Posted by Beth Hrusch
Maybe. With roughly 18 million registered users in the U.S. alone and a growth rate of about 3% each year, Twitter is arguably the fastest growing social media site in existence. In fact, about 19% of all adult Internet users are now on Twitter, up from 11% just a year ago. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee anything for business owners looking to social media to boost leads and sales.
Twitter use does, however, represent an undeniable trend in small business advertising. A 2009 survey by BIA/ Kelsey found that 32% of small businesses plan on incorporating social media into their marketing plan within the next 12 months.
So, the question is, does Twitter really drive website traffic?
It depends on how (and whether) you use all the tools available to promote your business with Twitter. When you consider the potential reach that social media has, spending a little time learning about them may start to look like a good idea.
If you’re thinking about marketing with Twitter, here are some tips to help you maximize results:
1. Network- To get the most out of your Twitter marketing efforts, first target your group of followers then network with them. You can search for people with similar interests by using various tools such as Twitter Groups or Tweet Works. Keep in mind that the primary goal of your strategy is to connect with both current and potential customers. So, joining groups where the most interested parties are likely to be found will save you a lot of time and effort and result in more leads.
2. Promote- Use your 140 characters to link followers to your latest blog or article. Get a discussion going by presenting a question. Inform others of the latest news in your company or industry. Make your tweets interesting and attention-grabbing.
Keep in mind that Twitter is a microblogging site- that is, it only allows you 140 characters to say what you want to say. So, promoting with Twitter means that you have to be concise. Many people see this as an advantage, as you can skip the “small talk” and get right to the point. The combination of targeting your market and limiting your text means that you aren’t spending a lot of your valuable time in order to get results.
3. Update- One big advantage of Twitter as a marketing tool is the fact that it allows you to update your followers in real time. If you’re at a trade show or seminar, for example, you can inform followers of the latest developments as they happen, using your mobile device. You can post tweets quickly at any time. As the world starts to rely more and more upon immediate information, the timeliness of Twitter posts becomes even more critical to businesses.
4. Optimize- Every piece of text that you post on Twitter has the potential to rank in the search engines. Since SEO is so important to online visibility, you’ll want to try to optimize your tweets as much as possible. Think of your tweets as you do a blog, article or press release. Make headlines pop by using keywords that tell people (and search engines) what you’re talking about so you can be indexed properly.
5. Add value- Just as with your other content, such as your home page, blogs or directory articles, your tweets should always add value to the conversation. When using Twitter socially, you can talk about what you had for breakfast. When using Twitter for marketing your business, stick to relevant, timely and useful content. It’s a good idea to research hot topics in your industry and get discussions going. Followers will enjoy engaging with you and giving their opinions, especially when you’ve developed a reputation for interesting and informative debate.
When linking to other sites, always make sure that your tweet accurately reflects the content of the content you’re linking to. Contribute your insights whenever possible.
Can tweeting really drive traffic to your site? Yes, if you use it to its potential. When first starting out, it’s well worth your time to read the terms of service and research the various tools available to help you reach your market, track your results and organize your information.
And keep in mind that Twitter tweets shouldn’t be looked at in terms of individual posts so much as the impression all of your posts make over time. The value you create with your tweets will build your personal brand and serve your marketing objectives. For little time and effort, and very little money, you can drive traffic to your site, network with potential customers and build your brand.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
Did you know that social media is changing the way we relate to one another? You may have seen this coming—after all, social media is all about relationships. Practically everything you do on it, the content you create, the following you build, etc. is designed to foster either personal or business relationships.
Whether you’re a business owner or doing it for personal networking, it’s worth thinking about. Here are 4 ways that social media affects the way we relate others:
1. Social media extends your reach.
Business owners should ask themselves--How many people am I reaching, offline, in a typical work week? SM allows you to connect with a lot more people and potential customers than you normally could. Most of those you are connecting with through social media are people you would not have met any other way. And, the nature of these connections can be more loose and varied than if you were simply making business contacts.
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu once studied how people gain what he called “social capital” (you could think of it as social currency). One way they do this is to develop large, loosely organized networks that are not particularly close or intimate. Many people have attained top leadership positions because they have these types of broad social networks. Why? Because a larger number of connections usually equates to a greater variety of opinions, more feedback and better results.
