• Posts 80 characters or less in length have 27% higher engagement rates
• Engagement rates are 3 times higher for posts that used a full-length URL
• Brands that post outside of business hours had 20% higher engagement rates
• While industry plays a role, overall, engagement rates on Thursday and Friday are 18% higher than other days of the week
• Posts that end with a  question have a 15% higher engagement rate

This report reinforced some of the data we looked at from Dan Zarrella earlier this week.  Post when your audience have time to engage will likely increase the success of your post.

Another interesting data from this report was around what to post to increase engagement.  Questions are always good conversation starters.  However, many brands also leverage Facebook to promote their offers.  In these cases, this report suggests that soft sell is the way to go.  Words like “event” and “winner” are well received by fans.  On the other hand, words like “coupon”, “exclusive”, even “free” are not the best words to use on Facebook.

Social media marketing and Facebook marketing remains to be a world of growth and opportunities.  As more marketers are becoming active in this space, we will sure gain more insights into how to best leverage these new tools.

Despite that, not everyone has the same level of experience in social media marketing.  Of those surveyed, half had less than 1 year of experience.  Keeping that in mind, the data not only shows the state of the industry, but it also shows where the opportunities lie.

Social media is still in its infancy in being part of the marketing mix.  Currently, social media is largely leveraged to gain general exposure and increase new users.  The opportunity here is that social media has the potential to be an on-going engagement with existing users.  As we all know, it’s far cheaper to keep a consumer than to try to gain a new one.  So, social media still has a lot of room to grow.

Facebook by far is the most popular social media tool right now.  It’s also interesting to note that there is a difference between B2B and B2C marketing.  LinkedIn is far more popular with the B2B marketers.  This makes sense because every marketing tactic is about targeting.  LinkedIn is a forum where business professionals are already at, thus making it a perfect forum for B2B marketers.

Of all the different tactics, YouTube / Video was the top area of focus, with 77% surveyed indicated that they intend to increase their efforts.  This likely highlights the growth in adjacent technologies, namely smartphones.

This was followed by Facebook, blogs, and Twitter, not so surprisingly.  Nevertheless, traditional digital marketing remains to be an important tool.  SEO and email marketing are both areas marketers intend to continue to increase focus on.  This is natural if you think about it because people are searching online for information and it takes email addresses to sign up for social media tools!

However, traditional paper marketing is likely to continue to fall out of favor with marketers.  Direct mail and print ads both are areas where over 10% of those surveyed intend to lower their investment…

The first one is by Dan Zarrella, Social Media Scientist at HubSpot, on the Science of Timing.  Here are a few key takeaways that Dan wants everyone to know from his research:

On Twitter and Facebook:

• Late in the day and week is the most retweetable
• Tweet more
• Don’t crowd your content
• Weekends are best for Facebook sharing

On Email Marketing:

• Experiment with emailing on weekends
• Send email very early in the morning
• Send more email
• Your newest subscribers are your best

On Blogging:

• Know your audience
• Blog on weekends for comments
• Blog early in the morning for links
• Blog more frequently

With all the takeaways above, there is an underlying theme: Tailor to your audience.

1. Send content to them at a time that they are available to absorb content (which is generally around early morning, lunch, or late evening, as in not during peak work hours).
2. Don’t worry that you are over-marketing to them.  If what you’re sending them is relevant, they wouldn’t mind getting a lot of it.

So, a few decades ago, marketers came up with the idea of psychographic.  We want to target based on how they think and behave.  However, traditional media still had a hard time bringing this idea into fruition.  We can buy print ad on tech magazines, but really only the REALLY tech-savvy guys would have a subscription to tech magazines.  That seems somewhat limited, and doesn’t help to grow the market…

In comes social media and the digital revolution.  On digital and social space, it’s far easier to track what conversations you’re having.  It’s easier to track what websites you’re going to.  It’s easier to track what are you “liking” on Facebook.  It’s a whole new world of targeting.  As social media advertising is in its infancy, so is the concept of applying psychographic onto the social media space.  But the potential is here.  So, it’d be exciting to see how we can realize the potential.

