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?

Study: Twitter users not as social as they seem?

A new report by Barracuda Networks on the company’s newly launched security research portal unveils a truth that was already found in this Harvard study some months ago: Twitter users are not as social as they might seem.

Although Twitter is probably the fastest growing social network, most of its 50 million accounts seem to follow other users – instead of posting their own messages. In some way this sounds positive, as it shows that we are not living in a pure self-referential world.

The Barracuda study states that in December 2009 73% of Twitter accounts have tweeted fewer than 10 times. Only 21% of Twitter account holders are “true users” as Baracuda defines them. The “true user”, according to their definition, is someone who has at least 10 followers, follows at least 10 people and has tweeted at least 10 times. Now, we may argue differently about that, but it definitely shows a trend.

Paul Judge, author of the report and chief research officer at Barracuda, thinks that Twitter is becoming more of a news feed channel than a social network. That indicates that most Twitter users “came online to follow their favorite celebrities, not to interact with their buddies the way they would on Facebook or MySpace,” said Judge.

The follow-only trend might be part of the is part of Twitter’s “red carpet era” when celebrities pushed their microblogging account into the mainstream during the six-month research period of Barracuda.

From November 2008 to April 2009, some celebrities, like Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey and John Mayer, joined Twitter. In these days the micro-blogging service grew 21.2% in the month of April 2009 alone.

Spot On!
The question remains if Twitter will be able to get more of these followers activated to become “true users” and to start tweeting themselves. Or if security risks will keep users away from becoming the active Twitterati. In combination with news about sites like Pleaserobme.com people have scared of users not to tell to much about their real-time privacy. In my eyes Twitter should be making the main benefit clear to their potential users and show some monetization strategy for companies and users. Why should someone use a platform that does not show a valid business reason?

Study: Facebook is for women, Twitter less…

A recent study became of interest for me after having visited the Caveman show around Christmas. As we all know, and the comedy show makes this clear in a spectacular and funny way, men speak 2.000 and women 7.000 words on a normal day. Comparing this with the annual social media study by Shespeaks, it might sound obvious why Facebook is more for women, and Twitter the preferred social network for men.

Though having the proof with the study now, we might also argue that this is a prejudice. But let’s agree this is true for today…

The study has asked 1.559 women of the Shespeaks community which social network they are using. And, thinking about the above words, the result is not surprising. Facebook is the preferred platform for women: 95% of the surveyed women say that they have a Facebook profile. But only 38% are micro-blogging on Twitter. But why?

On Facebook women find what they want and need while not underlying any technical length restriction in communication (Sorry, Twitter is a 140 characters only platform…). Thus, social networking -at least for the moment- gives the proof for a long mystery. But there is more in the study from a business perspective!

Social media is becoming more and more a “strong driver for purchase decisions”. As the Shespeaks study states, with social networking women can satisfy their shopping behavior in a much better way. From a woman’s perspective, especially Facebook offers the right platform for brand commitment… and even more for recommendations. 80% have become fans of products and brands and 72% of the women said that they learn about a new product on Facebook. A dream-land for every marketer, right?!

Nevertheless, Twitter is the still very powerful for pr and marketing efforts – also if marketers want to reach women. Receiving coupon-codes is as popular on Twitter as it used to be (and still is) in the offline world. And when we look at the fact that 30% have purchased directly via Twitter or used a coupon-code therefore (27%), we might also argue that Twitter is a useful sales tool.

2010: Social media budgets increase – but where to find resources?

The good news? Budgets for social media will increase. The bad news? Companies are struggling to find the time and resources to handle their activity, according to the “Social Media and Online PR Report” by Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia.

The research aimed at finding out how companies are using online PR tactics and social media sites (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) for marketing and customer service. The result of the survey shows that the majority of companies (86%) plan to spend more budgets on social media next year 2010 – 13% are not changing their budgets and will keep the same level of spendings.

The biggest challenge for companies is resources: 54% see this as a significant problem. And 90% say it is more time-consuming internally than last year. The named benefit is remarkable: One-fourth of companies found they have achieved “real, tangible value” from social media; 60% say they have bained “some benefit but nothing concrete.”

“The reality is that most businesses understand how to listen, what to measure and where to engage but are struggling to define the value of engagement and reputation in social spaces,” said Michelle Goodall, Econsultancy’s social media and online PR consultant.

One of this companies is definitely Dell. They just announced to have sold PCs, accessories and software for 6,5 million USD via Twitter.

