Businesses on Twitter Double Their Leads

A recent eMarketer post showed evidence from HubSpot that small businesses on Twitter can double their monthly lead generation figures. The "Twitter effect" was consistent whether businesses generated 1-10, 11-50, or more than 51 leads per month, and also held across company size. The Twitter effect was stronger for businesses targeting consumers (B2C companies) than business to business (B2B) organizations.

The amount of Twitter followers is critical to increased lead generation. Companies with a Twitter reach between 100-500 followers generated 146% more median monthly leads than those with 21-100 followers. Interestingly, companies with more than 500 followers did not show any increased gains, suggesting that the quality of interactions, as opposed to quantity of followers, should the backbone for a good Twitter strategy.

Blogging also increased lead generation for small businesses. Unlike Twitter, the effect was similar for both B2C as well as B2B companies. For blogs, the crucial component for increased lead generation was the amount of content produced. According to eMarketer, 24-51 posts are the minimum "tipping point" at which increased lead generation occurs.

Additional benefits of Twitter usage and blogging include better search engine visibility. Blogs increase the number of indexed pages for a business, and every 50-100 incremental indexed pages on Google can lead to significant growth. Twitter, which is now being crawled by Google and included in their results, can also impact search engine visibility.

Microblogging: Where does Buzz Fit In?

Statistics on microblogging are staggering. Facebook currently has 400 million users worldwide, many who update their statuses multiple times per day. Twitter announced on February 22nd that the site hit 50 million tweets per day, an exponential increase from approximately 50,000 per day in 2007. Google released Buzz, on February 9th. In only two days, it surpassed 9 million posts and comments, averaging around 160,000 buzzes per hour.

Who is Microblogging?
Microbloggers can be segmented into three categories:
Corporations use microblogging to connect with current and potential customers. Companies’ microblogs include information on products and services. Additionally, brands utilize microblogging to promote news, as well as offer discounts and coupons.
Professionals: Individuals Microblogging for Professional Reasons
Another subset of the microblogging population is individuals who microblog for professional reasons. This group includes celebrities, independent consultants, bloggers, coaches and other individuals who utilize microblogging to promote professional services or enhance their personal brand. Professionals microblog to engage fans or potential clients and connect with colleagues. They frequently post links to their website or blog, not only to increase traffic but also improve their search engine ranking.

Casual Users: Individuals Microblogging for Personal Reasons
Individuals who microblog for personal reasons (“casual users”) use microblogging tools to connect with friends and family, and post links to articles they find interesting. Often, casual users are passive users. They use microblogging sites to gain up-to-date information on the lives of friends and family, as well as brands and colleagues, as opposed to posting information.

The Newcomer: Google Buzz
Buzz is the newest entrant to the microblogging space. Launched by Google, Buzz connects to Google’s email client, Gmail. Buzz has a number of strengths and unusual features that set it apart from other microblogging services. The integration with Gmail provided Buzz with an existing user base of millions of users who do not have to create a new username or password in order to participate. Also, users no longer have to leave their email inbox in order to share information with contacts. Buzz enables users to respond to others’ microblogs with their commenting feature. Additionally, with Buzz, users can select their privacy preferences, something other services, such as Twitter, lack. Buzz has no character limits and also allows users to integrate photos and attachments in a streamlined and simple way.

According to Google executive Bradley Horowitz, “It’s not just status-casting. It’s not just checking in. It’s really meaningful interactions around meaningful topics within Buzz and it’s reaching the right audience and people are engaged. That kind of value proposition is I think unique to Buzz. I’ve heard that again and again. In the realm of positive feedback, I think that people are finding that the conversational mode of buzz is very, very powerful and the quality of audience is also great.”

The Incumbent: Twitter

Twitter is in many ways the “anti-Buzz.” Twitter is a start-up founded by a small team and was created as a stand-alone product. Twitter’s strength lies in its simplicity. Users create simple profiles with only one photo and basic information. All communication on Twitter, whether microblogs (which are public) or private messages, must be 140 characters or less. Twitter is also well designed for search: Twitter provides information on “trending topics”- popular keywords that featured in a large percentage of microblogs across all Twitter users. Additionally, searching for specific users is easy to locate (under the “Find People” tab) and the site offers suggestions for users to follow based on categories.
However, Twitter’s simplicity, which has worked well in the past, may ultimately be its biggest weakness. The 140 character limit can be cumbersome. Although users can post pictures on Twitter, they need a third-party application, such as TwitPic, to do so. Also, users cannot see responses to conversations- they can only view one user’s microblogs at one time.

