A new study detailing the likelihood of referrals and purchases from Facebook fans and Twitter followers has revealed, perhaps unsurprisingly so, that fans and followers are a brand’s best friends.  The study explains that 60% of Facebook fans and a whopping 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend a brand or brands after becoming a fan or follower.  Furthermore 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to purchase products or services offered by a brand after becoming a fan or follower.

New meaning to “brand loyalty”

Skeptics of the lasting impact or advantage of a brand maintaining its presence on Facebook or Twitter may insert their feet into their mouths now.  The simple act of clicking “become a fan” or “follow” is likely not the sole reason these brand loyalists are recommending or purchasing from a brand.  Still, the regular interaction with and updates from their brand of choice remain influential in their decisions to recommend or purchase.  In some ways, a person’s news feed is the ultimate location to stage a marketing campaign, as updates are mixed between posts from a user’s friends, subliminally asserting that this brand itself is a friend. 

The end of the email era?

If critics still need convincing, they need only look at the frequency with which Facebook users are logging onto the social network.  The raw numbers of daily log-ins were detailed in a previous post, but they, nonetheless, indicate that almost half of Facebook’s user-verse (universe reference, anyone?) logs in each day, most times more than once, ensuring that an update or promotion is not left unnoticed.  Furthermore, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal announced the “End of the Email Era,” positing Facebook messages had replaced emails, citing a study by Prompt Communications.  In the study, 96% of respondents claimed to use Facebook messages as a means of communication, with only 91% of respondents admitting the same for email.

Just like video killed the radio star, Facebook messages have killed the email.   Armed with the knowledge that radio remains a viable means of mass communication, we know that death is not quite as final as the Buggles suggested.  Nonetheless, as medium replaces medium, the broad encompassing tool of email has been edged out in sheer usage by its cousin, the Facebook message.  The question remains over the qualitative differences between these media, as almost certainly deeper conversations and more information can be exchanged via email than Facebook message.  That being said, it is becoming increasingly clear, given the frequency with which the social network is utilized by everyday people and the inherent loyalty of fans and followers, that social networks are and will remain a crucial arena for marketing campaigns.

The techies and gadget enthusiasts the world over waited with bated breath for Steve Job’s State of the Union address to shareholders last week.  Not because he offered any solutions for the growing deficit, the wars in the Middle East, or health care reform.  But unlike President Obama’s competing speech, Jobs delivered a Holy Grail of sorts in the form of the iPad.

Technically speaking, the iPad is an iTouch that has been drawn and stretched 7Xs larger.  Resembling more a tablet than a hand-held device, the iPad retains the same web-surfing capabilities and the space to store songs, podcasts, and videos of its ancestors.  The expansion of the screen however adds the option of reading texts and e-books loaded onto the device, the very feature that casts Amazon’s Kindle as hell bound, since they’ll soon begin open competition for the same consumers.

So if it is the day of reckoning, who’s headed where?

The introduction of the iPad begs the question of who exactly will Jobs be saving?  Long in need of a savior in the Internet age, newspapers and magazines have been quick to predict massive overhaul of their operating procedures and u-turns in their revenue graphs.  News corporations dream of potential readers – and in light of several major papers beginning to charge for their service, subscribers – landing on their website after seeing a tweet or post on Twitter or Facebook.

But this gets to the heart of the matter – as the iPad stands in between its smart phone and netbook cousins, it undoubtedly will be only positive for social networking sites.  Apple’s newest product couples a larger screen than the iPhone with more portability than laptops.  This will make it easier to read on-screen material  ranging from e-books to  news feeds or tweeted links on Facebook and Twitter.  The fact that the iPad is less cumbersome will encourage owners to check-in on these networks more frequently than on their netbooks.   The result: people will be spending more time, more often on social networking sites.  Beyond pop-up ads and mandatory videos, social media networks promise to be a major player in the future of effective marketing, especially with the advent of the iPad.

At the start of the new decade, many are questioning what lies ahead for social media networking sites.  Twitter remains the target of skeptics who point to stagnant membership and mock the micro-blogging mecca. Simultaneously, tweeters and commentators have come to the site’s defense, alleging Twitter is here to stay.

Skeptics point to mediocre 2009 in numbers

While the latest social media network reported a small bump in membership in December, its end of the year numbers were a staggering 24% less than June 2009.  Ironically, while Twitter was featured more and more frequently in cable news broadcasts – and stood at the center of the Iran election coverage in June – the network hemorrhaged members.  Twitter’s growth problem has thus become a billion dollar question: how can the social network grow? Some analysts are pointing to the immeasurability of new Twitter members, as an increasing proportion of members are tweeting from mobile devices and via apps, which were not captured in the statistics.  Others claim Twitter has not yet reached a critical mass, like Facebook already has, encouraging potential members to join to keep track of everyone else they know.

