Ho! Ho! Tweet!?! Social Media & Holiday Shopping

The holiday season is already here. It’s time to call up loved ones for gift ideas and begin combing the Sunday papers for the best deals. Wait. This year when I say “call up loved ones,” I actually mean go to their Facebook page, and by “Sunday paper” I mean Twitter.

The graph below shows the results from eMarketer.com’s study on social media use this holiday season.

Also reported:
- 27% of online shoppers will use social networks for gift ideas. According to eMarketer
- 45% will “use social networks to research items, compare prices and look for offers.” According to eMarketer
- 17% of all Christmas shoppers will use social media to aid their efforts in one way or another this holiday season. According to Deloitte

Since last holiday season, networking giants Twitter and Facebook have been consistently proving their promotional value to businesses. In the last 12 months, their power to share information in real-time has substantiated them as the fastest and most cost effective way for retailers to connect with potential customers. With the majority of people planning to use social media this holiday season to find discounts, coupons and sale information, I’d expect to see many creative social media-driven promotions this holiday season.

If you have already seen promotions like these, feel free to share them with us on facebook.com/dirxion or twitter.com/dirxion. We’d enjoy hearing about them.

More Reason to Socialize

Over a short period of time, sites like Facebook and Twitter have grown from messaging tools between friends into widely adopted means of self-promotion, advertising, and interaction. Most recently, the growing popularity of sharing useful information through these networks has caused a shift in the way the internet is being used, blurring the lines between its informational and social atmosphere.

As of last week that gray area got a little grayer. Microsoft announced that they struck deals with the two social networking giants to start integrating real time search results that will come directly from Twitter and Facebook users but will be listed within the Bing search engine results. Google also announced that they cut a similar deal with Twitter and would soon be launching a whole new search tool called ‘Social Search’. So it appears that now the influence of your tweets and updates will expand beyond just their narrow social circles.

This all came about as increasing amounts of traffic to websites were coming from Facebook and Twitter, taking some potential business away from search engines. The search engines, rather than compete, realized that when people are seeking information they are finding that content is often more relevant when it comes from someone within their sphere of influence online and not a mysterious and complex algorithm. Also, social search is predominantly based on recency because more times than not the most recent information is also the most pertinent.

What does this mean for publishers? There are larger marketing opportunities in growing your online social circle and actively participating within it. This is also important because for the first time these new forms of search are giving you some control over being found.  Instead of solely being bound by the strict rules of search engine optimization and highly competitive keywords, now by making regular use of Twitter and Facebook you are vicariously using search engines to reach an even larger audience. The more social you become with your marketing, the more traffic directed through your links.

ADP Mid-Year Conference

Dirxion recently attended the Association of Directory Publishers Mid-Year Conference in Orlando, FL.  We were proud to be the exclusive sponsor of not only the Golf Tournament, but also a very exciting $10,000 Hole-In-One Giveaway.  The Jack Nicklaus designed New Course is a replica of the Old Course at St. Andrews and proved quite a challenge for even the best of players.

Aside from golf, there were some productive discussions between both vendors and publishers.  In a year when many publishers are challenged by a bad economy and a general decline in print advertising, it was important for publishers to hear new ideas about how they can best serve their advertisers.  Gone are the days when a sales rep can simply sell a print ad once a year to an advertiser and expect a regular healthy renewal.  Yellow Pages publishers have certainly seen the need for multi-platform providers like Dirxion.
There is an ever-increasing focus on being able to provide local search results for advertisers online and this comes at the same time that the publisher needs to be a source of information and leads for their advertisers.  It’s a tall order for many Yellow Pages reps to move from a traditional quick close sale to a consultative relationship.

While the conference featured publishers sharing with publishers, there still seemed to be lack of understanding and adoption of new strategies by the Yellow Pages publishers.  Part of the challenge is that newer techniques for communicating with customers (i.e. blogs and Twitter) simply aren’t being put to use.  Dirxion posted one of only two blogs about the ADP conference and was probably the only company in attendance to send out a tweet about it.

Don’t worry publishers; we are here to help.  The latest version of our digital Yellow and White Pages solution – EdgeClix - makes easy work of social media.  With our directory product, you can become the premier marketing consultant for your Yellow Pages advertisers.  Over 80 Yellow Pages publishers have chosen Dirxion as their choice in online directories and that number continues to grow.  We support the print like no other online provider and continue to add new programs that will help you sell more ads online and in print.

