Top Social Brands of 2008

I am an avid believer in the power of social marketing using tools such as Twitter, blogging, video blogging, Linkedin and Facebook as part of my marketing mix.

The reason I think it works is I keep my focus on one simple mantra. It is meeting, not marketing. I use social networking to expand my sphere of influence and slowly expose this group to the services I offer. How else can you establish friends and associates throughout North America without paying a dime?

A company called Vitrue,  who has the slogan “we make advertising social” released the first-ever top social brands of 2008 list. The Vitrue 100 is the result of Vitrue’s daily analysis of over 2,000 popular brands.

Each day, Vitrue analyzes the online conversations on a variety of social networking, blogging, microblogging, photo and video sharing sites.

The Vitrue SMI calculates scores about the brand’s social conversations. They  then apply a series of algorithms to reflect the frequency of usage, the size of the social media environment, and the magnitude of the conversation. The result is a single numeric score for each brand: the Vitrue Social Media Index (SMI).

1. iPhone
2. CNN
3. Apple
4. Disney
5. Xbox
6. Starbucks
7. iPod
8. MTV
9. Sony
10 .Dell
11. Microsoft
12. Ford
13. Nintendo
14. Target
15. PlayStation
16. Mac
17. Turner
18. Hewlett-Packard
19. Fox News
20. BlackBerry
21. ABC
22. Coke
23. LG
24. Best Buy
25. Honda

For the complete list you can visit the Vitrue website.

What is interesting is which industry had the most brands in the top 25.  Can you guess? Electronics with 11. No other industry even came close. Broadcasters cam second with 5 of the top 25 (2. CNN, 8. MTV, 17. Turner, 19. Fox News and 21. ABC)

Electronics
1. iPhone
5. Xbox
7. iPod
9. Sony
10. Dell
13. Nintendo
15. Playstation
16. Mac
18. HP
20. BlackBerry
23. LG

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Which Medium is the Message in 2009?

In a survey, Media Myths and Realities conducted in late 2008 by Ketchum, one of the largest global public relations agencies and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center it was revealed that consumers are using a wider variety of channels than ever before. Newer channels, such as blogs and social networking sites, are gaining more and more traction. The survey found that 26% of consumers use social networking sites, compared to 17% in 2006. The usage of blogs nearly doubled (24% in 2008 compared to 13% in 2006).

Photo courtesy of Sam LeVan

Influential consumers – the 10% to 15% of the population who initiate change in their communities – of which 43% read blogs by nonjournalists (compared to 16% of the general population) and 32% read blogs written by journalists (8% of the general population).

Conversely, the use of more established media channels continues to wane. The survey revealed that 65% of consumers use major network television news as a source of information (down from 71% in 2006). Local television news saw a sharper drop – 62% in 2008 compared to 74% in 2006.

The use of shopping Web sites among consumers has doubled from 2006 to 2008, with 44% of those visiting shopping Web sites reading consumer reviews and comments there, showing that these sites have transformed into virtual social gathering places and information destinations, rather than just a place to purchase goods.

Growth of Video on the Internet

Is video gaining momentum on the internet?  You better believe it. On his blog The Future Buzz, Adam Singer publishes some interesting statistics about YouTube.

• 70,000,000 – the number of total videos on YouTube  (March 2008 )
• 200,000 -the  number of video publishers on YouTube (March 2008 )
• 100,000,000  -the  number of YouTube videos viewed per day (this stat from 2006 is the most recent he could locate)
• 112,486,327 – the number of views the most viewed video on YouTube has (January, 2009)
• 2 minutes 46.17 seconds – the average length of video
• 412.3 years – the length in time it would take to view all content on YouTube (March 2008 )
• 26.57 – the average age of uploader
• 13 hours – the amount of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• US $1.65 billion in Google stock – the amount Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for in October 2006
• $1,000,000 – YouTube’s estimated bandwidth costs per day

(sources are from here, here and here.)

I have posted a few videos on YouTube.  The most famous one is of my daughter bailing on the uneven bars.  She will hate me, but you can view it by clicking here. More than 4500 people have viewed this video and what is even more interesting is if you do a search in Google foe the term Unconventional Dismount it comes up number one. What if this was  a video for your product or service.

According to an article in Online Media Daily, online video viewing has increased nearly one-third over the past year, according to new data released Monday by comScore. U.S. Internet users watched 12.7 billion videos in November, up 34% from the year-earlier period.