Twitter makes sharing information simple

Yet, Twitter remains extremely popular and has been put to great use recently in light of the earthquake in Haiti, as tweeters are sharing thoughts, needs, websites for charity, and prayers through the social network.  New York Times media reporter, David Carr, remains optimistic about the future of Twitter.  In his article titled “Why Twitter Will Endure,” Carr argues that Twitter allows for the consumption of a massive array of information.  Yes, people tweet about their choice of cereal, but they are also sharing news articles, videos, blogs, and discussion boards where responses are not limited to 140 characters or less. As Steven Johnson, another journalist and technology commentator for TIME, observes, “the history of the Internet suggests that there have been cool Web sites that go in and out of fashion and then there have been open standards that become plumbing. Twitter is looking more and more like plumbing, and plumbing is eternal.”

In case you didn’t know, we’re in tough economic times.  These economic conditions have drastically cut budgets across the nation and world, leaving meager allowances for marketing and advertising in its wake.

Nonetheless, expectations for 2010 remain optimistic.  In a new study released yesterday, StrongMail reveals nine out of ten business executives plan to maintain or increase their marketing budgets.  Execs aren’t thinking conventionally for the new decade either, instead the survey’s respondents indicated they were open to marketing strategies that utilize the Internet and maximize their dollar.  Next year, 69 and 59 percent of business executives anticipate increasing their email and social media marketing, respectively. Another 42 percent claimed they expect to spend more on search engine initiatives, such as SEO and PPC.  The survey’s results indicate a migration to internet marketing tactics, as advertising and direct mailing initiatives are expected by less than 30 percent of execs.

Furthermore, the study showed a desire among business executives to combine the tested and proven tactics of emailing potential customers with social media.  Execs did not, however, demonstrate uniform confidence about how they would go about implementing such strategies in the upcoming year.  Instead, one out of five executives claimed they had no idea where to begin.  With more businesses seeking to establish an online presence in hopes of finding cheaper alternatives to conventional advertising, it is certain that social media marketing and search engine initiatives will play integral roles in the year 2010.

Twitter, like all other social platforms can be used effectively for marketing a brand but you need to know the basics and follow the rules of the community if you want to succeed. There are some great basic tips for building a following on Twitter and natually like anything esle, the more visibility you have to your profile, the more doors it can open. The foundation of all of this though is that you must start by respecting the community and adding value. Here some tips to help you get started:

1. Create a good profile:  Treat your profile like you would on any other social platform.  The more robust your profile is the more likely people will be to follow you.  They need to see value in following you and the first step towards building that trust is through your profile.  There are many great tools to use when customizing your page.  The more information you have laid out of a creative way, the more enticing it will be for people to follow you.  Keep this in mind because in a bit we will talk about driving traffic to your profile page.
2. Inegrate your brand or blog into your profile:  This is done when customizing your page.
3. Start following people:  Natually the first thing you need to do is start following people.  Find peole that are relevant to your interests and people that have strong followings themselves.  Once you gather a good list of people you are following you can send them direct messages and ask them to follow you.  Include a small value proposition and tell them why you want them to follow you.
4. Follow people that follow you:  This falls under the category of Twitter etiquette.  The general rule is that you should follow people that follow you.  Later you can go through and orgainze your lists for optimial value and impact.
5. Offer value:  When people start following you they will not want to just see blatant promotions and obvious commercial offeerings.  Like any other social network you need to engage in discussions and offer advice, tips, value, and just simply be engaged in what people are Tweeting about.
6. Two way attention is important:  This is the part that takes some time.  You really should try to be conversational with people that you follow and that are following you. 
7. Drive traffic to your profile page:  It doesn’t really matter what you Tweet or how you use Twitter.  It is more about who you are.  Once you have a nicely customized profile page start sending traffic to it.  You can do this through email signatures, blogs, running contests, using Twitter as a customer service tool, etc.  There are many creative ways to do this just like you would drive traffic to any web page.

Things to keep in mind:

• You can only follow up to 2000 people until you yourself have 2000 followers.  Then you can follow more people.
• There are great tools out there that can help you optimize your efforts, espcially if you are using Twitter as a social media marketing platform.

Tools:

• Socialtoo.com:  this is a tool that is set up to send customized messages to people once they start following you.
• TwitterKarma.com:  this tool helps you orgainze your following and people you follow.  You can view all the people that you follow but that do not follow you back.  If they are not following you and did not respond to any direct messages then you can “mass” unfollow them and open up more room for following new people.
• TweetDeck.com:  this tool acts like a master control panel where you can manage your entire Twitter account.  Twitter is coming out with their own version soon.

Using Twitter for social media marketing:

All the same principles apply.  For example, a social media Internet marketing company would set up a profile for a client and then start driving traffic to that profile through many channels including their own website (the client’s).  They would build a following and start offering great value to the community.  Gradually the Internet marketing company would include some special offers, or maybe run contests or other creative promotional offerings.  The better the follow is the more responses you will get.  Like all online marketing efforts the message must be consistent and good landing pages should be used to optimize conversions.