67% of Shoppers Spend More Money When Their Facebook Friends Give Them The Green Light

At Dirxion, we like to think that we have our finger on the pulse. We cashed out with Bernie Madoff like 2 years ago. In 2003, we popped our collars at least a month before everyone else caught on. Not the best examples, but it makes my point about us having some foresight. We not too long ago introduced our social sharing feature aimed at our customers with digital catalogs, travel guides and magazines. Without fail, a study recently came out from the E-tailing Group, Inc and it proved us right again.

The report states that 83% of consumers who shop online are keen to the notion of sharing their potential purchases with their Facebook and Twitter friends. On top of that, 67% admit that they end up spending more money online if they receive their social networking friends’ seal of approval.

Also discovered through this study:
62% of online shoppers are more likely to return to a retail website that offers social tools.

Twice as many shoppers say they prefer the recommendations of their friends in social communities rather than that of the retailers.

41% of people say they would be interested in being a part of online communities that share information about shopping and their favorite products.

Social networks are continually proving to be a valuable business resource. If you aren’t using these sites for all their marketing capabilities you could be missing out on some potential revenue. So here’s an idea … publish a digital edition of your publication. Use the social media features to circulate it to your customers, and then let your customers start circulating it for you. That’s working smart.

Learn The Basics Of Proper Twitter Etiquette For Businesses

With Twitter (the popular micro-blogging service) becoming a household name, it’s probably safe to say that a lot of people who want to use it are a little intimidated to start their tweeting adventure because they’re not sure just exactly what to say or do without looking like a total newbie. While there are no hard and set rules, there are a few things that fall into what is commonly referred to as “Twitter etiquette”, or, “Twitiquette”.

Below, we’ll review five things to keep in mind when using Twitter, and since we’re all about using Twitter in a business environment, most of the information below will be geared towards using Twitter in the business and corporate world.

1. To Follow, Or Not - One of the daily aspects of using Twitter, whether personally or for business purposes, is checking out your new followers and deciding if you should follow them back. One thing to keep in mind is that before you go off and follow everyone that follows you, your best bet is to take a look at your new followers to see if they’re indeed “real” people or just spam accounts that spammers set up to promote junk offers. It only takes a few seconds to do this, and can go a long way in protecting your timeline from being clogged up with spam offers. Now, assuming the person is real, you still don’t know if you should follow them or not. That’s quite common, and what you need to ask yourself is - “Am I potentially interested in what this person has to say on a daily basis?” or “Do they seem interesting” or “Can I learn something from them?”. Simply taking a look at their past few tweets should give you an idea of what kind of Twitterer they are. Don’t worry, unlike the opinion of a few so called experts - Twitter wasn’t made for you to follow everyone that follows you. It doesn’t hurt to give them a chance and follow them for a few days to see what they’re like, but by no means should you ever feel obligated to follow someone just because they followed you.

2. Engage And Answer - If you’re representing a business on Twitter, it’s very important that when you receive questions, replies, or direct message that you answer or respond to them in a timely manner. Part of the beauty of Twitter is the “real-time” atmosphere, and businesses who understand that and actively engage and respond to their customers are the ones making waves in the social media atmosphere.

3. Offer Value - One of the best things about Twitter is the potential value of a single 140 character post. People like to follow those who share useful links, helpful or insightful information, or anything else of value that makes your readers make a point to pay attention to your tweets. For instance, sometimes the computer giant, Dell, runs special offers exclusively for their followers on Twitter. If you’re representing a business or company, try something similar. Run a promotion exclusively for your Twitter followers, and if it’s good enough, you can bet that word of mouth will travel at light speed, and your follower count will go up!

4. Don’t Overdo It - Twitter is a highly powerful social media business communication tool, and it’s a great way to reach out to a brand new audience. But one thing you don’t want to do is continually promote your business to the point where it gets annoying. No one wants to sign on to Twitter to read advertisements all day, trust me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about your business on Twitter part of the time - but to really build trust, loyalty, and popularity, make sure you’re adding value to your Twitter stream. Keep the self-promotion to a safe minimum.

5. Show Your Human Side - This relates to the advice given above, but it’s still worth pointing out. If you’re Tweeting for a company or business that you run, make sure your entire existence on Twitter isn’t about the business side of things. Show your followers that there is an actual face behind the company logo. Become more personal and show them that you believe in the power of social media for connecting on a personal level. Take a picture or maybe even a video of a company meeting or gathering, or take some funny pictures of the company BBQ where the boss falls into a puddle of mud during tug-of-war. Your customers will absolutely LOVE this, and it works wonders for building the trust factor - which is already hard to do sometimes in a virtual environment.