This post is inspired by this TEDWomen presentation by Johanna Blakley, the Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California): 

Link to presentation on TED.com

Social media has became a company’s best tool in disaster management.  Borders advised their loyal customers via Facebook and Twitter regarding their reorganization the same day it was filed.

Wall Street Journal reported on this pending bankruptcy last week.  So, it isn’t new news to the inside circle.  However, to many Borders consumers, the social media postings are likely to represent breaking news.  Social media is also allowing Borders to continue to communicate with their core consumers as the proceedings evolves.  It also gave Borders an avenue to communicate important information such as store closing.  During such a difficult time, it also gave Borders a way to continue to build good will and retain loyal consumers to the best of its abilities.  A quick glance on Borders twitter stream shows numerous personal replies.  Social media gave Borders the opportunity to continuously engage, and to address (or potentially discover) any consumer concerns.

Social media is now an essential tool for any public relations effort.  It’s particularly helpful in incidents where events are continuously changing, and you need a way to communicate with your most loyal consumers with the latest and greatest.  Traditional media cannot be compared with social media in its ability to respond quickly.  News is on TV three times a day.   Newspaper comes out once a day.  Tweets can be posted continuously.

Click here to view a few screenshots of Borders effort.

We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did – it’s the last thing we wanted.

Many bloggers have weighted in on the controversy, and the social media PR fallout thereafter.  One of my favorite posts on this issue is Mack Collier’s.  He didn’t take a side on whether he liked the commercial or not.  He posted specifically on how one should handle such situations.  Because at the end of the day, How you handle the first conversation, leads to the second one.

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s decision of airing the commercials was questionable.  However, many came to his defense.  Lawrence O’Donnell even considers Groupon MVP of the Super Bowl commercial line up.  After all, the commercials did bring awareness to the causes, however unsavory it may seem to some.  In fact, some would argue that Andrew shouldn’t apologize because the intention was noble.  The commercials were charitable in nature!

But it was ultimately how the conversation was handled that caused the even greater stir.  Andrew, a day after Super Bowl, posted an explanation of the commercials on the blog.  However, the lack of an apology and the comparison to sex-driven commercials further infuriates some users.  If Andrew has simply posted the apology at the beginning, the disaster could have been contained.

His mistake lies in his dismissal of his user’s point of view.  He basically said we didn’t mean to offend and you shouldn’t be offended.  But, well, people were.  So, let’s refer to the old mantra:  The customer is always right.

So, what’s the lesson?  Don’t fall in love with an idea.  Listen, and truly listen, to feedback.

It seems appropriate to discuss relationship in a traditional boyfriend / girlfriend sense.  When a person falls in love, they don’t see the other person for who they really are.  Everything is rosy.  Now, that’s what your friends are for.  They tell you that you’ve met a great guy.  Or, they tell you to get the heck out!  But, people who are involved in abusive relationships, despite feedbacks, they don’t get out till it’s way too late.  They couldn’t see clearly.  Emotions were clouding judgement.  So, listen to early feedback, and act accordingly.  If it’s good, great!  If it’s bad, get out before you’re in too deep and are in even more trouble.

You may fall in love with a book idea.  But if no publisher (who’s buying your idea) wants to take on the project, your idea does you very little good.

You may fall in love with a product concept.  But if no retailer wants to carry it, your concept does you very little good.

You may fall in love with your resume.  But if no one is calling you for an interview, your resume is not doing you any good.

You may fall in love with your commercial idea.  But if it’s costing you loyal consumers, your commercial is no good.

Related articles

• Groupon spectacularly did what so many others have done (curiousmarketeer.com)

Another challenge for a marketer to attempt a one-size-fits-all model in this global environment is that behaviors differs greatly in each location.  Heck, we can’t even agree on the spelling of the word behaviours.  Why is it important to understand the difference in behaviors?  It’s because that’s the only thing we can intercept and try to influence.  If someone never acts upon what they think, you would never know what they are thinking.  Many books have depicted an oppressive society where people acts according to the social standards and they are each model citizens.  However, their thoughts can be quite different.  And there is nothing you can do about their thoughts as long as they don’t speak of it or act on it.  And there is no way you can even know that they have uncondoned thoughts.  This is an example of how we can only intercept someone’s thinking when we can intercept their behavior.

