by tradesmeninsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
So you think social media is just a phase, well think again. Here are some numbers from a post by Stan Schroeder, The Web in Numbers: The Rise of Social Media, that will blow you away.
According to Nielsen Online, latest research shows that social networking is now more popular than e-mail. 66.8% of Internet users use social media while only 65.1% have used e-mails.
- YouTube. In March, it reached 100 million monthly views in the U.S.A.^.3 billion videos were viewed on the site. YouTube will serve 75 billion videos to 375 million unique visitors in 2009.
- Facebook. Has grown from 100 million to 200 million users in less than 8 months. If it were a country, it would be bigger than Brazil
- MySpace. Is now lagging Facebook with only 54.1 million unique visitors.
- Twitter. Is growing at a crazy rate. It grew 76.8% in one month (Feb-March 09). Its yearly growth rate is 1,382%. Twitter has 7 million unique visitors a month.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
E-mails have been around and we’ve used it to asked tradesmen to forward on valuable information to their peers about our products or programs. It’s not easy and isn’t reliable because you’re asking the customer to do a lot of work on your behalf. E-mail is also a one-way street in that you don’t make it easy to respond back to the original source.
Joint research by Ball State University,Exact Target and e-mail networking association reveals that more than 46% of e-mail marketing campaigns this year will use social media and e-mail in tandem compared to just 13% in 2008.
E-mail combined with social media offerings like Linked-in, Facebook and Twitter allow you to get your message out quicker to more people and give them an easy way to reply. In other words you’re engaging them and that’s why social media is so important. By clicking a link, you are sharing content with influencers that you might not have had reached.
I read a post recently from Karen Bannan, Combining e-mail with social media,where she shared thoughts from Ryan Duetsch from StrongMail Systems on ways to get the most out of your efforts.
- Use ESPs. Most major ESPs (like StrongMail and Sliverpop) and e-mail providers are making it easy to send e-mails directly to your Facebook page for example.
- Create your own social network. Create your own community. If you’re targeting professional plumbers for example, the discussions that go on provide great resources for e-newsletters. You know what the hot topics are and can address them as an expert.
- Add opt-in links to all your marketing collateral. For example, if you post a new video on Facebook, make sure it contains a link at the end so viewers can opt-in. Once it’s shared, you’ll be reaching thousands of prospects making sure you give them a way to ask for more information.
- Use your status to publicize your e-mail newsletter. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter give users the option to publish information. Take advantage of this and even send out a reminder before you actually send out the e-mail that it’s coming.
- Change your layout. If you’re sending people from a social media site to your web site, make sure your opt-in links are very visible.
- Use search functions. Follow your company and brand names on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter to gain market knowledge. Twitter search lets you follow everything that’s mentioned about your company.
- Be a Joiner. You need to get involved. You want to become a trusted source, and in order to do that, you need to join Linkedin groups, respond to questions and get involved in discussions.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
I’m reminded that we should stay on top of new trends but not to throw out or ignore all those traditional things you’ve been doing like e-mails. In other words, “don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.”
E-mails are still the most accepted way of receiving info so why not use it to push some of your new social media toys.
We all want to be part of the newest and sexiest stuff. Social media is a hot topic. It is extremely popular, in part because it is inexpensive and can easily be measured. But it can and should be integrated with more traditional strategies such as broadcast e-mail programs.
I read a post this morning on B2B online marketing, Traditional marketing:not hot but still important, that I thought would be appropriate to share with all the B-to-B marketers out there.
Here are some simple reminders:
- Adopt an integrated approach. Mix the new with the old. Want to promote your blog or e-newsletter? What better way than using your e-mail list.
- Re-evaluate best practices you’d applied in the past. Find out what works best for your audiences. If you’re not sure ask them via a survey, focus groups or really do it the old fashioned way and pick up the phone and call them.
- Stay on top of new trends for old strategies. New tools won’t serve you well if the foundation is weak. Here are some recent tips they found for email marketing,landing page optimization and lead nurturing during a recession.
What are you doing to stay ahead of the game?
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
They are the hard-working men and women of America. They drive the products to market. They build the towers of business. They dig the foundations of dreams. They serve America in every capacity.
They are the blue collar tradesmen, working class heroes we sometimes overlook.
They have been all over this social media stuff long before the rest of us jumped on board. They have been building relationships with friends and business associates from around the world, across the country and around town for decades. They adopted these amazing communication technologies not as a narcissistic plaything but as serious tools of industry.
They are the ham radio operators, the CB truckers and the Nextel two-way cell users. They go by names like Gladys and Night Rider and Bubba and they are the real pioneers in social media.
What makes any of us think this group of users will avoid this brave new world? They are logging on in record numbers. According to one survey, while the universe of blue-collar social media users is less than 10%, they are the fastest-growing segment.
As their jobs dwindle, they are learning new trades and finding new jobs through the use of SM.
Blue-collar men and women are a critical part of the conversation.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
Social media allows us to engage each other and start a conversation which hopefully turns into a relationship.
I’ve been in the ad business for over 3 decades, and over the years have used the tools available to develop targeted programs to reach our intended audiences. We were so busy telling people how good our product was that we seldom took the time to ask any questions or listen to what the customers had to say. In other words, most of our communications were one way.
Today with the advent of social media, we have so many options to reach our target as does our target to get info on a particular product or service. Web 2.0, for example, allows customers to participate in dialogs, forums and surveys that let their opinions be known. We as marketers should be happy about this as it affords us valuable insight into the minds of customers (you ask questions, listen and respond).
Back in the day before the Internet was invented by Al Gore, a lot of us used to practice another form of B-to-B marketing (belly button to belly button) where we actually sat down with a customer or prospect and had a conversation with them.
Unfortunately in today’s world, people for the most part don’t have time for these kinds of encounters. Social media allows us to begin the engagement process, so hopefully as we build a relationship, we can ultimately have that face-to-face just like the good old days.
Marketers need to rethink the way they communicate to customers and prospects. Quit selling and start listening.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
I guess there is no surprise in this Nielsen/NetRatings study:
“Low-income tradesmen spend more time online from their home computers than do high-paid professionals.“
Makes sense, right? After all, white collar surfs the net while at work, whereas those who work in factories or at construction sites probably don’t have a chance to use the Web while on the job.
Nielsen’s Peggy O’Neill says: “They’re more likely to come home and spend time checking email, chatting online, playing games, and visiting stores than someone who has been online all day long.”
For her research, O’Neill used Claritas Prizm clusters based on ZIP codes and neighborhoods where people live. She looked at the home-based Web surfing habits of all 62 clusters and found that …
the top five Net users were low-income, blue collar workers who burned about 12 hours online per month.
Chatting on instant messenger, clicking through Wal-Mart online and visiting entertainment sites such as Emazing.com were the most popular activities for the top five clusters.
Those who spent the least amount of time online — about seven hours per month — were high-paid professionals.
O’Neill said, “When these people get home, they don’t have a great need to surf the Web.”
What an opportunity! Reaching blue collar consumers at home through the Internet, social and viral media may be the next big idea for emotionally connecting with this broad and loyal audience.
Read more about the study blue collar workers favor home Net use.
