This information was just to juicy to pass up. In that spirit…
How much of my client base is on Twitter? How about Facebook? Is it worthwhile for me to set up a marketing campaign on these platforms? Flowtown is a company to watch out for. I did a test run and inserted email addresses that I knew had accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and Netflix and it didn’t seem to pick up on all the accounts, so this posting comes with a wee caveat. Test is for yourself, it’s certainly has worked for some.
You can import an existing database of customer emails and voila, you find out where your customers are – in aggregate – on the internet.
Love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. Well, this article from Ignite Social Media called 2010 Social Network Analysis Report – Demographic and Traffic Data compliments this posting. It is what it sounds like – you get general information on the make up of traffic to a wide range of social media networks. It gives you another tool in your ever growing toolbox to get closer to understanding your target market’s internet communities.
My dearest reader, how accurate have you found Flowtown to be?
From painting and tattoos to murals and jewellery, there are inspired artists that embrace social media as it becomes more and more ingrained into the threads of our cultural mosaic.
What things have you found out about your boyfriend or spouse with the little help from your cyber friend?
Like companies caught for being less then honest, more and more spouse’s are being outed for hiding something by harnessing the power of the Internet. The article Find Out if Your Spouse is Cheating Now gives you a list of signs to look for – btw, I wouldn’t recommend going for the up sell. If you need to pay people money to find out if your spouse is being loyal, what does that say about trust in your relationship.
I ask you, dear reader…
Is cyber sex cheating? I posted this question on Ask500People.com and watched the flood gates open as people all over the world gave their 2 cents worth.
If you have your own blog or plan on creating your own blog this topic is likely to make you perk up a bit in your seat and lean in. Go ahead. If you also happen to author a blog about social media, then you might start salivating. I’m drooling. This could get messy folks.
Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com has been an ongoing reliable source for me when it comes to anything related to social media under-the-sun and the post on the website called 5 Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Outstanding has been no exception, so I felt inspired to recommend the link on Delicious. tip my hat to the author Jeff Korhan whose work as a professional consultant and columnist on new media and small business marketing has no doubt paid off.
The long-and-short of the article is that there are five main ways to be able to make blog posts that are worthy of being called ‘outstanding’. Following these rules will also greatly increase your chances of being the subject of blog envy.
1. Has an Engaging Title. Develop a catchy phrase that peaks your reader’s curiosity. Perhaps the article responds to a specific need, such as “3 Ways to Achieve Explosive Blog Growth” or “How to Use Delicious: The King of Social Bookmarking”.
In addition to the tips mentioned in the article, I find that blog posts that have the following characteristics tend to inspire me to click on them to learn more about the topic:
Offers a list of specific points, such as “10 Methods of…” or “3 Ways to Master…”. This gives the reader a feeling that the article is well structured, easy to read / navigate and is split up into digestible pieces.
Gets to the point/ concise
Fairly short
Unconventional/ unique
Targets to your audience
Asks a thought-provoking question
2. Offers Easy to Consume Content. Organize your content with your reader in mind by effectively using subheadings, lists, italics and bold text.
3. Mixes Content Types. Use images, video, links to your research, etc. to break up your text and make your post look more inviting to read / watch.
4. Is Search Engine Optimized. Include customized excerpts, which is a brief description that is included with the return of search results. Use keywords that your readers would use to look for your post. Write kick ass content that will inspire others to link to your blog.
5. Encourages Interaction and Action. You want visitors to comment and you want to learn from their comments. You can show readers how to comment (i.e., graphically through screenshots) on your blog.
I now turn my metaphorical spotlight onto you, my dear reader. What other points can you add to this article? Could you elaborate on any of the points?
Do you know what it would sound like if a couple of social media geeks started to sweet talk each other? It would sound like this video, which also pays homage to the gaggle of social media lingo that exists out there in cyberspace.
This video was created by a second party and I dedicate it to the countless men and women who have earned the right to be called a social media douche bag. Enjoy!
Social Media Douche Bag Recipe
- 3 cups of calling yourself a social media guru
- 1 Tbsp of registering with dozens of social media sites, but never actually use them.
- Pinch of guaranteeing results for your clients, but have no prior experience orchestrating a successful social media campaign.
- 1 dollop of using auto follows tools to obtain 80,000 visitor and flaunting this as evidence of your social media prowess.
Bake for 20 minutes on high and voila, a social media expert is served up to bright eyed managers eager to jump on the social media bandwagon and sink their teeth into a slice of pride that they are officially involved in the social media revolution and say look at me world.
I pass the torch to you my dear reader. What other signs make your social media expert a douche bag?
Spendit Marketing Systems is a Vancouver based marketing company. They integrate traditional direct marketing with new media.
I plan on conducting a fictitious Test Design for this company which may include fictitious data. The point is to demonstrate a possible survey test design for this company.
Goal of the project is to learn why we only have 54 members on our Facebook page and 18 followers on Twitter, despite having a current client base of over 800 (I’m guessing here).
Sample population is current customers. I plan to interview 200 customers, which will allow for the possibility of subgroups.
Interview methodology will use the telephone to conduct the survey. We have this information already available for all of our clients. We will call participants between 6 to 9pm and re-schedule interviews where necessary. The biggest appeal of this type of methodology is that it should cover nearly all of our target population.
Create questionnaire that the majority of staff will contribute to and will start with an introduction message, allow for “Don’t Know” or “Not Applicable” and use a variety of types of questions such as multiple choice, numeric open-end, and text open-end.
