Edison Research is launching their “Twitter Usage in America 2010″ report today with a live webinar. The report is part of their full Internet & Multimedia Study and includes some quality data. Here are some of the highlights:

• “The percentage of Americans who are familiar with Twitter has surged from 5% in 2008 to 87% in 2010.” We can all blame CNN’s Rick Sanchez for this.
• There are really only 17 million Americans using Twitter. The inflated number of accounts represents SPAM accounts and users with multiple accounts.
• “The percentage of Twitter users who are African-Americans in the current U.S. population… stands at roughly 25%.”
• “The majority of Twitter users are “lurkers,” passively following and reading the updates of others without contributing updates of their own.”
• “The percentage of Twitter users who follow brands is more than three times higher than similar behavior expressed by social networking users in general.”
• “A significantly higher proportion of Twitter users update their social networking profiles – and access Twitter – using mobile phones than the average user of other social networking sites and services.”
• “Only 7% of Americans are aware of location based social networks”
• “Twitter users are more likely to have improved their financial situation in the past year compared to the total population (32% to 18%)”

Twitter Users are Unique

There are still, relatively, very few of us living and breathing Twitter on a regular basis (and sharing our breakfast choices).  The users driving the content on Twitter are not reflective of social networking users as a whole. They are very much early adopters and more comfortable interacting with brands. This is great for marketers looking to engage influencers.

“The fact that Twitter users are far more likely to follow brands and engage in brand conversations makes them responsive to marketing, but also considerably different to mainstream Americans,” said Tom Webster, VP Strategy adn Marketing at Edison Research.

Marketers can clearly find in Twitter a healthy community of influencers ready to engage. But as Tom points out, Twitter users are a bit of a different breed. Marketing strategies that work well on Twitter may not hold true within other communities. Many marketers would no doubt agree with this assessment, but it is very interesting to dive into some of the data behind it.

Twitter Has A Strong Black Community

Why are so many African Americans on Twitter (There are Black People on Twitter)? Who knows. Why do so many white people love Frisbee Sports? It does not really matter why, but it’s important as marketers to understand the demographics of the channels we are marketing in. Depending on the brand in question, this may or may not be important to your marketing. Nevertheless, this demonstrated even more that Twitter is an outlier.

And now for a couple surprising numbers…

Twitter Users Make More Money?

If you were on Twitter in the past year, you had a significantly higher chance of improving your financial situation. The question is why? Is it because Twitter users are more likely to be business owners? Entrepreneurs?

“WTF is Twitter?” is so 2009

Oprah, Ashton, The Real Shaq oh my. Thanks to some celebrity and media love affairs with the blue bird in question, Twitter has shockingly infiltrated 87% of American brains. To jump from 5% to 87% in 2 years is quite the leap. So while 17 million Americans are the only ones truly using the service, hundreds of millions know we are here. Twitter can continue to have a large influence (as large as Facebook) on what society talks about with a much smaller core user group.

Thanks to Edison for the great data. Check out the the webinar or download the full report.

I asked Twitter the other day, “Who would win in a fight between Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer [link]” (because that is the kind of dorky stuff I like to do on Twitter).

The answer was obviously Chuck Norris (as pointed out by Michael Wouri).

The Chuck Norris facts are some of the funniest and longest running internet memes that I know of.

It got me thinking. Would it be that bad to be the 3rd answer, the Chuck Norris answer, if this conversation were about your business’s industry?

Not the 3rd best, but the unique brand in your arena, the purple cow as Seth Godin would say. The brand that people bring up to break a mold, the trump a conversation, to make the conversation more interesting.

Beyond starting a 5 year long hilarious self-perpetuating internet meme, what are your options? Being sexy is not always the answer. Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer are well known badasses from their respective Hollywood domains. But Chuck, he has an empire of fans devoted to his remarkable nature. He is different. Remarkable.

Remarkable scales.

This post brought to you by DirectTV. Have you checked the Direct TV Schedule?

It is hard to beat simple, creative ideas.

