I get lots of questions about how I personally use social networks to market MediaSauce and myself.

And to tell you the truth, sometimes I think I know the answer to this question and sometimes I feel like I don’t.

Has any of my contacts through Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter generated business for MediaSauce.  Well, sort of.  But maybe it’s not the kind of direct correlation that advertising and marketing delivers.  Or that we think advertising and marketing deliver.

You see, you can’t argue with the facts.  Lots and lots of people are using these platforms.  The increase in usage is tremendous.

Facebook is up 700% in time spent and has over 200 million users – over 100 million unique visitors last month.

Linkedin is up 69% in time spent and has over 41 million users – over 12 million unique visitors last month.

And finally, Twitter, the marketing buzz word for the first six months of this year, is up a whooping 3700% increase in time spent and has over 32 million users – over 19 million unique visitors last month.  This is all from Nielsen, if you think I’m making it up.

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#1 You Need to Learn from This Post:
Like many human gatherings, Twitter has moved past the novelty stage and into a new, uncertain period.

A More Detailed Exploration:
Twitter has changed dramatically in the past six months. Not only has the number of registered users skyrocketed, but the nature of interactions have changed, too.  I’ve been around Twitter for a year now (it’s my paper anniversary, so please send paper my way – preferably something from the US Treasury) and have had a few conversations with others of similar, if not longer, tenures.

The unanimous consensus is that Twitter is a different creature now.  In the “early days” of Twitter, it felt like we had all just arrived for the start of a great party or conference. We were eager to find out as much as we could about each other, freely sharing, and eager for new connections. Now, we’ve found our circles of people we like hanging out with and eagerly seek them out from the crowd.  

To me, Twitter has become like the party or conference that’s gone on too long.  The excitement of meeting new people has given way to a growing weariness of seeing the same bunch of people everywhere. The panels and speakers are beginning to say pretty much the same thing as the previous ones. I’m getting tired of my hotel room, going out on the town, and eating out at restaurants all the time.

Yes, I’m aware it’s mostly my perception, but I know I’m not alone. This doesn’t mean I’m leaving Twitter. It means my frequency of using Twitter will go down and I’ll maintain the relationships with those I find to have enduring value to me.

What do you think? Has Twitter become like the party or conference that’s lost its novelty? How will this impact Twitter? Will Twitter become as irrelevant as the telegraph? Or as critical as the telephone?

 
Find me on Twitter (just less often):
@scottyhendo

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Listen, these technologies are just tools.  Just like your fax machine (if you still have one of those) or your email.

It’s a tool for communication with other people.  When email came out (does anyone remember life without email?), some people embraced it.  But others, you know, struggled, they fought it, but then they finally had to give in.  And, of course, there were those that got confused and accidentally spammed the entire company.  That still happens.  But it doesn’t happen so much anymore.  And what companies do actual training on how to use email?  It’s just a part of life in the office environment and you should know how to use email.

Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter can all be the same thing – even if it isn’t called by these specific brand names in a few years.  Think companies won’t have an internal Facebook for communicating.  Think a Linkedin type tool won’t hold all your business and personal information.  What we are seeing is just the first shots at these tools.  Email has come a long way in a short time.  Don’t think that these tools won’t evolve as well. more

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Facebook vs Linkedin vs Twitter

Maybe you think that your target audience isn’t online. You’ve talked to a few of your colleagues and they all think the same thing. Well, maybe they aren’t. But I wouldn’t use my gut to consider if I should be doing more online.

For instance, I have a client that did a series of their target audience (engineers) and their distributors. There was some very insight findings. Their engineers used Google more than anything else to find new products whereas the distributors used Trade Magazines. And the predominant niche search, Global Spec, wasn’t used very often at all by either audience.

So where should be focus our marketing dollars. Trade magazines or Google? The client made the decision to pursue the target audience, engineers, via Google and communicate directly with his distributors dropping trade mags altogether (mainly due to expense).

Now, let’s take a glance at the rest of the world which could be your target audience.

Using Compete.com, Facebook has 91 million unique visitors, a 23% increase over last month, and a 195% over last year. Is your audience going there? BTW, ads aren’t the best way to reach people on Facebook. Being part of the conversation and allowing them to control it is a much better way to engage.
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What questions do you have about digital marketing?

OK, I’ve been gone a while. I apologize. I had a very large client with a very large budget and I needed to focus on them completely. But now that the major presentation is done, I can go back to all the other things I was doing along with my job as a digital strategist at MediaSauce.