Some Twitter results…
- 78% use Twitter as a social media tactic and 74% of agency respondents
- 65% social network profile creatio n and management
- 62% use the micro-blogging site for publicizing new content
- 54% use the channel for marketing
- 47% for brand monitoring

Spot On!
Only 27% take the advantage of using Twitter as a customer service (and 25% as a customer feedback) tool for reacting to issues and inquiries. And when 31% see “tremendous opportunities” available in using Twitter for customer contact, but only half reporting that their companies are “open-minded but not fully convinced about the value to the business”, it tells the story: We all need to create results and cases in order to provide the positive proof. Especially, when 7% say their organization feels that Twitter is over-hyped and a fad.

Studie zu Social Media Nutzung: Von den Top 500 US Firmen lernen

Das dritte Jahr in Folge findet eine Studie des Center for Marketing Research at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth den Beleg, daß Social Media immer stärker Anklang in Unternehmen findet. Die Studie belegt dabei, wie Social Media bei den am schnellsten wachsenden US-Firmen im Aufschwung ist. Zudem liefert sie gutes Zahlenmaterial für Marketiers, Geschäftsführer und CEOs, wie man sich im Social Web bewegt.

Die Studie besagt, dass 75% der befragten Firmen sich mit Social Media 2009 stark vertraut gemacht haben. Dies entspricht einem Anstieg um 18% zu 2008. Das starke Aufkommen der Nutzung von Business Netzwerken hat hier sicherlich seinen Teil zu beigetragen.

62% der ‘C-Levels’ kennen sich mit Twitter aus, 52% haben die Micro-Blogging Platform und Social Networking genutzt, um ihr Business zu promoten. Sicherlich interessant ist, daß eine von vier Inc. 500 B2B Firmen angeben, Twitter sei ein angemessener Platz, um mit Partnern und Händlern online zu kommunizieren.

Blogging spiele generell eine besondere Rolle. 45% betrieben 2009 ein Blog mit ihrer Firma (39%/2008 und 19%/2007). Das Wachstum bei Message Boards, Online video, Wikis, sowie Podcasting ist eher gebremst bzw. leicht fallend.

Social Media = wichtiger Bestandteil der Marketing-Strategie

43% der Inc. 500 Firmen glauben, daß Social Media ein “sehr wichtiger” Teil ihrer Business- und Marketing-Strategie ist. Sogar 91% gaben an, zumindest ein Social Media Tool einzusetzen (77%/2008). Und auch weiterhin wird Social Media in der Strategie der Firmen eine große Rolle einnehmen. Von den nicht bloggenden Firmen planen 44% einen Firmen-Blog in 2010. Mit Twitter wollen im nächsten Jahr 27% der Firmen einen weiteren Zugang für ihr Business schaffen.

Der Erfolg gibt Social Media Einsatz recht. Denn 48% der Unternehmen haben mit ihrem Einsatz von Social Media Erfolg. Bei Twitter ist die Quote sogar 82% und bei anderen Social Networks kam eine unfassbare Erfolgsquote von 87% zusammen.

Spot On!
Der Siegeszug von Social Media hält an und das Annehmen der neuen Medien geht rasch voran. Kein Wunder: 87% der befragten Firmen berichten von Erfolgen hinsichtlich Engagement, Leads oder Abverkäufen. Die Argumente sprechen für sich. Wer sich diesem Trend verweigert als Businesszweig, läßt zahlreiche Optionen aus, die Kundenkommunikation und Kundenbindung zu fördern.

Social Media-Strategie? Nur jedes dritte Unternehmen hat eine…

Die Personalarbeit von Unternehmen profitiert von ihr. Sind doch Millionen Arbeitnehmer und Studenten im sogenannten Social Web aktiv. Doch genutzt wird sie von den Wenigsten, wie eine Studie jetzt zeigt. Die Rede ist von der Social Media Strategie.

Eine neue Studie “Social Media und Personalarbeit” des Beratungsunternehmens IFOK hat mehr als 800 Personalverantwortliche aus deutschen Unternehmen aller Branchen und Größenklassen zur Bedeutung sozialer Medien im Bereich Human Ressources (HR) und deren Nutzung im eigenen Unternehmen befragt. Das Ergebnis ist ernüchternd, könnte aber auch schlimmer sein.

Der Mehrheit deutscher Personalentscheider ist klar, dass das Social Web (inkl. Social Networks und Web 2.0-Tools) für die Personalarbeit von wichtiger Bedeutung ist. Dennoch mangelt es in den meisten Unternehmen an einer Strategie, welche Tools und Taktiken für welchen Zweck zu nutzten sind.