That is what a sign read over a chair at the first local beach bar we stopped at in Cozumel, Mexico today. We were the first ones there and every group of tourists that happened upon this little reggae bar spent time talking about or taking photos in front of the sign. As photo pops go, mission accomplished.

I am currently on the Social Fresh Cruise with a great group of folks (more on that later). Our stop in Cozumel has been amazing and filled with simple pleasures. The water, beaches, and event the guacamole are amazing.

This little island is built on calls to action for tourists. There were some pretty great little marketing tricks and spins, the topless photo spot being just one.

One problem, they never registered GottaWannaNeeda.com (I did, see footnote). If you are going to invest that heavily in a username on multiple social networks, then please spend the $10 to register the domain, even if it is just a redirect to GottaWannaNeeda.Bojangles.com (currently does not exist) or to their Facebook page (50k+ fans). It is a simple step that gives Bojangles an opportunity to make their social media presence a little more cohesive.

Erik J. Heels (a social media savvy lawyer) speaks on why Brands should use the same name across multiple social networks, and why brands need to ensure they have their domain names on Twitter. Both make several strong points about consistency. These really simple steps avoid confusion, give the brands more control of where their audience finds them, and really just makes it look like they care and know what they are doing.

Bojangles also does not have the “gottawannaneeda” Facebook personalized URL. They rightly snatched up Facebook.com/Bojangles. But there are other page/profile opportunities that I think would have allowed them to use this. And of course, it would be nice to see them integrate these efforts on their main site.

They already have someone (either PR firm or internal) making the effort to upkeep a Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook presence. Not having a blog as a home base that they actually own, aggregating the rest of their social media activity, is a big misstep. It could even go on GottaWannaNeeda.com.

I am not trying to pick on Bojangles. They are just my most recent example. I think this is a sign of a larger issue. We are to the point now, where most people realize they need to jump on this social media bandwagon. Two problems take hold for the company entering the social media space for the first time.

Testing the Waters Syndrome

Every big brand especially wants to somehow test out social media. This is understandable. To them it is an unproven medium and sinking big money in such an open, scary marketing channel is not an easy step. Testing is usually a smart move. Advisable even. However, this “test the waters” syndrome can easily lead to a half-assed effort. If you are going to put your brand out there into social media with any branded effort, make sure it looks like you have thought it through. Take the extra time or the little extra money it takes to care for the details.

Not Enough Experts

Many would say there are no “social media experts”. For the sake of this point, let’s just say there are not enough. Every major advertising agency and PR firm in the country is now getting asked to “do social media” whether they know what they are doing or not. They read a couple case studies. Learn some insights from a few blog posts, and put something out there for the brand to taste. This is natural with a new marketing channel. The brands and their agencies need to give care to these efforts. Pushing forward within social media is great, but be sure you give it the attention to detail that you give to your traditional marketing channels. Don’t be afraid to bring in a savvy consultant. Even asking the audience for advice is helpful.

I am glad to see Bojangles getting out there, and as I said, I am not trying to pick on them. Many companies make these small mistakes daily. It is important for all companies to remember that social media has many nuances. Give it the care and attention needed to get the details right. People will notice.

Since I put it out there that this domain was unregistered. I went ahead and grabbed it myself so that someone did not try to squat the domain and keep it from Bojangles. If they want the domain, it is theirs. I do not need it and don’t want to make money on it. Just preventing others from doing so. For now, it redirects to this post.

Word of mouth is great. It is marketing’s pot of gold. But one step beyond good customers talking about your business, are customers that become crazy, enthusiastic fans of your business. The ones that tell everyone about you and your product, the ones that sing your praises.

Call them champions. Call them evangelists. With a little help from you, more of your best customers can rise to that next level. Shouting your good deeds from the rooftop (or Facebook even).

Having a quality product is of course step one (let’s hope you have that one covered). Being remarkable in some way can create plenty of word of mouth on it’s own. And many of the steps below can be summed up as “building real relationships with your customers”. Still, I am thinking 44 concrete examples might help a little.