In fact, that’s the power behind the word “Insight.”

IN:  What they think

SIGHT:  What we see they do

INSIGHT:  What we see they do based on what they think

IN:  I’m feeling the pressure of an uncertain economy.  I may lose my job tomorrow.  I’d better be careful with my spending.

SIGHT:  I started clipping coupons and stocking up on deals.

Marketers leveraging the insight:  Put coupons in newspaper.  Thus, offering consumers incentives to buy my brand over my competitors.

So, a difference in behavior can greatly change how we market to different consumers in different locations.  As this is a blog, let’s take the hot topic of social media and internet use as an example.  According to a recent survey conduct by TNS, a leading market research firm, the predominate profile of an internet user in the United States is a Networker.  However, simply cross over the our neighbors up north however, the predominate user profile in Canada is a Functionals.

Networker:  The internet is important for me to establish and maintain relationships. I have a busy life whether it’s my profession or managing the home. I use things like social networking to keep in touch with people I wouldn’t have time to otherwise. I’m a big home internet home user and I’m very open to talking to brands and looking for promotions. That said I’m not really the kind of person to voice my opinions online.

Functionals:  The internet is a functional tool, I don’t want to express myself online. I like emailing, checking the news, sport & weather but also online shopping.  I’m really not interested in anything new (like social networking )and I am worried about data privacy and security. I am older and have been using  the internet for a long time.

Okay, would you talk to these two people the same way?  Would you even find them the same way?  The answer is of course no.  Of course, this is a simplified example.  You may not be trying to reach the typical American or the typical Canadian.  Also, I’m highlighting the predominate profile, but there are plenty of Functionals in the US and plenty of Networkers in Canada.  However, it still illustrates the point that it’s probably unwise to have a one-size-fits-all marketing campaign.  This is why companies have different websites for different countries.  We need to recognize even on the world wide web, we are targeting one country at a time.  In fact, depending on the business, it may be one city, one neighborhood, at a time.

More from the Marketing Globe Series.

Photo Credit:  Thinking by Gal.

Related articles

• Marketing Globe: Difference in Culture (curiousmarketeer.com)
• Mobile Usage Across The Globe (viralblog.com)

Dabbling into social media has always been scary for big brands.  Because we lose control of it all.  Because we allow the voice of a few to be heard, and we can’t just use TV advertising to drown them out.  It’s like you have handed over a microphone to everyone, including your haters, and to let them broadcast to the world whatever they want.  However, it is still generally advocated that big brand should participate in the social media discussion, good or bad.  Why?  Well, the discussion is happening anyway, so you may as well be a part of it.  It’s the only way you can learn and improve.  If someone at your office is circulating rumors about you, wouldn’t you like to know what exactly is being circulated?

Sue is always eating at meeting.  What’s worse, she leaves all her napkins and breadcrumbs and stuffs behind in meeting rooms.  I hate going into a conference room afterwards.  She’s such a mess.

There’s no reason to go talk to John.  Just go talk to his boss.  I sent him three emails this week, and he didn’t reply to a single one.

Well, turns out John’s grandma passed, and yes, that’s making him a little less responsive.  If you were John, you’d want to set the record straight.

Turns out Sue really is a mess.  If you were Sue, and you didn’t bother to pay attention to these stories, you may never realize what you were doing is unappealing to people.

So, yes, it’s important to participate in the social space.  It’s just part of good customer service – paying attention to your customers.

However, allowing negative comments to happen organically is one thing.  I wouldn’t want to pay for negative comments to be broadcasted.  Am I really that old-school?

The latest in Facebook’s ad offering is “Sponsored Stories”.  This means when a Facebook user interacts with your brand via, Likes, Check-ins or page posts, it gets broadcasted to a much wider Facebook community like an ad would on the sidebar.  For example, if a user check-in to your venue, you can paid to have that broadcasted.  Now, that’s no so bad when the check in is positive.  For example, Megan may check-in at bar X (bar X being the advertiser) and with the comment of “having a great time at happy hour with friend Jane.”  Now, all (if the advertiser pays for it all) of Megan’s friends will see on the sidebar that Megan has checked in to venue x and is “having a great time…”  This is very on-strategy with a recent Nielsen study that found ads to have social context to be more successful.  In this case, Megan is serving to be an endorser of bar x to her friends, without her realizing it.

