Posted July 1st, 2008 by Brad Wellman
Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
Social media giant MySpace has been steadily losing ground to rival Facebook in terms of users, with MySpace increasing its audience by 10 percent from April 2007 to April 2008, while Facebook shot up 200 percent in the same period, according to comScore. Much of the cause of the shift from MySpace to Facebook has been due to the overwhelming amount of clutter on MySpace, from difficult site navigation, to users’ music players that play without you asking, embedded videos and flashing backgrounds.
Facebook, which seemed to attract many ex-MySpacers because of the lack of clutter, seems to be facing that same problem. Facebook has been under criticism as of late due to their reported 140 new applications that are added daily, and the number of applications to date stands around 25,000, according to comScore.
Both media giants are in the works of major design changes over the next several months to simplify the user experience and break up the clutter, however the increase of clutter has not come without a price. Many smaller social networking sites are quickly gaining popularity, such as Twitter and Plurk. Both sites allow users to engage with other users by sharing short status updates to their friends, or “followers.” In the UK alone, Twitter has grown 10-fold over the last year to 135,000 users per month, according to Nielsen Online.
The increasing clutter, and the general public’s search for social media outlets without it, hasn’t necessarily made it increasingly difficult for marketers to reach their audience, but rather more difficult to effectively engage with them. And that’s what social media is all about…audience engagement.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, MySpace, Plurk, Twitter
Tags: Facebook, Minneapolis Online Marketing, MySpace, Plurk, Social Media, Twitter
Posted June 24th, 2008 by Mike Rynchek
Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
Guest: Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh
Well we made it to the final Twitterfied Series post with all Twitter questions answered and we all agree: Twitter is the greatest Social Media tool out there. Ok, not quite. But we definitely raised some interesting discussion points and hopefully provided some insight into new and innovative uses for Twitter and Social Media in general. Without a doubt, Twitter is a growing medium that deserves some attention. Granted this is not a perfect medium but, if performed correctly, it can serve as a valuable and at times innovative business purpose. As is with Social Media, there is no right or wrong answer. Only trial and error and making educated decisions/risks.
I would like to conclude with an interview with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Tony has become very well known as an industry thought leader in the areas of customer service and Twitter business applications. Zappos has adopted and currently uses Twitter as a means of customer service, customer relations and product feedback.
Special thanks to Tony Hsieh of Zappos for taking the time to answer our questions.
Q: What inspired you/Zappos to begin using Twitter as a means for connecting with customers?
A: I had been using Twitter myself personally for just myself and 20-30 friends for about a year and found it was a great way to stay connected with my friends. So we decided to try rolling it out as a way to develop more personal connections with our employees and our customers. So far, it’s been great! We now have over 400 employees using Twitter: http://twitter.zappos.com/employees
Q: How has Twitter changed the way you interact with customers?
A: Yes, it’s been great getting real-time feedback from customers about anything and everything we’re doing or are thinking of doing at Zappos.
It’s also been great for me to get to know some customers more personally and vice versa.
Q: Have you been able to monetize the use of Twitter in any way? If
so, what have been the implications?
A: We aren’t really looking at Twitter as a marketing channel. It’s just about developing deeper, more personal relationships.
Q: Any advice to other companies thinking about using Twitter within
their own business model?
A: Make sure that you’re personally passionate about Twitter and you actually do want to connect with people. If you’re not passionate about Twitter and only want to use it as a marketing channel, people can sense that and you won’t be successful.
Q: What are the pros and cons of using Twitter instead of another
application?
A: I think at the end of the day it comes down to which application or service you’re personally most passionate about, and that will be the one you’ll be most successful doing.
Q: Is there any functionality that Twitter lacks that you wish it had?
A: Currently the IM function in Twitter is down and I wish it were back up. 
Q: Any additional thoughts or comments about Twitter?
A: For those interested in getting started on Twitter, here’s a beginner’s guide I wrote: http://twitter.zappos.com/start
Tags: Minneapolis Online Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Posted June 23rd, 2008 by Mike Rynchek
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Mike Rynchek
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
“It’s an opportunity cost… What are you losing by not doing it?” - Gary Koelling, Creative Director of Social Technology at Best Buy commenting on the opportunity cost of social media at a recent Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association event.
I strongly believe this attitude is absolutely correct when it comes to implementing a Social Media campaign in both small and large businesses alike. Granted some clients or products/services are better suited than others for a Social Media component such as Twitter but it is equally important to note that people are using and engaging with Social Media applications in record numbers. This makes Social Media a medium to pay attention to no matter the product type. Best of all Social Media is not your run of the mill passive medium rather an engaging customer hand raising medium that allows for actual customer contact. For example Minneapolis was ranked 17th in the world in terms of the number of Tweets in one day! This is simply an incredible number when you compare the market size of Minneapolis to the number of Tweets. This simply explains why and how Twitter can be such a useful tool for online marketers.
The Leader Board (Top 30)
Locations with the most tweets between:
06/22/08 14:20 and 06/23/08 14:20
Stats provided by: http://www.twitterlocal.net/stats
|
Location
|
Count
|
| Tokyo, Japan |
57237 |
| San Francisco, CA |
25979 |
| New York City, NY |
25028 |
| London, UK |
16257 |
| Washington DC |
15138 |
| Los Angeles, CA |
14842 |
| Osaka, Japan |
10598 |
| Madrid, Spain |
10419 |
| Boston, MA |
10381 |
| Chicago, IL |
10326 |
| Seattle, WA |
10079 |
| Portland, OR |
8300 |
| Atlanta, GA |
7505 |
| Toronto, ON |
6707 |
| Paris, France |
6165 |
| Austin, TX |
6096 |
| Minneapolis, MN |
6063 |
When businesses find unique ways to capture the attention of the masses through Social Media outlets is really where the rubber hits the road. In the next and final post Tony Hsieh will explain some of the aspects of Twitter and how it plays a major role in the Zappos business model. This is a very popular example of how Social Media plays a major role in developing customer relationships, allowing product and customer feedback. Below are some additional high level ideas for incorporating Social Media into a business scenario.
Examples
- Product or technical support and feedback. (Ex. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh)
- Customer relations.
- Traffic generator by embedding links into post.
- Useful tool to leverage and announce public relationships.
- Engagement tool with customers.
Tags: Minneapolis Online Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Zappos