2. Social media competes with offline relationships.
A common mistake made by people using social media is that they start confusing digital intimacy with true intimacy. As mentioned above, SM gives us the ability to easily connect with large numbers of people, establishing a broad social and business network. But, these connections are often confused with the intensity and commitment of actual face-to-face relationships.
The downside to this can be the loss of the relationships that you have in the “real world”. The trick for both business and personal social media users is to balance the time spent on SM with offline activities, and to have a good idea of the ROI being gained by your time on social media. If you are spending more and more time on your social media accounts without much commercial success, then you may be getting sucked into not only non-productivity but alienation of your real world connections.
3. Social media makes you vulnerable to negativity.
Some interesting research has emerged suggesting that emotional contagion can spread through social media networks the same way it spreads in real world relationships. Yes, loneliness and unhappiness can be transmitted pretty rapidly this way, and given the broad nature of many networks, it can reach further, as well.
And, with social media, you can be influenced by the moods and behavior of people you don’t even know! So, you should pay attention to who you’re spending time with on SM, and how those people are affecting you. For business owners, negativity-- through your own online behavior or others-- can affect your brand and people’s perception of it. Even the most minor off the cuff remark can have a lasting negative impact.
4. Social media can become a rat race.
Which is to say, it can become a crushing burden to maintain your persona with customers, followers and friends. Competition is 
tough, information is everywhere, and you have to always be on guard to protect your brand and your reputation. If you start feeling like the hamster on the wheel, it should not surprise you.
So, social media can affect your relationships, but that doesn’t mean that it has to damage them. There are ways to make your time on social media work for you. Next post, I’ll give you some tips for ensuring that social media works remains a positive and productive use of your time.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
To the list of amazing things that social media can do for you, add "SEO help". How can social media use help you with your SEO efforts? Well, we all know that choosing the right keywords for your content is part of Content Marketing 101. So, where do good keywords come from? AdWords? Research? Educated guessing?
All of the above, but add to the list, your social media network. In most cases identifying keywords is a combination of what's relevant for the Internet user, his search behavior and, obviously, the activities and goals of the business that wants to be found online. Keeping your ear to the ground on social media can give you clues for all three aspects of keyword research.
What is the ultimate goal of finding the perfect keywords? What you want are keywords that pertain to your business and industry and attract relevant visitors to pages that contain content that corresponds with these keywords. You want keywords that invite the visitor to perform a specific action. In the end, you want visitors to become leads and, hopefully, customers.
So how can social media add anything at all to these processes?
Well, participation in social media is like real time search, and social media monitoring allows you to "see" what people are looking for in the here and now. In addition, monitoring tools enable you to see what words people are using on social media when they talk about your business, your industry, your competitors and specific events that interest you.
So if you use these words to enrich your SEO keyword strategy, you get your site ranked with additional keywords that are based upon an analysis of what your target group is looking for on social media.
According to social media marketing group Alterian, using social media monitoring 
tools can help you develop "theme clouds", which are "the words that most frequently occur in conversations mentioning a specific brand". "Word clouds", are the result of analyzing all of the conversations. Silly-sounding terms aside, it's a perfect example of the way social media and SEO can connect.
Monitoring the social media conversations that are relevant to your business will yield theme and word clouds that become your best keywords. Since these are the terms being used when people are talking about you and your industry, they certainly meet the criteria. And, you're finding out about them in real time.
It just doesn't get any better than that.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
As companies delve into social media, it starts becoming clear for many of them that there may be more to the whole thing than they originally thought. Even though people are getting better at social media for personal use, learning how to use it for marketing purposes is a different animal. So, regardless of what you may have heard from your friends, colleagues or teenage daughter, the fact is that none of the following things are true:
1. Social media marketing is easy.
Social media takes time, energy and resources. Which means that if you think you can activate an account, tweet a few times a day and friend whoever comes along hoping they'll be interested in your business, you're mistaken. Social media is a fast-paced environment that demands your attention. You must spend time reading posts, learning about what interests potential customers and posting thoughtful commentary. This is why many companies are outsourcing their social media marketing to people who have the time.
2. Social media marketing brings instant results.
Sorry, no. You'll probably have to stick with it for at least 6 months or so before you gain enough targeted followers to start seeing results. You need to have patience and persistence with this medium, because it's actually more suited to building relationships than making sales. Sales come later, as a natural result of the relationships.