It wouldn’t be horrible either if the check in turned out to be Jason checking in Starbucks with a comment “still waiting for my date to show up… hope she’s not a no show”.

But what if someone check in to restaurant Z with a comment “just got served raw chicken…”  That isn’t so good.

Or someone may just post a negative post on your fan page and says “your place sucks!”  And that became the copy that shows up as a “Sponsored Stories”.

Now advertisers do have some control.  Advertisers could limit this to just “Likes”.  “Likes” are by definition positive.  Generally speaking, I don’t have any problems with the existence of the negatives either.  I’m believe in negative comments.  Because in general, every brand stands for something, which automatically means they are not going to stand for something else.  Every brand is supposed to have their pagans.  These are people who doesn’t believe what your brand is selling.  These are the people who never got it.  These are the exactly the opposite of your core consumers.  For example, these are the tree huggers and you are a fur coat maker.  (I’m using this as an example and using labels to simplify the example.  I am not making a political statement here.)  But that’s okay.  These two can co-exist.  Fur coat makers are not trying to sell fur coats to tree huggers.  Tree huggers are not their demographic.  Fur coat buyers also know that they are not tree huggers, and they’re okay with that.  They are okay with tree huggers saying fur coats are bad, and they’ve reconciled themselves with that opinion.

Negative comments are there.  They exist regardless of whether social media is around.  PETA existed long before Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook promotes this new tactics as being more effective to buy word of mouth.

However, as open minded I’m about negative comments, I’m not sure about this.  For some brands, this may not be a concerned at all.  For others that have put a hard line in the sand on what they are selling and what they’re not, this is not just embracing the existing of negative comment.  This is paying to have them broadcasted.  Am I too old-school to think that’s not necessarily a good advertising model?

Photo Credit: Microphone by Daehyun Park.  Facebook image via AdAge.com

Related articles

• Facebook Turns Friend Activity Into New Ad Format (mashable.com)
• Facebook Turns the ‘Like’ Into Its Newest Ad (AdAge.com)
• Facebook Adds ‘Sponsored Stories’ to Ad Arsenal (AdWeek.com)

It’s January.  How do you know?  Go to a gym.  It’s pack with people who have made this year the year to lose those extra pounds.  Where were they last month?

This happens every year.  Everyone is enthusiastic in January.  People join aerobic classes.  People sign up for gym memberships.  People commit themselves to showing up at the gym every night.  A month goes by, that long wait for a treadmill disappears.  Another month goes by, the classes become less crammed.  By March, well, no one keeps resolutions anyway!

It’s easy to make resolutions, but it takes dedication and commitment to keep them.

It’s easy to make a jump into the social media bandwagon.  It takes dedication and commitment to maintain them and make social media work.

This was the thesis of Tom Fishburn’s cartoon this week.  He highlighted a particular example where his local diner still calls attention to a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated for months.  A Facebook page doesn’t run itself.  Online dialogues with your fans won’t magically happen.  Just like those extra pounds won’t magically disappear.  You have to commit to make it happen.

Coincidentally (or perhaps timed purposely), Tom launched his Facebook page today.  Go friend him!

Photo Credit:  Tricia Wang

If you haven’t started following Tom Fishburne, please start today! His latest post really got me thinking… How useless social media is if you don’t have strong fundamentals. Social media is just another latest new trick in a marketer’s bag. But, it’s not the only trick. And just because it’s new and shiny still doesn’t mean it’s the best trick.

His post all started with Mark Ritson’s column. In which, he asserts that “Most brands don’t have the newsworthiness, broad appeal or dynamism to have any chance of making Twitter work for them.” So, get the fundamentals right. Don’t expect your consumers to “fan” you because you have a facebook page. They will “fan” you if they have been a fan. They become a fan when you get every other piece of the marketing mix right (you know, those dang Ps, like having the right product, at the right price, at the right place, backed by the right promotion).

Photo credit: Intersection Consulting

Related articles online

• Social media isn’t a magic wand (chelpixie.com)