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Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category

Show me the Numbers!

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Over the past six months or so you’ve heard a lot from us about Social Media. We’ve talked about Twitter. We’ve blathered about blogs. We’ve focused your attention on Facebook. But have we practiced what we preach? Have we been “eating our own dog food?”

Actually, we have! We’ve been blogging and tweeting and posting on Facebook. So what kind of results have we seen? Let’s take a look at some of the numbers. In the six months since we began doing Social Media for ourselves here’s what we’ve observed:

Our overall website traffic is up 63%

The number of unique visitors to our site is up 51%

The number of page views is up 51%

The average time spent per visit is up 65 seconds

Our bounce rate is down 4%

In other words, more people (including new visitors) are spending more time on our site, and they are looking at more content. We’re pretty pleased with what’s happened so far. Of course, it raises another important question.

Can we show you the money? In the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, the answer has to be: “it remains to be seen.” We knew that an increase in business wouldn’t be immediate. But we also know that the goal of Social Media isn’t just to increase website traffic: it’s to increase the amount of business we do. One other thing we know is that if we’re not staying in front of existing and potential customers, we won’t have a chance to increase our business.

We think we’re on the right track and we’ll keep you posted about the specific impact on our bottom line.

What do you think?

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter | No Comments »

The Purpose Filled Tweet (apologies to Rick Warren)

Monday, July 19th, 2010

The world seems to have gone “Twitter-mad.” People on mobile devices and on their computers are tweeting their little hearts out. But if you’re a business, there needs to be a method to your madness. What’s the purpose behind your Twitter activity?

Be helpful. Twitter is a great way to share helpful information with customers and clients. If you recently read something helpful or insightful, share it with your customers. You don’t have to explain it or summarize it. Just pass it on and let your customers benefit from it.

Announce events: Twitter is super for letting people know about a special event. It could be a sale or a concert or a seminar. The tweet itself doesn’t have to contain all the information. You can use it to link customers to a landing page with details. It’s really just a shout out to “check this out!”

Announce specials: There’s a local restaurant that uses Twitter to announce their daily specials. How many times have you headed out to lunch without really knowing what you want (and ending up at the same old place)? What if you got a message telling you what the daily special was—right around lunchtime? Brilliant!

Share something fun. Sometimes people just enjoy a quirky quote or a fascinating factoid. Twitter let’s you share stuff that’s serious or silly. And sometimes a little break from the tedium is just what the doctor ordered.

Here’s a key question: What would YOU want to know about (in 140 characters or less)?

Posted in Copywriting, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Is it Sweet to Tweet?

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

We recently discussed whether or not your company should blog. We could ask the same thing about using Twitter. Should you tweet?

You may recall a while back that there was a race (won by Ashton Kutcher) to see who would be the first to have 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. And just in case you’re wondering, the top five “people being followed are:

1. Britney Spears 5,083,188
2. Ashton Kutcher 5,034,881
3. Ellen DeGeneres 4,720,353
4. Lady Gaga 4,372,564
5. Barack Obama 4,180,445

Let’s face it: none of us are ever going to catch any of them. But does that matter? Do you really care about how many people follow you on Twitter?

Not all that long ago, businesses got all excited about how many “hits” they had on their website. The Internet was still kind of a new thing and there were all these people out there landing on our websites and looking at us! Only problem was, that was all many of them did: they just looked (and sometimes for no more than a couple of seconds). It’s hard to run a business based on window shoppers.

Twitter, when used right, can be a powerful tool to quickly disseminate information. But the goal isn’t just to get people to follow you. If you’re a business, you ultimately want to connect with people and do business with them.

Next time we’ll look at a few ways you might use Twitter to get people to do something other than just “follow” you. But in the meantime, tell us how you use Twitter now—and is it working for you?

Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Make a Prediction

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

If you want to get peoples’ attention, if you want them to listen to what you have to say, if you want to start a discussion about a topic important to your business or industry . . . make a prediction.