Please feel free to reblog this if you want, just please link back 44 Ways To Help Your Customers Fly.

Make Customers Feel Special

1. Create a reward program, allowing customers to accumulate points, earn discounts/prizes
2. Allow customers to influence your products/services (see Dell’s IdeaStorm)
3. Have contests that require very little action by the customer (“100th customer of the summer gets a free reward”)
4. Have customers give away swag for you (see @MommyBrain at Blogher)
5. Create official champions that believe in your company, that can help you hold events, educate other customers, and create content

Simple Steps

6. Start internally, look to employees, relatives, and friends for your biggest evangelism opportunities (see IBM’s employee blog network)
7. Teach Employees to spot potential evangelists
8. Create tags/hashtags/keywords that allow your customers to signal when they are discussing your company online
9. Take surveys of your customers, display the results (on and offline)
10. Encourage customers to check in on Facebook, Twitter, etc. (see Jet Blue at SXSW)

Connect and Educate

11. Hold classes, webinars, seminars to teach customers relevant skills (see Hubspot’s webinar series)
12. Provide content that helps customers that are parents teach or entertain their children
13. Find customers that are using your product or service in a unique way and feature them for others to learn from
14. Create a meetup group around a topic relevant to your business (discussion group,  monthly book club, health/fitness club)
15. Build communities online around existing social networks (see Graco’s Flickr group)

Content Creation

16. Interview happy customers on video (case studies, testimonials, reviews, unique use of products)
17. Quote customers as often as possible. Other consumers will trust them before they trust you
18. Customer submitted product photos (see Threadless, Carhartt)
19. Customer submitted video contests (see Late Night Jimmy Fallon Dance Challenge)
20. Feature customers on blog posts, give faces and personality to your community

Customer Service

21. Use unique feedback channels (Facebook, Twitter, Online chat)
22. After resolving customer complaints, ask them what else you can do to improve their experience
23. Suggestion box, online or offline, reward customers who make suggestions (see My Starbucks Idea)
24. Forums, allow customers to help one another, answer each others’ questions
25. Monitor blog searches (Google Blog Search, BackType) for comments and posts that complain about or suggest improvements to your business (and respond to them)

Be Creative

26. Photo opps, bold visuals for customers to share online (see Dominos)
27. Interview current evangelists about what they love about your company
28. Give your customers business cards to give out (discounts would help of course)
29. Ask customers to help hold an open house, or anniversary event
30. Give away swag (customers wearing t-shirts, hats, bags, etc. are strong reminders), especially to return customers (see free Gmail stickers)

Blogging

31. Exchange discounts for part time bloggers
32. Let customers decide between two coupons that you will offer each week or month
33. Feature vendors/partners and how they help you offer a better product
34. Make it easy for your readers to share your content (Sharethis, Addthis, Tweetmeme)
35. Create a podcast where your customers are the stars

Facebook

36. Feature photos of your customers with your products and at your events (see Zappos photos on Facebook)
37. Wish your customers happy birthday – simple and easy – we all like birthday wishes
38. Help promote community events and events hosted by your customers
39. Hold contests for your Facebook fans, give them riddles, ask them to write haikus, celebrate the winners, give them prizes (see Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice)
40. Become a fan of and participate on community related pages, for your city, your neighborhood, local philanthropies

Twitter

41. Link to your customers – again, feature them as the stars (see Trader Joes)
42. Use Twitter Search to look for links to interesting stories relevant to your niche. Share them and give credit to the source (see Whole Foods)
43. Ask questions of your followers and write a blog post that quotes the best responses
44. Study and respond to your critics, or better yet, study and respond to the critics of your competitors

Be creative, have fun, invest in your customers – and they will invest in you.

Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments. The more the merrier.

Photo Credit: Anirudh Koul

I hope it raises the level of the beer culture in this blue law heavy state. And who doesn’t want to taste a good beer in the grocery store?