Some sample questions include, but are not limited to:
1. Are you aware that Spendit Marketing Systems has a Facebook Account? Y/N
2. Are you aware that Spendit Marketing Systems has a Twitter account Y/N
Subgroup questions:
3. [n= those who are aware of Spendit's Facebook page, but are not using it] Why are you not using Spendit’s Facebook page? Open-end question.
4. [n= those who are aware of Spendit's Twitter's page, but are not following it] Why are you not following Spendit on Twitter? Open-end question.
Pretest questionnaire with 5 of our clients, conduct the interviews from November 15 2010 to January 15, 2011.
Finally, I will analyze the data and produce reports.
I’ve run across an interesting site called Ask 500 People and it offers quick, cheap market research. The website boasts that a formal survey cost $5,000+ and can take weeks, while using Ask 500 People takes hours. This service doesn’t allow you to poll your target audience – which is a huge disadvantage of this site. It polls anyone on the net that wants to answer a question and the people that respond to the polls can reside anywhere in the world.
Some information from http://www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm contributed to this article.
Do you want to win $100? Would you like to receive recognition for your video on my blog?
Can you take a social media and business (i.e., social media marketing) topic and create a funny, creative and informative video? You don’t need to be a social media professional to win. All submissions are welcome!
Contest Summary
Enter: A link to your video clip that’s funny, creative and about social media and business. Prizes: Win $100 and recognition on my blog. How: Email me a link to your video to llwalker@gmail.com and include one to two sentences describing your video. Deadline: January 15, 2011.
How do I Enter?
Step 1: Read this content overview. There is some key information here you’ll need to know before you start.
Step 2: Make a great video. Simply set up your camera and let your creative juices flow! Aim to make it funny, creative and educational – most importantly have fun!! Feel free to use http://www.xtranormal.com/ since it is a very easy, quick way to make a video. You simply choose the character(s) you want in your video and type in what you want them to say, voila!
Feel free to visit this blog http://bit.ly/92zf6O to view a sample of what your video might look like. Are you having trouble coming up with some ideas?
Here are a few possible themes:
Experiences you’ve had with companies trying to use social media to get you to buy their product or service.
Top 10 lists, how-to tips, trends, and social media tools.
How does it best meet her needs? How can companies use social media to get grandma to buy their service / product?
For further information about social media and business, please visit http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com. It will give you a wealth of ideas for potential topics for your video.
Step 3: Submit your video / link to llwalker@gmail.com with the subject line “Social Media Video Contest”. Please include your name and a brief sentence or two about your video.
Step 4: Invite your friends to view your video and make comments about why they think you should win.
Prize: $100 CDN, on a VISA gift card to buy what you want.
Recognition: I will attempt to write an article on every video provided to me, but am limited on time.
Winner: One (1) winner will be selected by myself with a significant amount of help from industry professional(s). Selection is based on how funny, original and informative your video is.
Deadline: Start date is Friday October 15, 2010. Video entries can be submitted until January 15, 2011 at 11:59pm PST. Winner will be announced on this blog and notified via email (the one you used to submit your video link) by January 19, 2011 to obtain your shipping address.
Rules: Maximum of four (4) entries per person. Video(s) must be under one (1) minute each to qualify and each deal with a specific topic.
Legal Mumble Jumble
This contest is open to all people worldwide. Videos must be in English to be considered. Offer is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Participants must be at least 18+ to enter. Entries that are believed to be created by a second party will be disqualified.
No videos of your privates please. Just because you’re an exhibitionist does not make me a voyeur. I reserve the right to not feature your video on my blog. Winner will have 10 days to respond. Failure to respond within 10 days will forfeit prize eligibility and a new winner will be chosen.
There is social media as a research tool for professionals and then there is social media as a research tool for personal use. These are two very different beasts.
I remember when I would think about something that I wanted to research and would need to leave the ‘comfort’ of my computer and go to my local Vancouver Public Library, often relying upon a liberian’s expertise for conducting research.
Now, nearly anything I think of that I want to know about I can find out about on the internet, usually in a matter of minutes.
I use Rotten Tomatoes when deciding what movie I want to watch. It’s user-driven based on individuals reviews. In my mind, I think that if at least 100 people reviewed the movie, the aggregate opinions are statistically significant and I’ve been able to watch a lot of fantastic movies that way.
I subscribe to Consumer Reports and use it when I make certain purchases. The idea is that unbiased researchers test the products on the same factors and come up with a score that ranks the products depending on how they perform. I’ve found this site consistently reliable.
The list goes on and on.
On a professional level, I used to work for a very large, international research firm. The company helps its clients test and evaluate brands, products, promotions, advertising, etc.
The company conducts interviews through telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and online survey panels. They continue to rely more and more on online survey panels because everyday more and more people use the internet and internet surveys are significantly cheaper than other survey methods.
People sign-up to receive surveys and answer screener questions that let the company know if they qualify for the survey. This allows the company to target a market, even if it’s quite specific / a niche market.
Survey panelists receive instant win opportunities, sweepstakes entries and prize giveaways as incentives to fill out surveys.
People who participate in online surveys often don’t represent the demographic being tested. For example, it can be argued that people that respond to financial incentives might fall within a lower income bracket. Also, people often do not take enough time and care to properly fill out a survey. Many people probably rush through surveys that aren’t very interesting to quickly finish it and get the incentive, so accuracy could be an issue.
