by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 8, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Twitter
Contractors are busy people, and the 140-character message is just enough to peak their curiosity and have them click through to your message.
Twitter is one of the social media tools that can be used as a tool for your company’s social media marketing strategy to generate online traffic and a pipeline for new business leads. Over the past year, the leading traffic generator to my blog has been Twitter.
Twitter Usage In America: 2010 is a new report derived from the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series. This report is derived from three years of tracking data on Twitter usage in the United States. It is filled with rich information that can help guide the use of Twitter for your agency and its clients.
Twitter is more of a broadcast channel than many realize. The majority of users never post anything…but they are definitely reading and clicking.
Here are some highlights from this comprehensive study and its untapped potential for marketing, advertising and your agency’s new business:
- Awareness of Twitter has exploded over the past twelve months. The percentage of Americans who are familiar with Twitter has surged from 5% in 2008 to 87% in 2010. Twitter is a natural “companion medium” to other media channels – in particular, as an accompaniment to live TV.
- Despite equal awareness, Twitter trails Facebook significantly in usage: 7% of Americans (17 million persons) actively use Twitter, while 41% maintain a profile page on Facebook.
- Nearly two-thirds of active Twitter users access social networking sites using a mobile phone.
- Twitter users split between habitual “Tweeters” and those who access occasionally. The majority of Twitter users are “lurkers,” passively following and reading the updates of others without contributing updates of their own but they are listening, reading and clicking.
- Twitter users are far more likely to follow Brands/Companies than social networkers in general. Twitter users frequently exchange information about products and services.
- 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks.
- Most (70%) regular Twitter users do post status updates to some social networking service (likely Facebook). Twitter appears to be functioning as more of a broadcast medium compared to Facebook and many other social networking sites and services.
- Marketing and business use cases for Twitter far exceed similar usage for social networking websites in general.
The full 49-page study, full of interesting graphs and data, is available for download: Twitter Usage in America: 2010 – Complete Report
If you like this post, you might find these interesting:
B-to-B Marketers: Tips on How to Optimize Twitter
What Kind of Twitterer Are You?
Twitter: How Useful is This Tool for B-to-B Marketers?
If you like this post, please pass it on.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 3, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Sonnhalter is deeply involved with the professional tradesmen. We recently completed an overview of the Electrical market. The purpose of the document is to give the reader a quick snapshot of the industry, its players and trends for 2010.
Highlights include interviews with editors of the top two trade publications. Also included are association and buying group contacts, trade shows/meetings, industry trends and media publications. A free copy for download is available. Click here to sign up.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 2, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
If you’re reading this blog, then it would be safe to say that you aren’t asking the “why” or “should” we be using social media. What you’re looking for are ways to answer the “where” and “how.”
Companies should follow, not lead their customers in the social media arena. I read a post recently from Jay Baer, one of social media’s thought leaders, Four Ways to Find Out if Your Customers are Active With Social Media, and I thought I’d share some of the highlights:
- Hire a Spy – There are companies out there that track down your customers and see what they are on and to what level (scary thought). Flowtown and Rapleaf are two of the leaders.
- Ask – It’s too obvious, isn’t it? In your regular business conversations, ask if they are active. If you have an online lead generation form, add data fields for LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
- E-mail Behavior – Add links to your social outposts in your e-mails.
- Gmail Stalking – Twitter, Facebook and other outposts have incorporated a function that allows you to see if they are using their services and invite them to connect with you.
If you like this post, you might like:
How B-to-B Marketers Can Make Good Use Out of Facebook Fan Pages.
Follow Companies on Twitter: Keep Tabs on Your Competition or Customers.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 1, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
I recently interviewed Jim Lucy, the Chief Editor of Electrical Wholesaling Magazine on the state of the industry. Jim has been with Electrical Wholesaling for 28 years and has a good pulse on what’s happening in the industry. You can listen to the entire interview here.
Highlights include:
- Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
- How progressive companies weathered the storm?
- Which market niches offer the most opportunity over the next few years?
- Will M&A activity increase as the economy improves?
If you like what you listened to, pass it on to a friend.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 27, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
E-mails are still a good “go to” strategy whether you’re a B-to-B or B-to-C marketer. When going after the professional tradesmen or contractor, we have found that timing is probably one of the most critical components to a successful campaign.
We have found that the time of day is usually a key factor in the open rate. We usually either have them sent at 6-7 in the morning or after 5 as these are the times contractors usually have time to spend on their e-mails.
Silverpop‘s recent poll ranked tactics that both groups thought to be important.
B-to-B marketers were highly focused on moving prospects through the sales pipeline, while B-to-C respondents were looking to increase customer loyalty.
What are some of the tactics that you find get better results?
Other posts you might find interesting:
Will E-mail Be Replaced by Social Media?
E-mail and Social Media are Tools B-to-B Marketers Plan on Using More of in 2010
E-mail Marketing for Industrial Markets: Common Mistakes to Avoid
E-mail: Still an Effective Method to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
by tradespeopleinsights | May 26, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
When looking at what marketing tools to use, you have to look at your target and find out how they like to receive info. For the contractor that’s on the go, e-mail is still a viable option especially for the over-30 crowd. For the under-30 crowd, texting was the preferred method.
In a recent survey by eMarketer.com, they found 70% would rather talk to their friends and family via e-mail as opposed to social sites.
ExactTarget’s “2009 Channel Preference Study” also found e-mail on top, with 57% of U.S. Internet users preferring it for written communications versus 24% for texting and just 10% for social.
Texting was preferred by almost half of the respondents.
So, the bottom line is, don’t give up on a tool that has become part of our daily lives.
Other posts you might find interesting:
Will E-mail Be Replaced By Social Media?
E-mail and Social Media are Tools B-to-B Marketers Plan on Using More of in 2010
E-mail Marketing for Industrial Markets: Common Mistakes to Avoid
E-mail: Still an Effective Method to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
If you like this post, please share it with a friend.
Contractors are busy people, and the 140-character message is just enough to peak their curiosity and have them click through to your message.