Where Does Buzz Add Value?
Google Buzz’s strengths, particularly when compared to Twitter, make Buzz an ideal product for professionals looking to microblog. On Buzz, professionals who want to enhance their personal brand can post links as well as photos and videos, enabling them to post more varied types of information than on Twitter. Additionally, professionals who want engage with their fans/audience can provide a more interactive experience on Buzz via the commenting feature, which not only allows professionals to interact with their audience but also enables fans to interact with one another. Also, presumably, since Buzz is a Google product, microblogging with Buzz could increase search engine rankings as well as, or even better than Twitter or other competitors. I personally would love to see a Buzz application for Blogger, and start following TV how-to personalities on Buzz. I could find a lot of added value in hearing Martha Stewart's audience suggesting recipes, not just Martha herself. And that is one area where Buzz has the potential to outshine Twitter and the others. Let's just hope that the class action lawsuits against Buzz stop coming.

More Women than Men Use Twitter

Social media analytics provider Sysomos recently released a report on Twitter entitled “An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World." The report revealed some interesting, and surprising, data about the microblogging site.

Twitter has seen impressive growth this past year. According to the report, 72.5% of all users joined Twitter between January and May of this year. 53% are women, and 81% are under 30 years old.

And although it seems like most Twitter users are constantly microblogging, approximately 85% of users are a silent majority, updating 0 times each day. 6.48% tweet daily and 2.8% update twice a day. The percentage of users tweeting 3, 4, 5, etc. times a day continues to decrease until 9 daily updates, with only 0.18% updating. However, over 1% of the Twitter population tweets 10 or more timex per day. That essentially equates to 75% of all Twitter activity coming from just 5% of users.

Similarly, 92.4% of users follow less than 100 people, and 93.68% are followed by 1-100 individuals. One's "audience" impacts a person's activity. According to the Sysomos report, the average number of daily updates rises from three to six among users with more than 1,000 followers. However, that increase impacts a tiny percentage of Twitter users, with 0.68% reaching the thousand-follower mark.

Unsurprisingly, marketers on Twitter are more active. They are more likely to update than the average Twitter user, with 35% posting at least daily. Also, 15% of marketers follow more than 2,000 people.

Kathy Ireland Sees Correlation Between Twitter and Sales

Personal branding guru Dan Schawbel recently wrote a Business Week article about leveraging social media for marketing purposes. Although the article focused on personal branding, Schwabel highlighted points that could be used for professional brands as well.

Some of his key points (revised for corporations) to leveraging social media are:

• Create a goal-based strategy


• Connect with passionate consumers who are interested


• Consistently provide added value

Schawbel stresses that each interaction, such as a Facebook status update or a Tweet, is a marketing message. He uses the example of Kathy Ireland, the former model who currently has her own enterprise of clothing, jewelry, and home goods, and recently authored a book, "Real Solutions for Busy Moms." Ireland has profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn, in addition to connecting with fans on Twitter.

Ireland has seen a correlation between her Twitter usage and sales. "Twitter has informed us of issues, unauthorized sales, media opportunities, and new exposure to people," she says. She also lauds the importance of participation in social media, and claims that absence makes a statement as well: "Even if you elect not to be involved in these media platforms, your absence is a statement and therefore a form of participation."

Women Use Social Media to Network Professionally

The results of a research study (sponsored by the social network ShesConnected) were posted in a recent eMarketer bulletin. Participants were recruited through various social networks, who were encouraged to pass it along to their friends. The survey results provided much-needed data about the habits and preferences of female social networkers.

59% of respondents log onto social networks multiple times a day, and an additional 14% log on daily. Facebook was the most frequently used social network, with 83% of respondents reporting they use it. Surprisingly, LinkedIn (73%) was nearly twice as popular as MySpace (41%) and 55% use Twitter. Another notable result was that professional networking was the most compelling reason these women visited social networks, overtaking staying in touch with friends. (71% vs 62%, found it "very important", respectively.) Researching products and services (45% "very important" and 34% "somewhat important") and finding deals and discounts (25% "very important" and 39% "somewhat important") were also high on the list.

The report also gathered data on privacy issues and revenue generation preferences. 93% of respondents rated privacy settings as “very important,” and another 6% said they were “somewhat important.” When asked about using sites that sell data to advertisers, 41% were "not comfortable" and 36% claimed they would not use the site. Interestingly, however, charging a subscription fee proved to be a greater barrier to entry- a full 49% of respondents claimed they would not use the site.

More Women than Men Use Social Networks

A recent report from TNS and The Conference Board revealed that women are more social on and offline than their male counterparts. According to the survey, almost half (48%) of the female respondents visited social networking sites, compared with 37.6% of men. This is the second year in a row that approximately 10% more women than men reported visiting social networks. 43% of all respondents (US Internet users) visited social networking sites, up 16% from the year before.

Not only did the amount of users increase, but also the amount of time spent on social networks. The majority of respondents visited social networking sites at least once per day. Users were most likely to visit social networks in a family area at home, followed by in a private area at home, at work and by using mobile devices. The most popular social networking sites, as expected, were Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, respectively.