The product sample is an old marketing method and is about the lowest barrier to entry you can give the customer. Take the concept online, and the economy of free really negates the free sample, or more correctly, is an extreme extension of the free sample.

Consider all the free content you produce online as a taste of your full personality or company culture, a sample of what you have to offer as a person or business.

What Does Your Culture Taste Like?

The entire art of writing a blog is a free sample of your business or personality, a taste. You are sharing insights and stories for free, as an investment in your audience. So what does this sample taste like?

How are your readers remembering you? Does your content taste like everything else that is out there? Is it refreshing? Is it a deep, strong flavor?

One thing I have had to get better and better at as a blogger is writing as a person and not as a journalist. I think the best blogs share a lot of personality and culture of the writer or company. A personal touch builds more of a relationship, more of an investment.

photo credit: dave apple

The website is by the Martin Agency (and for some reason in connection with AOL) that celebrates the anniversary with a high media flash site that allows you to experience what happened with the landing in real time. A pretty cool concept, no doubt.

Interactive? I Guess So

The site is definitely focused on a high media experience. Cool interactive angles of the Apollo craft and the trip they take, along with great audio of the whole mission. In the traditional sense of being “interactive” it is a quality production for sure (minus some insanely small text). My critique is that the site is one sided. I can watch and listen to this cool thing, but I want to engage with other people about it. And I will likely, but it would have been so much cooler if that engagement was better facilitated and grouped on the site.

Social? Nope

Where they lost me is a pretty lame implementation of any interaction and real connection with the people involved with Apollo 11. They have 3 Twitter accounts hooked up to the experience (@AP11_EAGLE as Houston Control, @AP11_SPACECRAFT as Apollo 11 Craft, and @AP11_CAPCOM as the Apollo 11 Landing Craft). I think they are using Twitter integration pretty minimally, and beyond Twitter, there are tons of things they could have done to improve the social nature of the site.

I have seen several blog posts mentioning the Apollo Anniversary, including a great post of at WebInkNow by David Meerman Scott about taking some marketing lessons from Apollo. Showing me the chatter on the web about Apollo or about NASA in general would be a nice reflection on the legacy. Show me the Youtube videos and Flickr photos about NASA and Apollo. Give me a live chat on the site where I can connect to my friends on Facebook or Twitter. Get on Facebook and either create or partner with pages for each of the famous people involved in the historic day. Brand mascots, especially historic figures, are a great way to add some depth to the connection you form with the end user.

These are all minor things, but I really wanted to engage others about this cool site, a reenactment of a great moment in American History and the site did not make that easy to do.

Reach Out To Existing Social Profiles

NASA has done some cool things on Twitter and Facebook with their different missions and Mars Landers. Maybe even beef up the JFK Library Twitter account or talk to Twitter about claiming @JohnFKennedy for some rousing quotes from Kennedy’s famous speeches about going to the moon. The 3 accounts the site did use barely sent out any content (12 tweets total by my count) prior to today’s reenactment. There was no building of momentum or interest.

Show Me People, Not Anonymous Cold Call Signs

The accounts are not names, they are call signs. The account are not people, they are groups of people involved with the Apollo 11 mission, and even the lander has an account. Show me real people, a face as an avatar, one person per account. Give it some personality. I connect better with people, not call signs.

Follow Someone, Talk to Someone

The Twitter accounts as they are now do not talk to anyone but each other, do not follow anyone but each other, and in general are one way, broadcast channels. This does very little for me. What this gives me, is much more interesting if I get the live audio directly from the site. I don’t connect with it. It does not drive me to ask questions, to get involved, to engage.

It would have been a little bit of a time investment, but well worth it to assign real people to Twitter and Facebook as the actual personalities that made up the mission. A couple of the astronauts, the main voices at Mission Control, even an astronaut’s wife, or JFK, or an enthusiastic kid listening to the radio with bated breathe waiting for them to reach the moon.

Overall, it was a really nice site, and I left the amazing audio up for a little while, listening to the Apollo 11 mission. But I think the media would have shined a little more if people could interact more intimately with the story.

