According to a consumer online behavior study from Forrester Research the number of people visiting social networking sites has doubled since 2007. Forrester surveyed 40,545 US heads of household in January and February 2009 about a variety of topics including online behaviors and media consumption. Their executive summary states that,

Our 2009 data shows a stabilization of consumers’ overall time spent with online media. However, engagement with the online channel has deepened, as evidenced by the widespread adoption of such activities as social networking.

Take a look at this graphic that shows the very clear trending in favor of social networking.

Notice the not so subtle big red circle I added? It shows a large jump in the number of people that visit social networks. That’s great news! However if you look a little further down on the graphic you’ll notice that less than 20% of those surveyed read blogs, so there’s a key lesson to learn here.

When you decide to launch your business into the social networking world it’s important to incorporate your blog posts into your social network. Import your blog posts into your Facebook Page and other social networking accounts, because chances are that people may not visit your blog, but they much more likely to view your content through a social network platform.

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For the last few days we have discussed common twitter keywords that often confuse people, so today we are going to discuss some Twitter best practices for businesses.

To begin with, you have to change your thinking about what businesses use the internet for. The internet is not simply a place to put your website and draw in new clients. Think about the internet as a virtual business network. It’s a place to build relationships. Put into practice, that means you could do things like:

• Include in your Bio and/or custom background the names (or @usernames) of the people twittering from your company account. It’s also a good idea to include additional contact info, like email addresses.
• Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and products—and be prepared to address concerns, offer customer service or thank people for praise.
• Use a casual, friendly tone in your messages.
• While you shouldn’t feel compelled to follow everyone who follows you, do respond to some questions or comments addressed to you.
• If you like a particular message, retweet it. People often appreciate the sharing and amplification of their ideas, so look to retweet cool stuff.
• Post links to articles and sites you think folks would find interesting—even if they’re not your sites or about your company.
• Make sure your tweets provide some real value. You know better than we do what is valuable, but here are few examples to spark ideas:
  – Offer Twitter exclusive coupons or deals
  – Take people behind the scenes of your company
  – Post pictures from your offices, stores, warehouses, etc.
  – Share sneak peeks of projects or events in development
• Don’t spam people. Twitter’s following model means that you have to respect the interests and desires of other people here or they’ll unfollow you. The most common way to run afoul of that understanding—and to thus look like a spammer—is to send unsolicited @messages or DMs, particularly when you include a promotional link.

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Continued from part 1…

As we have introduced people to Twitter, we’ve had a lot of questions about the Twitter lingo. Twitter is basically just like a very short blog, but there are some key differences, mainly the built-in social community. So we’ve got a two part post that will help explain common Twitter key terms.

This is PART TWO:

Retweet (RT): To help share cool ideas via Twitter and to give a shout-out to people you respect, you can repost their messages and give them credit. People call that retweeting (or RT), and it usually looks something like this:

“RT @Username: Original message, often with a link.”

Retweeting is common, and it’s a form of conversation on Twitter. It’s also a powerful way to spread messages and ideas across Twitter quickly. So when you do it, you’re engaging in a way people recognize and usually like—making it a good way to connect.

Trending Topics: On the right side of your screen and on the Twitter search page, you’ll see ten Trending Topics, which are the most-mentioned terms on Twitter at that moment. The topics update continually, reflecting the real-time nature of Twitter and true shifts in what people are paying attention to. A key feature of Twitter, Trending Topics aggregate many tweets at once and often break news ahead of the mainstream media. (Note that the trends often include hashtags, described below.)

Hashtag (#): Twitter messages don’t have a field where you can categorize them. So people have created the hashtag—which is just the # symbol followed by a term describing or naming the topic—that you add to a post as a way of saying, “This message is about the same thing as other messages from other people who include the same hashtag.” Then, when somebody searches for that hashtag, they’ll get all of the related messages.

For instance, let’s say you post, “Voted sixty times in tonight’s showdown. #AmericanIdol.” Your message would then be part of Twitter search results for “#AmericanIdol,” and if enough people use the same hashtag at once, the term will appear in Twitter’s Trending Topics.