3. Social media doesn't cost anything.
Depending on how ambitious you are with social media and what your goals are, it can cost you either a little or a lot of money to use. But it isn't free. If you don't have time to post on a regular basis and really keep up with it, you'll have to hire someone to do it for you. You may also need the services of a consultant to help you formulate a strategy. Remember, chatting, posting, updating, etc. takes time-- a precious commodity for many executives and small business owners.
4. Social media marketing is for everyone.
Social media doesn't work well for every person, so it stands to reason that it won't be compatible for every business, either. You shouldn't be discouraged from trying it, but keep in mind that it is best suited for products and services that are of interest to people who use social media as a main source of information. The latest mobile app, for instance, or 4G technology-- now that's a couple of sexy topics. Life insurance, not so much so. Unless you can come up with a clever, attention-grabbing way to sell life insurance, your social media ROI may be disappointing.
5. All you need is great content.
Well, we content marketers may be partially to blame for your belief that great content sells itself. Great content is, well great-but unfortunately it doesn't know how to sell itself. Much of it, in fact, remains unseen and unappreciated because its creators don't get the word out. Effective social media relies on you linking to your content, creating insightful comments and providing people with a way to find your content through RSS feeds. If you maintain your relationships, do a little give and take, then they'll be willing to check out your content and even spread it around for you.
Social media is an indirect form of marketing. It hurts to say it, but-- most people who visit your social media profiles will never buy your products or click on your ads. The good news is that, if your expectations are realistic, and you tailor your time and budget accordingly, your efforts will garner a group of followers who are targeted and interested in your company. This group, though perhaps small, have a relationship with you that will gain you not only sales from them, but their recommendations to other potential customers.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
People talk a lot about how effective social media can be, but did you ever notice 
the caveat that always seems to be attached to the accolades? Marketing with social media takes time, and for most business owners, time equals money.
Of course, if your time on social media were to actually equal money in the end, it would be worth it. But will it? What kind of return on investment can you expect from this marketing tool, and how much time should you devote to it?
White Paper guru Michael Stelzner recently conducted a study on the topic, the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It shows that ROI is uppermost in the minds of most marketers. In fact, the number one question they want answered is "How do I track social media ROI?" They are less interested in how to use it (many have figured that out by now), and more interested in how to make money from it and track results.
So, this brings us back to the time investment. In order to measure ROI for social media, you would have to factor in how much time you're spending on it. In the study, 1900 marketers were asked how much time they are spending on social media:
-The largest group was in the 1 to 5 hours per week range.
-Of that group, 43% are spending 4 to 5 hours each week on social media activities.
-A significant 56% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week and 30% for 11 or more hours weekly.
-12.5% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.
There also appears to be a correlation between the amount of experience that users have with social media and the amount of time they spend. Beginners spend about 1 hour per week, in contrast to more experienced users who spend about 10 hours per week. One could conclude that experienced users have not only found more ways to use their social media accounts, but also that they have developed a more clearly defined strategy for it.
And, with a more clearly defined strategy, every hour spent becomes more valuable. The more you learn about how to use social media, the less time you have to spend in order to see results.
Remember, too, that results are not just measured in terms of money in the bank. If you're looking for some kind of direct, immediate correlation, you may be disappointed. What you're more likely to see, according to the Stelzner study, is a host of other benefits that lead to sales:
- Greater exposure
- Increased traffic
- Connected customers (and their valuable feedback)
- Increased search engine rankings
- Lead generation
More than half of marketers indicated that their social media efforts generated qualified leads. And one could say that this is why your time is required when it comes to social media marketing. These results are measurable and they do lead to sales, but they are not immediate and they take time to develop.
Like all relationships, the business connections you make through social media develop over time. And, there are ways to
use social media time wisely. Whether you outsource it, or (like the majority of users) do it yourself, that time will develop into money. Just stick with it, and learn how to do it right.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
Content marketing is all about relationships, and one of the best content marketing tools available to strengthen those relationships is social media. This may not be news to some, and if you already know this, great! But, it bears repeating for anyone who is wondering what's the best way to get started with marketing their content.