What do you think, was an opportunity missed or not?

My response? It’s “easier to connect to a photo. Easier to bitch at a logo.”

I think we all have some simple, subconscious reactions to all images.

A logo equals a brand equals a company equals someone who wants to sell you something, someone with which you are doing business.

A photo of a real person equals a relationship equals something more genuine.

The decision is a familiar one for any company deciding to establish a Twitter presence. I recommend investing in the personal, the human. Using the company name subtly in your avatar (Ning is a good example) or the account name is more than acceptable. But give me a smile to talk to and I will feel more engaged, even if I like your snazzy logo.

Dead simple concept? Yes. But one that echoes some basics of social media that are always worth reminding.

What Social Media Marketers Need to Know About Public Relations

With the rise of social media and its use for marketing purposes (some of which haven’t gone so well and others which are really fantastic), there has been increasing demand for a class of professionals who dedicate themselves to communicating brand values through these unique new channels. Traditionally, PR professionals have used a variety of communications methods to reach the public, and the good ones see social media as a wonderful new tool in the PR or marketer’s overall arsenal. This overlap of domain expertise can lead to more success if the two functions understand each other and work together, or it can lead to frustration and friction if relations are allowed to become a turf battle over who owns what.

Understanding and coordinating with PR is a sure way to make sure your client engagements run smoother and produce the best results. PR is about communication and engaging a variety of public audiences and therefore, social media marketers that understand the need for creating messages that resonate with each of those audiences will gain the benefit of this expertise and make sure social media-based conversations feed into and enhance the brand’s overall value.

To learn some basics on PR, read this great article from AdAge. To get a bit more specific on how it relates to social media marketing, here are my thoughts:

1. The difference between social media and PR

Social media is a method of communication. Public relations is focused on reputation awareness and management – the practice of communicating with and influencing a variety of publics that matter to a company or an individual. Social media is one of the tools used to establish, raise and maintain such awareness.

2. Why thoughtful positioning and messaging matter

Social media marketers need to understand the messages that a PR or marketing department want to share with a company’s publics and why. Yes, social media is about transparency and authenticity – – so is good public relations. Dishonesty is bad, regardless of the channel. But “spin” doesn’t always have to mean dishonesty – “spin” is a word largely used by those that don’t understand the value of “positioning.” Everyone positions in one way or another. When you write your social media bio you are positioning. When you pitch a customer you are positioning. Positioning is about wisely choosing the way you communicate when attention is at a premium. Does that sound familiar?

PR executives help companies and individuals to position or deliver messages in a favorable way – one that can, and should be, open and transparent as well. Despite some bad apples, PR teams are not in the business of hiding things. But they are in the business of positioning communications in such a way that is memorable. Social media marketers need to respect the public relations team and their expertise here – taking the time to understand the messages that the PR and marketing team have determined will work best to reach each of a company’s publics – and incorporate these messages into their social media marketing campaigns. Haphazard messages – in the spirit of being “social” – that aren’t well-coordinated will defeat the marketer’s purpose – consistent, persistent messages help publics to remember and recall a brand/individual/company better. Whether the messages are delivered in a social media community or in a written press release, they need to be thoughtful and consistent.

3. PR is much more than media relations

This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about PR. I’ve heard more than one “social media expert” tell companies that they can also do the marketing and PR because “they know bloggers.” While blogger and media relationships are an important element to the overall PR campaign, this is just one part of what a PR executive deals with on a daily basis. Because it’s the most visible part of a PR executive’s job, many relate it to the profession as a whole. But in fact, PR executives spend a great deal of time working on the best and most memorable communications methods for a variety of constituents: industry analysts, investors, tradeshow coordinators, customers, prospects, partners, employees, recruits and more. Not all of these constituents are created equal – they don’t have the same wants or needs. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all social media campaign – or one that will get great media coverage because of its innovative digital content will not appropriately impact every audience that a company or individual entrepreneur wants to reach. A fun video that might attract customers to a retail website will not necessarily communicate the more serious messages needed to attract investors, for example. A slick-looking microsite with bad messaging might get good press pick up for the concept, but could confuse prospects, hurt sales or worse, lead to customer attrition.

