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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Inside Social Media
Companies talk social media — via Twitter
By Adam Gaffin, Special to Mass High Tech
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These days, companies ignore social networks such as Twitter and Facebook at their peril. But how, exactly, are they using them?
With social media being played up as a replacement for mainstream media (think Twitter and Iran or Mumbai), we wanted to see if we could talk to companies about the networks by using those networks, rather than through traditional means, such as a telephone or in person. I posted messages to my contact lists on the two networks — and on my own blog — asking if anybody out there could talk about their companys’ experiences online.
First lesson: Social networks are a lot like old-fashioned personal networks — they are what you make them. I struck out on Facebook, probably because I’m fairly passive on it — the majority of my 195 Facebook friends are either actual friends or folks I went to school with or worked with. I had better luck on Twitter, where I have more than 1,200 contacts across the Boston area, whose tweets I regularly scan for possible breaking news for my blog.
In an interview done via Twitter “direct messages” (basically, Twitter e-mail), Tom O’Keefe, vice president for business development at Cambridge startup Sayagle, discussed building up a network for the company, which offers e-commerce Web hosting. Part of that strategy involves rolling out a service for location-based marketing. He’s using his experience as founder of BostonTweet — which keeps roughly 6,500 Boston-area Twitterers updated on local events and news — to promote the company.
Sayagle: I’ve been using Twitter to document meetings, get feedback & start local promos in assoc. w/ BostonTweet - currently running one for Sweet.
12:41 PM Jun 2nd
universalhub: How has it worked and how have you gone about attracting followers?
1:02 PM June 2nd
Sayagle: It’s been going very well. I still have to be a bit stealth but want to use it for user feedback & customer service — put a face on tech.
1:09 PM Jun 2nd
Sayagle: Also Sayagle is about location tracking so I also want to use it to promote local business in all cities — like BostonTweet but broader.
1:11 PM Jun 2nd
Sayagle: I’ve been getting new followers solely from mentioning Sayagle on BostonTweet — which is me too. Cross promoting local giveaways.
1:12 PM Jun 2nd
universalhub: The 140-character limit not really a limitation?
3:28 PM Jun 2nd
Sayagle: For DMs? I broke them up into 3 separate DMs. For marketing? Definitely not! Twitter is succinct & to the point!
3:36 PM Jun 2nd
Sell, sell, sell
Melissa Massello, a co-founder of Shoestring Magazine, a Boston-based online lifestyle magazine that relies heavily on Twitter to sell affiliate-based products, discussed how the site uses Twitter to sell products via deals with affiliate programs:
shoestring: We’ve seen 300% growth in affiliate ad commissions since starting to post coded links in tweets.
5:25 PM Jun12th
universalhub: How are you getting folks to sign up for your feed?
5:29 PM Jun 12th
shoestring: Well we’ve been on since 2007, get followers a variety of ways: keyword search, #ff referrals, real dialogue & added value content, deals
6:32 PM Jun 12th
shoestring: We’ve also optimized our site, newsletter & FB pages to drive Twitterers to follow us. We also have our handles on biz cards & email sigs
6:34 PM Jun 12th
universalhub: Is there anything that’s worked particularly well for you — and anything that hasn’t worked well?
10:43 PM Jun 12th
shoestring: Tweetlater & other scheduling tools lack genuineness — much better response when we react right away. Couldn’t live w/o Twitpic & Tweetsville
1:48 PM Jun 13th
Ed note: Tweetlater lets you schedule pre-written tweets, Twitpic is for posting photos and Tweetsville is an iPhone Twitter client.
universalhub: Any way to quantify how Twitter has aided your bottom line?
5:26 PM Jun 13th
shoestring: Our affiliate commissions from coded text link ads broadcast in tweets using bit.ly have raised our overall performance ad revenue by 300%
5:28 PM Jun13th
shoestring: But we’re careful to select & do them w/ a degree of transparency - our readers’ trust in us & our editorial integrity can’t be compromised.
5:30 PM Jun13th
shoestring: I think Twitter links hit people who are ready to act, which is why they perform well.
6:29 PM Jun 13th
universalhub: By getting your feed, they’re already showing an affinity, no? Have you used social media for building a cmty around the brand?
10:13 PM June 13th
shoestring: True, but conversion rates from Twitter are much, much higher than our own newsletter, blogs or website, also opt-in
1:37 pm Jun15th
shoestring: As for building community, that’s exactly why we use social media — to hit people where they already are, lowering barrier to viral marketing
1:39pm Jun 15th
Adam Gaffin is founder and editor of Universal Hub (www.universalhub.com), a Boston-area community news blog.
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