With social media accounts, your content gains legs. Great content can become awfully lonely without a good distribution vehicle and, yes, you guessed it , that vehicle is your social media account. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others are all meet up points for people on the Internet, which means that they are the places you want to be. You can communicate, advertise, sell, gossip, play games, comment, critique--essentially do all the things you do in normal conversation.
And conversation is the name of the game for online marketing strategy these days. Moira Gentry of Network Design & Communications once commented that using social media tools "makes cold calls warm". What does this mean? It means that it gives you a way to establish trust over time. Ever received, or made, a cold call that did that? This "friendship approach" to marketing breaks the ice (no pun intended) by revealing the personalities behind your company so that potential customers and others in your industry can learn that you are real people at a real company and you can be trusted.
Aside from the warm and fuzzy stuff, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites give you real time feedback, let you know what people are saying about you and let you track your contacts, your performance, etc. How valuable is this information to you? Very, obviously. We love the agility of these sites as marketing tools. They allow companies to make changes quickly, to adjust to feedback. Bye, bye focus group. So long costly and time-consuming surveys.
They are not a complete and perfect answer for everyone, but at the very least they make an effective supplemental marketing tool for businesses who want to keep their fingers on the pulse on their industries. And, since they are free, and can potentially replace a lot of your direct mail advertising, cold calling and print ads, imagine the long term ROI that they can produce.
Announce specials, offer free specials, hold contests. Join conversations. It'll give you a break from the monotony of your work day. Although, I guess it sort of counts as work, right?
Posted by Beth Hrusch
Not long ago, Salary.com did a survey of American workers in which they asked how many hours per work day were spent on personal, i.e. non-work activities. In other words, how many work hours are people wasting. Around 73% of respondents indicated that they spend part of their work day on personal stuff (the other 27%, of course, would never dream of doing that-- good for them!). This is a 10% increase from the year before.
The vast majority of people estimated that they waste 1-2 hours of company time each day. And what are they doing? Here's the breakdown:
48% of time- on the Internet
33% of time- socializing with co-workers
30% of time- conducting personal business
19% of time- personal phone calls
15% of time- long lunches or breaks
It got me to thinking-- how much time are people spending on social media during the work day? Has anyone done a survey on that topic yet? Well, even without one, it's reasonable to assume that, with about 300 cajillion people on Facebook now, some of them are, even as we speak, messing around with social media on the company dime.
The question is, is it necessarily a bad thing? We talk about social media as a marketing tool, and how it can help you grow your business through consumer engagement. What if your employees were encouraged to use Facebook and Twitter at work, to, you know, market the company? After all, some companies are now hiring people specifically to handle their social media accounts-at work.
Businesses spend millions each year to block employees from wasting time on all of the above listed nemeses of productivity. Should they be finding ways to take the time people are spending on social media anyway and have them use that time productively? For example, why not have a few employees spend 10-15 minutes a few times a day to chat with your customers on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn?
Let's say your office manager has a personal Facebook account. She could update her page with a note about how she just tried out the new company product the other day and, boy, did it work! Got the stain right out! She could then highly recommend said product, maybe post a picture of it, and go from there.
Imagine if social media became part of the work day, and was treated just like any other marketing activity. Once you start thinking of it as a marketing opportunity instead of a time waster, you may find that you can get more out of it. And your employees, too, for that matter.
Posted by Sandy Fitzgerald
Until just recently, I thought I'd reached a plateau of 97 followers on Twitter. Now I have more than 500, and I add 10-20 more every day.
How did I do it? After all, I'm not Oprah or Ashton Kutcher! But I decided to employ some of the Twitter tips I read about all the time, and they're working. And I realized that by following the tips of industry leaders that are using Twitter successfully, I could translate that to ways to offer customers a little SEO help.
The main way to increase your Twitter presence is to decide just who you want to follow - and who you want following you.
But how do you find those people? It's helpful to use one of the many websites that are popping up that provide lists of people in specific professions, such as http://listorious.com. Are you interested in SEO help? Writing, marketing, news, crafting? Other Twitter users have created lists of their favorite Tweeters, and most of those list sites are highly searchable.
Create a profile that contains keywords other Twitter users are seeking and then find yourself a couple of lists of people who share your interests and follow them.
Then, make yourself available. Pick a couple of the new people you've followed, and retweet their posts. Send a comment about something they've posted, and often they'll start following you when they comment back. At the very least, they'll often start following you when you retweet them.
