make purchases; 30% said they use three channels or more

- 78% of all consumers say they use catalogs to browse and research products or services at least four times a year BUT 40% of those consumers never purchase products or services through catalogs.

- 43% start their research online or with mobile devices. BUT They need to call customer service or call center representative to complete the transaction because the product or service information cannot be found online!

- 39% browse via the online or mobile channel and then make purchases in the store because they prefer to touch and feel the product – reason for 36% is product and brand comparison

Interesting findings on mobile commerce (emphasis on the 18-34 age)…

- 27% of all consumers 18 and older use their mobile devices to browse or research products and services at least four times a year, and that number jumps to 41% for the 18-34 year-old age group

- 13% of all consumers 18 and older and 23% of the 18-34 age purchasing at least four times a year via their mobile devices; 8% of the later are doing it weekly

Spot on!
The study highlights how important it is to link online and offline sales communication and give the customers the same purchase service in multiple channels. It will always be difficult to understand where customers make their final purchase decision and where they finally buy though. This additional study by Google underlines the trend for an offline and online purchase decision mix. One things is for sure again: The need for more awareness around the incorporation of commerce activities in social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is gaining momentum.

LinkedIn – The importance of using invitation texts

In the last months, all social business networkers on LinkedIn have shared the same experience. They have received different invitations from people all over the world with the following invitation text…

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
- Surname Name”

Short, targeting, and easy to understand – for everybody all over the world. Hmmmm….?!

This raises some questions in my head on the importance of invitation texts. And I would appreciate your views and get some feedback of people who also use LinkedIn for social business networking.

Personalization
Is it ok to use the standardized version of the invitation text by LinkedIn? We are all marketers and we know that personalization is key. So, isn’t it better to re-phrase the standardized text version and write a short PERSONAL message?

Curiosity
If somebody is not writing a personal message, is it a sign that this person wants me to respond to him/her, and ask WHY this person wants me in his/her business social network? Even think about the impact on playing a psychological game on hierarchy thinking. Or is it just the peek a boo effect? Or is it just a hunters and collectors business?

Test
If somebody leaves the standardized personal message, the contacted person might think this is a TEST on his/her social networking capabilities. So, companies might check how serious job applicants take social networking, how quick potential employees respond, or how much somebody is engaged in social media in general. Or just to test if this person understands effective lead generation?

Spot On!
Should not LinkedIn change its service? The one who is contacted cannot see what the contacting person has ticked in the box in terms of the business relationship, he or she is referring to.

What is your view and experience on invitations by social networks – especially from a business perspective.

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