Companies often use hashtags as part of a product launch, and conferences and events frequently have hashtags associated with them.

Tweetup: A tweetup is simply an in-person gathering organized via Twitter, often spontaneous. Companies use them for things like hosting launch parties, connecting with customers and introducing like-minded followers to each other.

Shortened URLs: With just 140 characters at your disposal, Twitter doesn’t give you much room to include URL links—some of which are longer than 140 characters themselves. If you post a link on Twitter via the website, sometimes Twitter automatically shortens the URL for you. There are also a number of services—URL shorteners—that take regular links and shrink them down to a manageable length for tweets, and some even let you track clicks.

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As we have introduced people to Twitter, we’ve had a lot of questions about the Twitter lingo. Twitter is basically just like a very short blog, but there are some key differences, mainly the built-in social community. So we’ve got a two part post that will help explain common Twitter keyterms.

Microblogging: The term microblog is a label for instant communication via the Twitter platform. It’s a compound phrase that describes the limit of characters per post (micro) and the frequency of status updates throughout the users day (blog). A synonym might be “microjournal.”

Follow: To receive messages on Twitter, you follow other people and companies you’re interested in—which means you get their messages as they post (put another way, their messages show up in your incoming timeline on your Twitter home page). Conversely, people get your messages by following you.

Tweet: Users refer to an individual message as a tweet, as in, “Check out this tweet about our new healthcare marketing package.” People sometimes use it as a verb, too, as in, “I tweeted about the stimulus package this morning.” If “tweet” is hard for you to use with a straight face in a business context, try “twittering” as a verb instead. Alternatives include “post,” “message” and “update.”

@username: For companies, one of the most useful things about Twitter is that it lets you exchange public messages with individual users. Simply start a message with @username of the person you want to reach, like this:

“@CNN I agree with your comments about the current state of the economy.”

If CNN is following your account, your message will appear directly on their Twitter home page. If they not following your account, your message will appear in their folder of @username mentions. People who are following both you and CNN will also see the message on their Twitter home page. Finally, the message will appear in search results, and people who come to your Twitter home page will see it among the messages in your outgoing timeline.

To find the public messages that are directed to you (i.e., those that start with your @BusinessName) or that mention you (i.e., those that include your @BusinessName elsewhere in the tweet), head to your Twitter home page, and then on the right side of the screen, click the tab labeled your @BusinessName. For businesses, it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on incoming @mentions, because they’re often sent by customers or potential customers expecting a reply.

Direct messages (DMs): Direct messages are Twitter’s private messaging channel. These tweets appear on your home page under the Direct Messages tab, and if you’ve got email notifications turned on, you’ll also get an email message when somebody DMs you. DMs don’t appear in either person’s public timeline or in search results. No one but you can see your DMs.

The one tricky concept with DMs is that you can send them only to people who are following you. Conversely, you can receive them only from people you’re following.

You can easily send DMs from the Direct Messages tab by using the pull-down menu to choose a recipient and then typing in your note. To send a DM from your home page, start your message with “d username,” like this:

“d LEVELTWO what do you guys think about using so many hospitals using social media?”

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We’ve discussed why using Facebook is important for your business’s social media marketing campaign, so here’s a short list of rules to follow when using Facebook as a way to interact with your customers and encourage new customers along the way.