60% der Personalentscheider messen Social Media bei der Personalarbeit eine große strategische Bedeutung bei. Doch zwei von drei befragten Unternehmen haben keine geregelte Zuständigkeit für den Themenbereich. Nur 30% haben eine unternehmensweite Social Media-Strategie. Social Media Guidelines gibt es bei nur 15% der Unternehmen. Auch bei der Fortbildung ist der Stellenwert sozialer Medien schwach: Gerade mal 7% bieten Schulungen zum Thema Social Media an.

Auch Personal sind eher sporadisch im Social Web unterwegs. 80% haben zwar im Zusammenhang mit ihrer Personalarbeit etablierte Business-Netzwerke wie Xing oder LinkedIn besucht. Zur Recherche nach potenziellen Mitarbeitern nutzen 60% Web 2.0 Plattformen. Facebook ist hingegen dort noch nicht wirklich angekommen. Nur jeder dritte Personaler war bereits im Rahmen seiner Personalarbeit hier aktiv.

Twitter erhält noch wneiger Aufmerksamkeit, denn nur jeder Zehnte hat den Micro-Blogging Dienst schon genutzt. Die Studie macht klar: Dies kann eklatante Folgen haben:

“Nehmen Personaler die Kurznachrichten-Plattformen nicht einmal wahr, können sie kaum die entsprechenden Risiken und Chancen bewerten, um gemeinsam mit anderen Fachbereichen effektive Strategien zu entwickeln”, warnen die Autoren.

Auch sich dem Arbeitgeber (Employer Branding) große Möglichkeiten zum Fachkräftegewinn bieten und Stellensuchende hier schwer aktiv sind, wird diesem Umstand von den Personalern offensichtlich noch nicht wirklich Rechnung getragen.
- 3,8% beobachten systematisch, was über sie auf Web 2.0-Portalen geschrieben
- 28,6% macht dies hingegen nur gelegentlich oder selten (27,8%)
- 33,8% verzichten ganz auf ein Social Media Monitoring

Einträge auf Arbeitgeber-Bewertungsplattformen hat noch nicht mal jeder vierte Personaler zur Kenntnis genommen. “Damit vergeben erstaunlich viele Unternehmen eine der größten Chancen, die digitale Gespräche bieten: Erfahren, was und wie über das Unternehmen kommuniziert wird”, so die Studie.

Spot On!
Die Unternehmen wissen um die Benefits des Social Web, mit Social PR Eigenwerbung zu betreiben. Und die Chancen des Social Web für den HR-Bereich werden ebenfalls gesehen.

Dennoch ist es oft nicht so einfach die Kultur einer offenen Unternehmenskommunkation einzuführen oder zu etablieren. Wer die Produktivität der Mitarbeiter geregelt fördern will, sollte sich eine klare Social Media Strategie und Guidelines zugrunde legen, bevor er die Mitarbeiter zu produktiven ‘Social Webern’ macht. Denn dann stellt sich auch nachhaltig der Erfolg ein, daß die „Talentpipeline“ ordentlich und mit wahrem Personal-Potential gefüllt wird.

Studie: Twitterer sind Werbung nicht abgeneigt

Abgesehen vom exorbitanten Hype um den Micro-Blogging Service, stellt man sich die Frage: Warum der “Firmenwert” von Twitter auf 1 Milliarde Dollar geschätzt wird.

Nun hat aber eine Studie von Interpret Licht ins Dunkel gebracht. Die Studie macht dabei klar, daß Twitter Nutzer doppelt so empfänglich für die Einbindung in Markenkommunikation sind als andere soziale Netzwerker – und das auf verschiedenen Ebenen.

Die Studie von Interpret hat dabei mehr als 9.200 Internet Nutzer im August befragt. Das Ergebnis hat mich ein wenig erstaunt…

- 24% der Befragten, die auch Twitter nutzen, haben Produkte online bewertet oder ihre Meinung dazu abgegeben – dagegen stehen nur 12% Nutzer anderer Social Networks.

- 20% der Twitter Nutzer sehen sich auch gerne Firmenprofile an – hingegen nur 11% der anderen

- Ebenfalls 20% klicken sogar Banner oder gesponsorte Links an, aber nur 9% derer aus anderen Netzwerken.

Nun könnte man sagen, daß die Ablenkung durch Bilder, Ratings, Widgets oder Spielen bei Twitter natürlich wesentlich geringer ist. Zudem sind die Targeting Optionen bei Facebook noch nicht so, daß man sagen könnte, hier liege die Zukunft der optimalen Vermarktung ohne Belästigung der Nutzer durch unpassend platzierte Banner oder Inhalte. Oder welcher in einer glücklichen Beziehung steckende Facebooker hat noch nicht im Banner das Angebot von “Ehe-Vermittlungsbüros” erhalten?