YouTube-owner Google maintained its dominance of the online video audience, with a 40% share of views. Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace, was a distant runner-up, with a 3.5% share. Viacom Digital placed third, at 2.6%.

Hulu, the video joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., remained at No. 6 from October to November, with a 1.8% share. But Hulu, which offers full-length episodes of NBC and Fox shows such as “The Office” and “Family Guy,” boasted the longest views per session, at nearly 12 minutes.

Overall, 77% of Internet users watched video in November for an average of 3.1 minutes per session.

Locally, there are a few of Realtors that have taken video blogging to a new level; Ian Watt, Mike Stewart and Tom Everitt. Mike’s work can be seen on both his website and blog.  Ian uses a Flip Video mounted on his dashboard and rants, raves and informs clients and prospects on all aspects of real estate.

Bottom line is a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a million.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

My Top 25 Marketing Posts for 2008

I like lists so I thought I would publish one of my own.  Following are the top 25 most read posts from my blog. The first one has been read by more than 16,000 people.

1. How to Make Your Business Card Stand Out
2. Writing a Slogan or Tag Line
3. How Do You Sell a $ 50,000 Sofa?
4. How To Calculate Profit – The Lemonade Stand Method
5. Donut Boxes etc
6. Open House Tips for Realtors
7. More on Headshots
8. Client Appreciation Versus Client Referrals
9. Refrigerator Marketing for Realtors
10. Email Stationery
11. Open House Tip # 1 – Remove Your Shoes Sign
12. Creating the Perfect Tagline
13. Origin of Words and Expressions
14. Business and Client Appreciation Event Planning
15. Websites
16. Realtor Postcard Marketing Ideas
17. Great One Liners
18. Client Appreciation Events
19. It’s Time To Get Credit For Bringing Donuts
20. Marketing With Your Email Signature
21. Direct Mail Campaigns Made Easy
22. Open House Tip # 3 – Staging the Home
23. Top 59 Stock Photo Web Sites
24. Great Marketing Idea For Halloween
25. How To Make Your Business Card Unforgettable

Any suggestions for articles in 2009?

You Are Reading This Blog – But are there others like you?

I track my blog stats regularly and can say that there has been a 45% increase in views from the fall of 2007 compared to the fall of 2008. The number of subscribers who receive posts by RSS or email has more than doubled in the last year. The increases are due to better search engine rankings in part, but I attribute some of the increase to the fact that blogs have become a more popular source of information.

In researching this premise I came across a study titled “Harnessing the Power of Blogs,” sponsored research by BuzzLogic and conducted by JupiterResearch, a Forrester Research company, which looks at the evolving influence of blogs from the reader’s perspective.

The study, which polled 2,210 people and was released this fall, found that the increase in blog readership from 2004 to 2008 was 300 percent; 47 percent of online consumers now read blogs. I was surprised to learn that 53% don’t, but this is where the growth is going to come from.

Blog Readers Survey

Courtesy of eMarketer.com

Half of blog readers said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and more than half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

Readers look to links and multiple blog sources to extend the conversation: 49 percent of blog readers, defined as someone who reads at least one blog a month, and 71 percent of frequent readers all read more than one blog per session. Multiple blog sources offer more opportunities for consumers to see blog ads. A quarter of readers say they trust ads on a blog, compared to 19 percent who trust ads on social networking sites.

Advertisements on blogs are an opportunity for marketers to reach consumers. The findings said 40 percent of people reading blogs have taken action as a result of viewing an ad on a blog; and 50 percent of frequent blog readers say they have taken action. Of those actions: 17 percent have read product reviews online; 16 percent have sought out more information on a product or service; and 16 percent have visited a manufacturer or retailer Web site.

The study also found that blogs have more impact on purchasing decisions than social networks. One-quarter of readers said they trust ads on a blog, as opposed to 19% who trust ads on social networks.

Aside from technology-related purchases, for which 31% of readers said blogs are helpful, other categories for which respondents say blogs are influential included media and entertainment (15%); games, toys and sporting goods (14%); travel (12%); automotive (11%); and health (10%).

The survey also finds consumers are influenced by blogs at the moment of purchase decision. The channel plays a greater role than social networks, likely because bloggers establish themselves as an authority on a topic, particularly in niche areas, and create a relationship with the consumer.