Women are Catching Up to Men in Online Video Viewing

According to a recently released Pew Internet report, the audience for video-sharing websites is growing, and women are an increasingly large part of the trend. The amount of online video viewers, who use sites like YouTube and Google Video, has nearly doubled since 2006. 62% of adult internet users have used these sites, up from 33% in December 2006.

The adoption of online video continues to grow across all demographic groups, and women, although behind, are rapidly catching up. The percentage of online women who visit video sharing sites has grown substantially over this past year, from 46% in 2008 to 59% in 2009. However, that compares with 57% of male internet users in 2008 and 65% in the latest survey. And online men are still more likely to have watched a video on a video sharing site on a typical day- 23% as opposed 15% of women.

Video sharing sites are becomming so common that they are far outpacing the adoption rates of many other internet activities. Watching video on sites like YouTube is more popular than using social networks, downloading podcasts, or status updating with Twitter or other microblogging websites.

Why Women Use Twitter (And With Whom They Interact)

Consumer Internet Barometer from TNS and The Conference Board recently surveyed adults in the US to answer the question: "Why tweet?"

According to their results, women use Twitter primarily for social purposes. 48.4% use the service to keep in touch with friends and 29.4% to update their status. Although men also listed keeping in touch with friends as their primary goal, they were more interested in using Twitter to find news 30.7% than updating their status.

Women are more likely to use Twitter to communicate with people they know. 73.6% of female respondents interact with friends and 36.4% with family (as opposed to 59.6% and 23.3% of men, respectively.) Men and women were reported as connecting with TV shows, co-workers, brands, and journalists almost equally. However, women were more likely to interact with celebrities while men were more likely to connect with bloggers.

Martha Stewart Prefers Twitter over Facebook

Lifestyle and home entertaining guru Martha Stewart was quoted today on The Daily Beast as a Twitter fan. Stewart discusses at length her preference for Twitter over Facebook, as well as what she's seen as a better ROI for her company through Twitter.

“I just love it so much more than Facebook,” says Stewart. “First of all, you don’t have to spend any time on it, and, second of all, you reach a lot more people. And I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”

She elaborates: “I’m not knocking Facebook. We use both Facebook and Twitter [at MSO]. They’re very different tools, and I personally don’t use Facebook. I prefer Twitter as a means of mass communication—it’s the Wal-Mart of the Internet.”

The ROI for Stewart, given the time she spends on Twitter, is impressive. “With minimal effort—and I really mean it: I spend less than five minutes a day on Twitter—I have been able to garner over 1 million followers in a 4½-month period, with very few tweets, by the way,” Stewart told me. According to The Daily Beast's analysis of Tweets to followers, Stewart is twice as popular as Ashton Kutcher and three times as popular as Sean Combs. Although The Daily Beast was surprised by this relevation, I think this speaks well to both the appeal of the Martha Stewart brand and also the adoption of Twitter by the brand's audience.

Encouraging New Social Media Strategies

I read two interesting articles this week, one from Jason Falls' blog and the other from Harvard Business' Conversation Starter, both focusing on the need for more critical thinking and out of the box designing for social media strategies. Now that social media has moved out of the woodwork, companies (and marketers) are becoming increasingly more formulaic in the creation and implementation of social media campaigns. And although Facebook, Twitter, and blogs should be part of any good social media, they shouldn't be the whole strategy.

As David Armano points out in Conversation Starter: "The current state of "social media" for many businesses looks more like an episode of MacGyver than Apple's design process. Duct tape and bubble gum hold together fragile tactics such as Twitter accounts run by the summer college intern (nothing against college interns) or agency-generated Facebook fan pages that have few actual fans. This is not how any design process begins. It's not a purposeful or intentional act of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component. It's a reactive fragmented approach that may achieve short-term results for marketing but usually ends up living in isolation (a social media department)."

Jason Falls created a list of suggestions to round out a social media campaign. The highlights, paraphrased, are:

* Make a point of developing ideas that don't involve Facebook, Twitter or blogs.
* Devleop five tactics to reach consumers on forums and message boards.
*Take 10 pictures (without captions) that visualize what you’re trying to communicate, and upload them to Flickr. Look at them every day.
* Write a news report about the success of your campaign, starting with the headline that you achieved your goal and write the success story in reverse chronological order, imagining the blueprint for your success.
*Ask yourself, “What would make the boring, old clerk at the corner store tell me about this?” Find a way to weave that in to your strategy.

These suggestions apply to any type of social media campaign, but they are particular useful when creating campaigns targeting women. Women are indundated with unoriginal, formulaic, and disingenuous social media tactics from marketers and advertisers. If we are to reach women through social media, we must think outside the box to create clever campaigns that both appeal to them and engage them. If not, we run the risk of being just another advertiser pushing a product to deaf ears.