Show Me The Money!!

and I promise this has nothing to do with Jerry Maguire

In most cases and as general concept, the more hits your website receives, the better your social media is performing. Here are some general ‘engagement’ metrics that you can monitor once visitors arrive:

• Unique visitors
• Page views per visitor
• Time spent on site
• Total time spent per user
• Frequency of visits
• Depth of visit
• Conversions

Most companies can use web analytics tools like Omniture or even Google Analytics which is a free tool. This applications and tools give you a brief overview as well as a detailed numbers. This all fine and dandy, but there is still a major factor that can not be measured-How much revenue is upheld via social media.

In business, CEO's and execs want to know if ever dollar that is put, turns a decent profit margin. This is also known as their return on their investment. That's the problem with social media measurements. You simply can't measure ROI this way. There are just so many intangibles. I brought up this concept a while ago, but let's get into it again.

Say someone is on your site and then tells a friend about it and that friend makes a purchase. How do you measure that? Don't forget the the salary that is handed to the employees that manage the site or involved within the social media realm. So that's already a sunk cost, and needs to be recovered via sales. There are so many intangibles that can be measured by any Google analytics tools.

Although there is no direct measurement with social media, there is still a large market audience to gain.

E-mail=Carrier Pigeon?

According the recent articles posted by techies, Twitter will soon replace or possibly phase out e-mail.

The idea behind microblogging is that you summarize your thoughts in 140 characters or less -you're actually limited to the space available. Blogs with 250 word minimums need not apply. Ok, so i know what you are thinking-crap, another blog site that I can waste my time on and possible "connect" with other people. But an article by Robert Scoble says Twitter can do more. You win your clients over by gaging their interests and likes via their Twitter file, check their current status, and set meeting dates.
I have a few quams if you will with this, sorry Twitter

1. When does knowing someone interests become stalker status? Personally, as I client I would not want by advisor calling or meeting with me for the first time and him asking how my Yankees are doing or how I enjoyed movie (fill in your favorite movie).
2. "It's strangely addictive," says NBC videographer Jim Long. Ummmm, not good. So now we have a bunch of financial advisors and employees strangely addicited to Twiiter. So who the hell is doing actual office work?
3. Maybe it's because I just don't like Twitter, but I just do see the benefits of using Twitte out-weighing the costs. I feel that employees or people may spend more time on the site, then getting actuall results. As Robert noted him, he posted that they are expecting a baby. He did recieve any posts or contacts from Huggies, Gerber Baby Food, or other infant related products. I guess Procter & Gamble didn't think the marketing costs for this research was not worth it.

Ok ok, let's switch it up, here's what I like

1. This is a large network.
   
2. Twitter is mobile. You can send an SMS message to the Twitter phone number to update your friends on your everyday whereabouts, and people who subscribe to you will get instant notifications wherever they are.
3. Ask questions, get answers in real time: My favorite part about Twitter is the ability to get answers really quickly to any question you have. You can even track the conversation later using a tool such as Quotably.
   

So to all you businesses (I highly doubt you are reading this, but here goes anyway) when approaching Twitter, you need to do some market research to see if this product will actually put some money in the bank for you. Do your homework and go on with your e-hustle.




Photo Credit
http://silenceandvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/twitter-addicts.jpg

You too can be a citizen journalist....kinda

You reading this article makes me a citizen journalist...

What?

Yes, this is the way it works. The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.

There is some controversy over the term citizen journalism, because many professional journalists believe that only a trained journalist can understand the rigors and ethics involved in reporting the news. And conversely, there are many trained journalists who practice what might be considered citizen journalism by writing their own blogs or commentary online outside of the traditional journalism hierarchy. Check out this YouTube video for more ideas.

Here's my take-since there is no moderation due to free speech clauses, people are generally free to write what they want on the web. This is where is becomes dangerous. I can say that as of today this morning, BMW motors will no longer produce automobiles and begin production on a new line of competitor Barbie dolls. Here's the sad part-there might be a huge audience that may read this and actually believe what I wrote and sell BMW stock or burn their 330xi that they have in their lot. So please, citizen journalists, please write with caution and responsibility.

Here is another great article for further discussion.

Online Meet and Greets....Awful Idea

This Web Page brings up the notion of doing away with personal meet and greets and switching over to the web based version. The same article brings up the website LinkedIn. A woman by the name of Grace Change joined this professional social network. Via this site people can look at personal profiles and retain information such as operating industry field, salary, and personal information.

The concept of a Business Lunch hails all the way back to the olden ages where two individuals or more would gather to have a meal and later discuss business matter informally. These meetings people get to know one another and truly see how they can interact with others. These luncheons may determine whether or not someone gets employment or is allowed to start on a new project.

What happens if this business lunch turns into an internet based version where people use websites such as LinkedIn and such. I have preached this many times. People need to meet face to face to really get to know themselves. When people sit behind the screens of their laptops or desktops, they are not the same person if met face to face. I guarantee you this. Certain emotions, character traits, or comical jokes come out in a business lunch/ drink.

I also think that there is a fine line between efficeincy and loss of personal touch. I understand that this is a high paced world with bills to be collected around the corner, but should we really lose getting the chance to truly know a person. I do not agree with this e-business meet and greet. I think research should be made for a person's background and so forth via, the net but business execs should meet face to face to discuss business. Period.

Trust me, this is an horrible idea.

Word of Mouse; Kill That Mouse

Ok, so the Economist published an article on how social networks and their marketing potential. The following was taken directly out of the article.

Thus the main thesis of “The Cluetrain Manifesto”, written in 1999, was that “markets are conversations” which the web can make transparent.

I agree 100% with this quote, but at the end of the day most people sign into Facebook or MySpace to connect with old time friends, not to be hit by specified ads or banner ads. Personally, most of the ads on Facebook on not catered to my interest. Just the other day, I looked at the side of Facebook and saw Car Insurance Rates for high luxury automobiles. Ummmmm...NO. I drive a Nissan Altima, and in no way is that a luxury vehicle, also how many college kids on FB have luxury cars? This is the same problem Andrew ran into with his Facebook experience. Check out his blog out at http://accandrews.blogspot.com/. Although companies such as Google cater to using keywords and searchwords typed in by the user to select specified ads, I still fill as if it's a hit or miss.

I think the idea "conversational marketing" is great in theory. When films such as 300 and companies such as Sprite create interactive pages on social networks, I think they get their name out and and increase their target audience. But here comes the problem, the article notes that there is no mass targeting, yet a use of "opinion leaders" who in turn push forward a specific ad that they have seen within their social network. This doesn't work.

Call me old school, but Facebook would be great without ads.