You may argue that you’re not clairvoyant, and you’re probably right. Maybe you’re afraid that your prediction won’t be 100 percent accurate. Again, you’re probably right. But it really doesn’t matter.

Chances are that if you’re in business you have a certain amount of knowledge, and understanding about how your little corner of the Universe works. You probably have enough experience to allow you to see the patterns that develop in your particular area of expertise. There’s a good chance that you understand your niche better than someone who hasn’t spent years doing what you do.

You don’t have to be arrogant with your prediction. You don’t have to be a “know-it-all.” As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to call your prediction a “prediction.” You can call it a projection or a supposition or a strong possibility. The point is, you have knowledge and experience that you can share with others. You can say something along the lines of: “After fifteen years in the industry, when I see ‘X’ happening and I can be pretty sure that ‘Y’ will happen within six months.”

People are desperately looking for someone to help them make sense out of things they don’t understand. If you have some credibility, you can help customers or prospects make sense out of things they lack the experience or knowledge to evaluate. You may want to avoid giving specific advice (“Sell all your stock and buy widgets.”), but you can suggest what you see as a trend.

If nothing else, you’ll start a discussion. And starting a discussion is a great way to find out what peoples’ needs are—and how your company might meet those needs.

(By the way, our prediction is that not everybody will agree with what’s been said here!)

What do you think?

Posted in Copywriting, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Too Much Information?

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

In business, we’re always looking for fresh, compelling ways to get our message across. But is it possible to share too much information?

Absolutely. Let’s look at a couple of ways businesses do this.

Assumed Interest
An 8-year old boy once asked his father, “Dad, what’s sex?” The father swallowed hard, wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, took a deep breath, and launched into a 45-minute detailed description of the birds and the bees. When he finished he asked his glassy-eyed son if he understood. “I guess so,” said the boy, “but on the sign-up for soccer camp it says, ‘SEX: M or F’ and I still don’t know what to circle.”

In business, we sometimes provide much more information about our products and services than our customers ask for. And not only do we bore them to tears with our answer, but we don’t even give them the information they really want. When you communicate your message to your customers, make sure you’re giving them what they really want to know—rather than trying to impress them.

Enough is Enough
In “traditional” marketing (direct mail, print ads, catalogs, brochures, etc.) there has been a long-standing debate about whether long copy or short copy is more effective. And there are studies that validate both positions. The real answer is: Your copy is too long when people STOP READING IT. If what you’re saying is truly interesting or helpful, you can talk about it all you want. As long as your customers respond with “Tell me more”, you’re safe.

The same thing is true with new media like blogs and Twitter. Some people post a new blog daily. Some people send numerous tweets every day. If they are providing helpful, interesting content, their audiences will come back for more. Some industries change so rapidly that constant updates make sense. Most industries move a little slower. For most of us, quality is much more important than quantity. Wouldn’t you rather read one good idea a week than five useless ones? What you want to hear from your customers is, “Tell me more!” not “TMI!”

What helps you get the right amount of the right information to your customers?

Posted in Copywriting, Direct Mail, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter | No Comments »

Who’s Using Social Media?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Do you sometimes wonder if all the uproar around Social Media is overblown? Do you find yourself thinking that all this hoopla about blogs and Twitter® and Facebook® is all fine and good, but it’s not where you’re audience is?

Before you dismiss Social Media out of hand as something for kids, you might want to take a look at who’s actually using Social Media tools to look for goods and services like yours. There’s a very interesting article about the types of people using social media that you can check out for yourself. But here’s a quick summary.

• 48% — of Americans age 12 and older are now members of at least one social network
• 30% of Americans age 12 and older who have a profile on at least one social networking Web site use those sites “several times a day
• 42% of all Americans say the Internet is essential to their lives

Add to those statistics that the fastest growing segment of Facebook® users is women 55 years of age and older. You may find Social Media “interesting”, or even terrifying. But chances are, a significant portion of your target audience finds it extremely helpful in making purchasing decisions.

Are you using Social Media? Why or why not?

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter | 2 Comments »