It might be tempting then to start promoting your own business or website on Twitter. Don't, at least right away. While you're still building up your followers list, you don't want to come across as someone who is spamming - nobody will follow you.
Take it easy on your own self-promotion, but be helpful with someone else whose blog you enjoy. I added 50 followers the other night when I posted a link praising a marketing blog whose tips I enjoyed - plus I ended up on that blog's list of "interesting bloggers."
While you're building your Twitter efforts, be sure to be picky about who you let follow you. It won't help your reputation or your website to have the wrong kind of people associated with you.
Yes, Twitter can be just some place to post what you've had for dinner, but it can be so much more. Isn't it time you followed some leaders and gave your website some SEO help at the same time?
Posted by Sandy Fitzgerald
How many social networks do you need to join?
If you're like most people or companies online these days, you've connected into Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn - in short, just about all the sites.
At first, it's a lot of fun. You make your profile, find your best profile photo and set about connecting with others. You fill your Facebook friends list with people you know now and those you knew back in your glory days. On Twitter, you do your searches and find people whose tweets either make you laugh or think, and on LinkedIn, you connect through networks with other people in your profession in the hopes of landing that elusive high-paying job.
But after awhile, all those social media networks are hard to keep up with, and you get tired of the constant updating, and suddenly, there's nothing social about your social media networking.
So how do you put the social back into social media and make it work for you personally and professionally?
1. It may sound like a lot of extra work, but have you ever considered setting up two separate profiles on the social media site of your choice? Let's take Facebook. If you set up a personal profile, that will be the place where you can chat with your high school buddies, your co-workers and your present-day friends without worrying about the impression it makes on your professional contacts. Conversely, if you set up a separate professional profile or fan page, you can make the contacts and links you need to expand your business, without annoying your friends in private life. It's easier to be more social with others when you divide your audiences.
2. Are you being a friend on Twitter? If you're just sending out links to your own websites and endeavors, you can risk being banned as a site spammer. Instead of doing that, why not try to use Twitter to just be social? Add some contacts through a search for people who share your profession or interests, and don't bombard them with your own personal items. And don't forget to retweet now and then.
3. Have you joined any groups on LinkedIn? Many people go on LinkedIn and put up their profiles in the hopes that other people will somehow discover them and their businesses. There are so many people on LinkedIn that the chances of being randomly discovered are pretty slim. However, if you join some discussion groups that are connected with your business or interests and participate in the discussions, other professionals in your field will check out your website and content.
4. Do you comment on blogs? These days, when there are so many people who have professional and personal blogs, commenting has gone by the wayside. However, blog owners appreciate receiving comments that lead to conversation and traffic. Remember, though, commenting isn't about hurrying through blogs and posting "I'm first!" at the beginning of all of them. Say something of value and don't forget to include a signature that adds a link to your website at the end of it.
5. Have you ever considered guest posting? Find some blogs or websites related to your business and contact their owners with your ideas for guest posting an article. And don't forget, guest posting isn't about advertising your own business, but it is about penning a great article that will make readers think and will generate interest in the person who wrote it. This could mean a nice jump in traffic for your own website.
Remember, to make friends, you have to be a friend - and that also counts in social media marketing.
Posted by Beth Hrusch
I saw something interesting the other day. Someone had taken the time to organize all major social media sites by their strengths and weaknesses as marketing tools. The result was a chart, courtesy of CMO.com, that will help people get more out of their social media marketing campaigns. It’s pretty cool.
Companies are starting to spend a lot more time on their social media presence these days. According to a survey
conducted by the University Of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, social media usage by small businesses has doubled in the past year. And what are these companies doing with social media? The largest percentage of activity comes in the form of creating company pages on FaceBook or LinkedIn. Companies are also posting updates and linking to their sites.
The question is, are they using their time wisely? How do these companies know that their social media efforts are matching up with their marketing goals? Now that enough time has gone by, and enough research has been done on how these sites work, it’s becoming clear that some sites do some things better than others.
If you’re looking primarily for brand exposure, for instance, you may want to rethink how much time you’re spending on Reddit or del.icio.us. On the other hand, Digg could be well worth your time if you want to drive traffic to your site.
So, if you’re curious about how well your time with social media is spent, check it out! It may just help you use your social media marketing time, money and other precious resources more intelligently.