I get a lot of questions about what I would do with this or that on the web. Does Twitter work? How should I be using Facebook or Linkedin? What is the best way to get my site seen by Google? (This one is near and dear because I believe that if Google can’t see you, then you don’t exist.) All good questions but there’s a lot that I don’t know about your company before I start recommending how you should be using technology. more

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#1 Thing You Need to Know about this Post:
Pedigree has spent a lot of resources to create awareness about the Pedigree Adoption Drive and will need to use its online resources to prove it was a wise decision, not prideful folly.

A More Detailed Exploration
The Super Bowl is a spectacular affair with entertainment for almost everyone, whether or not you care about the game on the field.  People were overflowing with anticipation, celebration, indifference, derision, and disappointment throughout the evening. And that was just for the commercials (see the Twitter stream).

Out of all the spots that were aired, I noticed two that were primarily cause marketing initiatives: the NFL and Pedigree. While the NFL has a long history of promoting its community support (e.g. United Way commercials) and gets its air time as part of the broadcast agreement, Pedigree had to pay full retail price. more

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MediaSauce proudly announces an exclusive business partnership with the creator of “The Social Media Bible.” Being released on April 21, 2009, it is the first book to comprehensively define the tools, tactics and strategies of social media in the Digital Age. The Book will be a must-have reference manual and business guide for executives around the globe that seek to succeed on the internet.

(I’ll share more details about this important business book and our partnership following a case-study account of how social media gets the credit for this business opportunity.)

Every week I spend 45-60 minutes perusing the hundreds of discussion forums on LinkedIN to identify if there are any interesting job recruits or business development opportunities that MediaSauce might like to pursue.

Those minutes, spread across the business day, are my version of mental smoke breaks. I don’t find a lead or opportunity every time, but I’m addicted because of the fix I get when there is something that drives a new opportunity.

On January 5th I spotted a question from Lon Safko asking for “…the right partner who can help me develop the web site around my new book, “The Social Media Bible” published by John Wiley & Sons.”

This caught my eye, as John Wiley & Sons is a respectable publisher, best known for their “For Dummies” series.

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The #1 Thing You Need to Know from this Post:
You can break out of your personal echo chamber and see the world in a different light thru the @ScottyHendo Twitter Exchange Program.  

A More Detailed Explanation:
Three weeks ago, I had had enough of the Internet echo chamber after seeing the same handful of links and topics bouncing around in my Twitter stream. Knowing the human mind is at its best when it’s exposed to a variety of viewpoints, I decided to do something about it. more

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As the creator of the world’s first Twitter Exchange Program, I felt it was important to be in its first graduating class.  Here is a summary of my experiences.  [If you're not sure what the program is, you can read all about it here.]

My Search Term
Vibrant more

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Connections are taking on a whole new meaning in the Interconnected Age – and sales executives that believe they can rely solely on the relationship building methods of days gone by are going to quickly become relics.

If you want your sales organization to help you gain market share in the digital age, they must be ready and able to connect; social media is quickly driving new opportunities to generate business.

At “Sales 2.0,” Bryan Gray and I layed out the critical need for sales organizations to outwit and outmanuever the competition – or risk being beat by smarter, more digitally savvy sales teams. (Watch the presentation below)

You can listen to the entire presentation here.

Build a culture

Unfortunately there isn’t a magic pill that can turn our traditional sales force into a weapon for the digital age.  So those of us in sales leadership must start today to build a culture prepared to  compete as more and more customers choose to make decisions through the internet and not by RFPs, long sales proposals, etc.

We can, however, begin building a culture by getting our existing staff introduced to social media and give them the insight to start generating new business. Let’s face it, there’s no easier way to get sales people excited about new tools or technology than to show them the immediate impact these tools can make on their commission checks!

3 tools, all free

There are a multitude of fantastic Web 2.0 tools out there to generate leads from, but it’s important we get started with the ones that have the most immediate opportunity for impact. I guarrantee that if your entire sales force exploited the opportunities that these three free sites offer, they’ll make more sales and have deeper relationships with their prospects and customers:

• Facebook
• LinkedIN
• Twitter

Notice I said “exploit” not “use.” There is a significant difference. Just having a profile on these three sites isn’t enough. Adding a couple photos and occasionally sending out a connection or friend request is merely participation on the site.

In the coming days and weeks I will write a few blog posts on the MediaSauce blog about each of these tools. In the meantime, take a look at the presentation Bryan and I gave at “Sales 2.0″ for a quick look at the opportunities that these three tools create for you as you transform your sales organization for the digital age.

Today is the day to make a change in your sales culture. If you don’t, your competition will find a way to sell to your customers while you’re still trying to get a phone call returned for an appointment.

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