There is a lot more to consider when using Twitter for your business, but to save you from reading a novel, we’ll post more tips down the road. If you have anything to share, please leave it in the comment section below - we would love to hear your thoughts!

5 Twitter Tools That Will Help Make You A Professional Tweeter

Twitter is one of the hottest forms of social media on the planet right now. With the recent wave of huge celebrity endorsements (Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Larry King, the list goes on…), there are thousands of people jumping on board every single day.

Some people are hesitant to get involved because they think Twitter is nothing more than a geeky way to tell the world (who may or may not care) what you’re doing at the moment - but those that know the true power of Twitter will tell you that it’s one of the hottest ways to promote and grow your business online.

Last month, we gave a quick primer on the basics of Twitter, and while Twitter isn’t complicated by any means, there are an absolute TON of third party Twitter management tools that can have you “tweeting” like your a pro. We’ll give a brief overview of each tool and what it does below.

1. Tweetdeck - When you get in the swing of Twittering, and as you add more friends, and more people start to follow you, you’re going to be overwhelmed and most likely miss some of the action if you’re just using the standard Twitter.com interface. Tweetdeck, one of the most (if not the most) popular Twitter stream management tools around, will solve all those problems. With the ability to shorten links on the fly, picture uploads in an instant, and a dozen ways to manage and streamline your Twitter stream, it’s not surprising that a majority of the Twittersphere uses it daily. Find out more here.

2. TwitPic - One of the big things on Twitter is sharing pictures. For a business or company, it’s a great way to share a picture of a company meeting, a fun company outing, new products, etc…By far the most popular way to share a picture on Twitter is through a service called TwitPic.com. No signup required, just log in with your Twitter account credentials and you can post pictures all day long with the speed of light.  (Twitpic is built in to Tweetdeck). Check it out here.

3. TweetLater - TweetLater allows you to do all kinds of things with your Twitter account, such as easily scheduling tweets to go out at certain times, automatically follow people back that follow you, send automatic thank you notes to new followers (a great way to introduce your company to everyone that follows you), and much more. Find out more about TweetLater here.

4. TwitScoop - One of the big draws to Twitter, and why it’s becoming so popular, is the ability to share breaking news and information faster than any cable news network or website could ever dream of. Twitter is used by “the people”, so when something happens, it ALWAYS breaks on Twitter first, because instead of waiting for a newscrew to show up to ground zero, chances are good now that citizen reporters are next door tweeting about the situation. Major cable news networks have already admitted that they find a lot of their stories on Twitter first, and if you pay attention, they’re interviewing Tweeters more and more every day. Anyway, TwitScoop.com is a great site that watches the real time trends that are happening on Twitter. It will allow you to find out what’s going on at the moment, in real time. Tons of features here - try it out today.

5. TweetBeep - If you want to take a more hands off approach and are only interested when someone mentions you, your company, or whatever keyword you’re paying attention to, then TweetBeep is your solution. Similar to Google Alerts (which I know we all use), TweetBeep will notify you when someone mentions one of the words or phrases you’re watching. Easy to use and setup, it should be part of your marketing arsenal. Get more information here.

In closing, there are tons of fantastic Twitter management tools out there, with new ones popping up every single day. The ones listed above are some of the most popular, and will allow you to have complete control over your Twitter situation. We hope you enjoy them, and if you have any questions about using Twitter for your business, you can email Ryan at: ryanl[at]dirxion[dot]com

Social Media Marketing Is Jumping Off The Charts

Recently, Michael Stelzner from WhitePaperSource.com, released a social media marketing report that will blow your mind, even if you’re not a marketer yourself. Some of the important questions he asked about the exploding trend of marketing in the social media world include:

1. The top questions social media marketers want answered.

2. How much time marketers are investing in social media.

3. The benefits of social media.

4. How time invested impacts results.

5. The top social media tools.

There are many more, and if you’re interested in learning how social media, which is quickly shaping and transforming marketing as we know it, would be beneficial to your company, then it would behoove you to take a moment and check out this article (which includes a video recap of the report).

Over 225 people have commented on the report, and many hundreds (maybe thousands) more have downloaded, so make sure you get it before their server goes down!

Ah, The Promotional Value Of Social Media

Katherine Prawl, author of New Media On the Go (a tech blog mostly about electronic publishing and virtual worlds), just posted an excellent review of Dirxion’s digital publishing solution. Thanks, Katherine, for the informative write-up and kind words!

Be sure to check out Katherine’s blog for the latest and greatest tech and epublishing news.