Auch aufgrund der Penn State Studie läßt sich eine große Chance für Twitter im Advertising Business ausmachen. Schließlich sind 20% aller Tweets über Marken. Und Twitter hat ja auch alle Voraussetzung geschaffen, um die Monetarisierung ins Rollen zu bringen.

Das schreit förmlich danach mal die Twittergemeinde dazu zu befragen. Wie seht Ihr das? Wollt Ihr Werbung auf Twitter? Und wenn ja, wie soll die aussehen. So manches Twitter Werbe-Modell gibt es ja schon…

Twitter: BBC Interview with Evan Williams

In London the talk of the town in the internet industry and in bars yesterday was the BBC interview on Newsnight with Twitter founder Evan Williams – the first interview that he has given in the UK. And it is no wonder and not surprising that there was so much buzz around this interview. The UK loves social networking…

On Facebook profiles the British country is the number one in Europe. Every third person in the UK is registered on Facebook (16,4 mio. people). And now London is also leading on Twitter accounts. On Twitter accounts the UK in general is coming in second place – just after the US. Even Williams cannot give an answer on the hype around his micro-blogging service, neither for the UK nor in general.

But he had a good answer on the latest critic around Facebook and Twitter from the arch bishop Vincent Bishop who has been blaming the social networks as “dehumanzing communities”:

“I wasn’t aware of that. I think it is kind of silly. (…) It’s about humans connecting with each other. And often in ways they couldn’t otherwise.”

Spot On!
It is a bit of a shame that there was no question on Twitter’s monetization strategy or their verified or business accounts plans. Or some more information on how he sees the Nielsen study on Twitter demographics. Sometimes it is more important to celebrate a status than focusing on good journalism. Somebody standing next to me in the bar said to his friend: “Who is that trying to be my friend on Twitter. Just got to know her by accident. Anyway, she looks nice… Added!”

In the bars the people were celebrating a lot yesterday. If this was because they are the social networking leaders in Europe? Anyway…

Long life to the Queen!

Is Twitter a sales tool?

In a lot of talks and meetings with clients I am asked if Twitter is a sales tool. Now, what would you say? The university professor might answer with a Solomonic answer: “Well, it depends how you see it…”. Being a member of the Twitterati it is one of these questions where you have to hold on to your horses in order not to be too excited. The best answer is probably: “Yes, it is… and No, it is not!”…

The why for “Yes, it is”…
Looking at the latest development in the “Twittersphere” it can be said that the micro-blogging service can be used as a push tool for sales promotions meant to generate an upside in revenue. The best examples are accounts from companies like Dell (selling re-furbished IT for 3 mio. USD), Threadless (selling shirts – no numbers released yet) or Zappos (selling shoes – no numbers released yet).

Although we don’t know see any revenue figures of Threadless or Zappos, seeing the follower numbers alone offers the option to sell through the indirect way to this new “distribution list” by keeping up the conversation with new thoughts and ideas gathering engagement – or direct via ‘extraordinary’ offers. Just take a look at my sales statistic or metric, I summarized on the Dell Outlet account and you can evaluate your sales options.

Especially, the aviation industry has used the power of pushing their offers through this new media channel – thus uplifting their revenue figures. Some airlines like JetBlue (called “JetBlueCheeps“) and United Airlines (“twares”) offer cheap seats Twitter sales promotion programs (also for unsold tickets). The companies push their announcements via Twitter and the user -hopefully- listens to their Tweets and needs exactly the route offered.

In Germany Lufthansa has also started with sales promotions via Twitter – and obviously after this test the worldwide Twitter offering is “coming soon”.

The PRO view…
Yes, Twitter is a sales tool as there is no limit in terms of target-group, industry sector, the costs of the product or the product and service itself. Use it as a sales tool if you think your customers or your desired target-group is open-minded, loves last-minute offers or is ready to be engaged via social media.

The why for “No, it is.”
Nevertheless, the way how companies use Twitter to address their target-group with their sales promotions appears like some kind of old “watering can” marketing principle. Is this really time-to-market sales? Can this be called “targeting” which is the modern form of receiving sales promotions? One thing is for sure: Forecasting on such sales push activities is nearly impossible… the proof is in the test. But: once started, there is no way out. Sales promotions on Twitter are relying on the “hope” factor by offering an additional sales channel called “SomeTwitterAccountByOurCompany”.

And sales strategies go against the means of social media anyway. Sales philosophy is “We know what you want and here is your customized offer!” – social media is “We listen, learn and share what our customers want to buy from us!”.