Overall, social media marketing is a great new method for engaging directly with the public to share a brand or company’s core messages, values, culture and news. Social media marketers often know where to reach key audiences and how to create exciting digital content. But the PR team should have a hand in what messages are in that content for maximum impact and the greatest ROI. Working together, social media marketers and the PR department can create compelling messages and information and deliver them in exciting new ways that let a company’s public audiences interact, engage and most importantly – remember the brand.

SERIES Social Media Skills — Advertising, SEO, PR, Graphic Design, Copywriting, and more…

Speaking in front of small business owners on a couple recent occasions has spotlighted, for me, a pattern of their frustrations with social media. They want to make social media work for their brand but see it as too much work to learn and implement and not enough real results for their bottom line.Whether a startup, freelancer, or brick and mortar shop, the limitations of budgeting, staffing, and the lack of a large brand to build on are universal for many small enterprises.

To them I present the Enabled Champion – A concept that is by no means new, but in today’s online world of speed and access, it can be an especially powerful tool. Many business owners know these lessons already, but do not know how to magnify word of mouth concepts online.

Enabled Champion n.  A customer that willingly markets and spreads word of mouth on behalf of a brand – A brand that is actively providing them opportunities to do so.

When a small business owner picks up a book like Groundswell and sees every other suggestion is to buy into some service that costs thousands of dollars, this Social Media thing can be a bit underwhelming.

Corporate Examples are Daunting

When Pepsi or Best Buy or Burger King does something really cool using Social Media, it is great and all, but sometimes scaling down their successes for small companies can be unrealistic. The important thing to remember is to boil these success stories down to their bare bones. I can usually break down any social media success into one of a few basic concepts:

• Listen/Respond to the consumer (Building trust)
• Provide value to the consumer (Invest in them)
• Give the consumer ownership (Letting them invest in you)
• Be remarkable (Viral potential)

Multiply Your Voice

The next-to-last bullet point above is where the Enabled Champion really gets down to business. Any business should be looking for opportunities to let their customers market for them. If you are in business, someone, somewhere values your product. Build on that success by making it as easy as possible for them to share that experience and encourage others to partake. A simple “tell your friends” is helpful and nice. And basic word of mouth happens organically. But online, for a small business, you must actively provide opportunities for your customers to pass along your brand. The main difference between the potential for word of mouth online and offline is scale. Within the social web, “telling your friends” can have much larger implications.

Hustle Your Word of Mouth

A few examples:

• Assign customers titles and give them perks. Call them your ambassadors or champions or any name. Give them discounts or insider info. I had a boss once that whenever I would ask for a raise, he would respond with “Do you want the money, the title, or the experience?” There are a lot of people out there that would be more than willing to help you for those second and third options.
• Let the consumer create your marketing. Have a contest for written stories about your product or video responses. Ask them to blog for you about how your product or service has helped them or just about your industry.  Get input from customers about what your next product should be. Any of these tasks will make the customer feel less like a consumer and more like a community member, one of the team.
• Praise your customers. Write blog posts or video blog about your favorite customers. Interview them so they can share their experience first hand. Put them front and center.
• Use simple, inexpensive online tools to keep the conversation lines open and vibrant. The larger the consumer side of this two way conversation is, the more invested your customers become.  Maintain an email newsletter, blog on a regular schedule, and use social networking filters (groups, tags, etc.) to target and give attention to your inner circle of customers. Or just start your own social network with free tools like Ning, Buddypress, Facebook or Google Groups, etc.

Many business owners know all too well that a return customer and a vocal customer are incredibly valuable commodities. As a small business, learning how best to enable your customers to become champions of your brand is a smart investment.

How are you enabling champions of your business?

Photo Credit