1. Go Slow and Steady, Don’t Overdo It
   Your fans use their Facebook as a personal communication tool. While they have shown interest in your product or services, remember that there is such a thing as too many updates. Keep your status updates, videos, pictures, and blog posts consistent, but don’t overwhelm them with information. Post at least something a day, but don’t overdo it.
2. Contact Your Fans Directly
   Your small business is built for customer interaction. You may not have thousands of fans and tons of comments on each of your blog posts, but you’ve got an advantage on the large companies because they have no way of interacting with all of their fans. Follow up with new fans and reply to comments. Don’t spam them with messages to buy your stuff right now, rather encourage that one-on-one relationship.
3. Don’t Spam
   Treat your customers like you would want to be treated. Posts in all CAPS and with big flashy buttons won’t help you sell your products any faster. Instead it will likely result in a loss of fans.
4. Consider it an Educational Experience
   We’ve said it before, but it’s still not old. The most important part of social networking for businesses is to make your content interesting. Let your visitors in on a few industry secrets and they’ll come back for more later. Establish yourself as an industry expert.
5. Create a Facebook Page, Not a Profile
   Take a look at our recent blog post called “The Difference Between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Profile.” Don’t risk getting banned from Facebook because you didn’t obey the rules.
6. Use Incentives
   Your marketing tactics may have changed, but those traditional marketing pulls are still just as strong. Offer new fans a discount the next time they come into your store or order your services.
7. Post Occasional Entertaining Statuses
   Put some personality in your updates. Fridays are always a good opportunity to post something a little off topic. If you find a funny video post it on your facebook. Or share a joke with your fans. Especially if there is a way to tie it into your own business. Like a dentist might post a joke about a kid with braces. It’s a great way to break the ice.

Interested in talking to us about advertising on Facebook? Contact us or visit our website. Become a fan of LEVELTWO on Facebook.

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Kevin Spacey, the famous actor, was on The Late Show with David Letterman last night and he tried to explain Twitter to David. Check out the embedded video below.

Although Dave, being the comedian that he is, made fun of Twitter the whole time, Kevin made four basic points about Twitter.

1. Twitter is free.
   The online world has turned the market upside down because now, free doesn’t mean it’s not worth anything. All of these social networking applications are free for anyone to use whether it’s for business or personal use.
2. Don’t use all CAPS.
   If your message is interesting to others, you don’t have to call attention to yourself. If it’s interesting, people will spread the word for you. So the take home message here is to first focus on quality content and the distribution will take care of itself.
3. Don’t use lots of exclamation points.
   This is adjacent to point number 2, but highlights a different aspect of Twitter etiquette. Standard punctuation and sentence structure is still important even in a world of 140 characters.
4. Humor often gets lost in translation
   Keep your personal conversations personal. Don’t hold long conversations on Twitter. Be kind to those that follow you and don’t fill their Twitter feed with babble that doesn’t even relate to them. Do your personal chatting via Twitter direct message or via email.

LEVELTWO is a one-stop solution for all of the necessary components to a successful and effective lead generation campaign. Founded in 1999, we are a full-service marketing firm offering both online (Internet) and offline (radio, TV, outdoor) revenue generating strategies, always aimed at delivering results first.

Our dynamic strategies include: website development, website marketing, media purchasing, pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, competitive analysis, keyword/traffic analysis, ROI measurement, detailed visitor tracking and CRM tool, cross marketing and multi-platform marketing consulting.

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Facebook is now a household name (especially for those with teenagers in the house) and as business owners become more aware of the effectiveness of using social sites to market their business, there are many frequently asked questions about how to put your business on Facebook.

Let’s start by noting the difference between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Page.

Facebook Profile:

• Strictly for people (not a business or product) to interact with friends and family
• Any individual can create a profile, just not a commercial business or product
• A business that opens a profile page is in direct violation of the Facebook Terms of Service and will be disabled
• Other users become FRIENDS of a Facebook Profile
• A Facebook Profile can upload pictures, videos, status updates, and can invite people to become friends

Facebook Pages:

• Designed for businesses, brands, companies, products, and celebrities
• Other users become FANS of a Facebook Page
• Can upload pictures, videos, status updates, host a discussion board, display wall posts, and other features
• Can track metrics like fans, page views, interactions, gender, age, location, language, and more
• Can not invite other members to become a fan

Example of Facebook Page metrics:

The reason for keeping companies and individuals separate on Facebook is to reduce the amount of spam. If a business was able to invite you become a fan of their page, users would be flooded with businesses looking to inflate their number of fans.