From the airline examples we can learn that the offer is not just positive extra media promotion. It is limited in its sales power in a way that consumers need to be flexible and last-minute offer driven. Sounds a bit like the ebay way of selling…

So, Twitter sales promotions are relying on the “hope” factor by offering an additional sales channel called Twitter account. Some follow as they are just listening to the company or product development, some as they learn from the tweets and some as they want to share common knowledge. Not all followerrs really want to buy something. You are in good company when your company does not want to aggressively buy followers in order to go down the good old spam route.

The CON view…
No, Twitter is not a sales tool but more a customer service tool with the positive side-effect that you can sell indirect by giving good service, helping your customers and solving their problems in real-time. Don’t use it when you think your customers are bound to traditional cliches, rarely take the advantage of accepting fast shopping opportunities and don’t know what social media can do for them.

Spot On!
Generally speaking… – From a followers point of view (in this case meaning customers), there is a positive argument about Twitter sales promotions: Interested customers will follow (=read) the sales push tweet – uninterested won’t, they will ignore it. And customers don’t even have to delete the message like a spam mail. It is dying with the followers timelife stream…

Advice
The Critical question to ask are… Do we have a long-time social media strategy or do we just want to “drive” a short-time sales push? What have we done in the past to push our sales revenues? What worked out well? I am sure, if you ask yourself these questions, some more questions on your web strategy in terms of sales achievements will follow…

Am I right…?

How to attract more visitors – The 10 most important visitor resources for blogs

Is there a secret, why corporate blogs and business blogs have more success than traditional corporate websites? Is it the modern architecture of blogging systems? Is it the exiting and exhilarant spelling style of bloggers? Or is a conspiracy of the digital natives against the internet retirees?

Nothing of it! Blogs and bloggers are simply using some very effective methods to attract visitors.

The 10 most important visitor resources for blogs:

1. Feeds – Blogs are read via feed reader predominantly, not via browsers any longer. Well-known blogs have more than 100.000 feed reader per day. On a normal day in Germany, there are some blogs with more than 10.000 feed reader.
   Highlight your RSS feed on your blog and take advantage of a feed service like Feedburner
2. Google – Visitors through search engines are the second largest visitor group of blogs. Bloggers use always methods of search engine optimization (SEO) in order to achieve good rankings with important key words.
   Write in a search engine friendly way. Use Google’s Webmaster Tools and install a SEO plug-in like wpSEO!
3. Pingbacks and Trackbacks – Links don’t just offer a value-add for your own users but also backlinks and numerous new users.
   Link all directions as often as possible and learn to use trackbacks in a proper way.
4. Twitter – with the micro-blogging service you can approach users faster than with your blog. News with real add-on information are spread via Twitter the “viral” way very fast.
   Work on broadening your Twitter follower base. Promote your Twitter account on your blog and vice versa. Twitter your blog postings at the right time!
5. Social Networks – Promote your important blog postings on XING, Facebook or LinkedIn.
6. Forums – Are you an accredited expert, for example a wine blogger?
   If you see in a forum the question: What are the most expensive wines or the 10 most dry French ones? Write a posting on your blog and post only the link in the forum.
7. Blog directors and RSS feed directories – Just some selected directories (Technorati, Blogoscoop, Bloggerei, Wikio) generate new visitors. Especially, if you are ranking well in these directories.
8. Your comments on other blogs – Make yourself heard on other blogs as a constructive business partner – far and foremost in not well-known blogs. This will result in new visitors. Beware the free of sense comments! This will damage your own blog reputation in the long term.
9. Comments of others on your blog – This is the secret of well-visited blogs:
   Be responsive to comments – You will win permanent visitors!
10. Guest writers – Invite readers/users, other bloggers or “VIP’s” from the offline and online world to write guest posts. Every guest author will be talking to others about it or link directly to this post.
    Your creativity has no limits: travel agents blog about journeys of their customers, hotel managers animate guests to write about their vacation resort, … Your customers don’t want that? Ask them if they want to publish some of their holiday pictures on your homepage! You will be surprised seeing the reaction…

Did I forget something? Is your ranking of visitor resources different? Where do you see options to attract more visitors for your blog? Looking forward reading your comments and reading your ideas and thoughts!

Guest writer Karl-Heinz Wenzlaff is the German expert and consultant for business blogging. He knows the useful tips and tricks, and is specialized on professional company blogs, product blogs or employee blogs. Some month ago, he helped me migrating from Blogger to Wordpress in order to set up a magazine theme.

Thank you for being one of my guest writers, Karl-Heinz.

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