The purpose is to make the user experience as enjoyable as possible. Sites like MySpace and Twitter do not have such strict boundaries between individuals and companies. This unrestricted access has contributed to the ongoing decrease in MySpace’s traffic and could lead to the death of Twitter if stricter rules are not put into place.

This points back to the first three rules of social media marketing:

1. Content
2. Content
3. Content

If you don’t provide interesting content with a positive experience for your readers and fans you will never achieve success in developing a strong online following. It wouldn’t be good business practice to cut corners in your trade, so it’s equally unprofessional to break social networking etiquette.

Questions? Comments? Let us know in the comment box below. Or contact us here.

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For a business investing time into doing social media, it’s important that you connect with the locals, because the grassroots approach of social media is all about getting the word out from person to person. By involving the built-in viral aspect of social networking you can gather more viewers and therefore more customers.

So here are 13 ways to connect and interact with local twitterers:

1. 
   Chirp City
2. 
   Twellowhood
3. 
   Geofollow
4. 
   Street Mavens
5. 
   Local Tweeps
6. 
   Happn.in  
7. 
   Twibez  
8. 
   Nearby Tweets
9. 
   Tweetup

If you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone, there are even more tools available to you.

1. Tweetie
2. Twinkle
3. TwitterFon
4. Twitterlator

Start a conversation with the people around you. Use advanced twitter search functions to find people that are interested in your industry or might be in the buying cycle for your product or services and make a connection. The number one rule is don’t be a salesman, be their friend. The last thing Twitter needs is another spammer. Provide quality content and you’ll find that people are eager to join in the conversation.

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If there is no other reason to join in on the social networking for businesses, this one statement should be important enough for any company to see the value.

Protect your corporate identity. Register your social usernames or someone else will. Sites like Twitter and Facebook don’t monitor username registration. Anyone with an email address can sign up for any username that is not already taken so be proactive about your online reputation and grab your company’s name on the major social networks.

And just in case you were wondering what those other reasons might be, here’s a short list of a few more reasons to jump into the social media networks.

1. Online Reputation Management – making sure you are the one that is in control of your name and brand socially.
2. Customer Service – if people know you can be reached via Twitter, they will reach you. You can often help people much quicker and easier through Twitter. (140 chars, or less baby) Saves a ton of time from annoying phone calls, am I right??
3. Tips – Get in front of the millions of people who are using Twitter everyday. Tips are a great way to get people checking back and can help increase the number of followers you have tremendously!
4. Services – Let it be known why you are on Twitter, and how exactly you can help people via Twitter (what services you are willing to offer etc).
5. Humor – Just because you are on “trendy Twitter” does not mean you can’t be yourself and make people laugh. In fact, the more you are yourself and let people know its the real YOU, or the REAL COMPANY that they have grown to trust and love, the more likely it is going to do you good – and get you more followers.
6. Videos – If you are in a field that has videos, Twitter is a great place to share them – especially if they are going to make people laugh, teach them, or in some other way “enlighten” them!
7. Content promotion – Got a blog? Well make sure you put up a “tweet” every time you got a new post live. The more people that like it will re-tweet it and share it. The more people share it and pass it around, the better it is for you (but that should be a no brainer huh?)
8. Product promotions – Its OK to promote products that you offer on Twitter – it really is. Just make sure you are doing other things with your Twitter account besides just “promoting”. You are more likely to make sales and gain (not lose) followers by mixing it up!
9. Contests – A great way to gain new followers and get more people interested (or knowing) about your brand. Offer something that will get people talking about, and linking back to you. This is very powerful when done right!
10. Reach new customers – You want to be doing everything you can to be finding new customers. The old hard core base is great, but the only way to expand and gain more customers is by stepping outside the traditional methods of marketing.

Find LEVELTWO on your favorite social network.

Tips from Mat Siltala over at dreamsystemsmedia.com

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Embedded below are slides from a presentation from Bob Coffield titled “PHRs, Health 2.0 and the Impact of Social Media on Health Care”. It was given at the American Health Lawyers Association 2009 annual meeting in Washington, DC.

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