My blogging goal in 2009 is to average 3 posts per week on a range of marketing topics, increase my subscriber base by 150% and encourage more people to contact me when they read something that might be of value to them.

Have a great 2009.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Social Networking is Meeting not Marketing

Teresa Boardman is a real estate broker in St. Paul, Minn., and founder of the St. Paul Real Estate blog says it best when she wrote about “Meeting Versus Marketing Online“.

Her view is that Social networking sites are about meeting people and making connections as people are more likely to do business with people they know.

She uses the example of going to a party and meeting someone who just happens to need your product or service. “Using social networks on the Internet works the same way except it can be done in pajamas instead of a little black dress.”

Blogs work the same way. Are they effective for marketing your services. Yes as long as you do not market your services.  Blogging is about attracting and meeting people.

I use my blog to publish articles on a wide range of marketing, casting a wide net across the internet.  It attracts a lot of readers and every week I get a phone call or email from someone wanting to know more about my services. Invariably they have read many of my posts, seen my picture on the blog and they trust me before they have ever met me.  Whenever I meet someone and think they are a prospect I always send them to my blog before I even phone them as it is my silent salesman.

A couple of parting thoughts.

Always have your 15 second elevator pitch ready and use it whenever you can. People don’t necessarily know what you do and what kind of referral you would like to receive.

Always ask people you meet if they might need your services or do they know anyone who might.

When Twittering, blogging. Linkedin (ing) or Facebooking whenever someone interacts with you socially, interact back.  You never know where it might lead to.

People buy from people they like.

Yesterday, from my blog I received an email from a law office that went like this; “I am interested in talking with you regarding client events, client appreciation and client referrals, creating stationary on the email, writing bio and writing and getting press releases and writing articles for magazines.” Knowing the area code I could see from my stats this person read 16 of my posts before emailing me.

Sorry for going on so long, but I think Teresa is 100% correct that social networking is about meeting not marketing and if you simply meet a lot of people, tell them what you do, ask them for their business and referrals, your business will thrive.

I have to add one last gem I live by.  Whatever marketing you do today will pay off in 90 days so if you are not busy today then it is a reflection of what you were doing in August and September.

Why Blog?

I have been blogging for a few months now and I wish I knew then what I know now. I had read a lot about blogging, but it was a bit sketchy still in my mind. Would the search engines ever find me? Would people read the content? How would I ever get in the top 10 Google rankings from a lowly blog?

As it turned out this blog was born out of frustration trying to design the perfect web site. As a marketing guy I thought I had to have something slick that would convey my knowledge and expertise, but the rigidity of html made blogging look like the perfect answer.

And it worked. Instead of people judging me by the appearance of my web design they are simply coming to my blog, reading my posts and even generating revenue for me.

So why blog? Following are some of the key benefits (some of which I may have borrowed from other lists)

Search Engine Optimization
Blogs give you an increased presence on major search engines. The technology is a magnet for search engines like Yahoo! and Google. A well-written, routinely updated, keyword-oriented blog enhances your chances of high rankings on search engine return pages because most of them index sites based on content— the text on your site. The more times a certain word or phrase, or a combination thereof, is used on your Website, the more likely Google will index your site highly based on that word or phrase.

Communications
Blogs provide a way for you to speak directly, openly and honestly with your customer. Blogs enable you to stop talking at them and start talking to them. Because blog technology allows readers to leave comments on the blog, communications becomes a two-way street.

Brand Building
Blogs serve as another channel on which to promote your brand and company.

Competitive Differentiation
Because blogs give you the opportunity to tell your story over and over, they help set you apart from the competition.

Relational Marketing
Blogs allow you to build personal, long-lasting relationships with your customers that foster trust. One person put it this way: “A blog is a continual tour with a guide you get to know.”

Exploit the Niches
Blogs help you fill your particular industry niche.

Media & Public Relations
Blogs are excellent PR tools. The media calls you, not your competition. Blogs enable you to articulate your viewpoints, knowledge and expertise on matters pertaining to your industry.

Reputation Management
Blogs help you manage your online reputation.

Low Cost
Blogs are inexpensive to set up, operate and maintain. Ongoing marketing costs are minimal. They do require an investment of time in terms of blog posting, but it can pay big returns for the time spent.

Can blogs help your business grow? They can if you know how to use them.

If you want proof then type in any of the following search terms and see where this blog shows up:

• Client appreciation event
• halloween marketing ideas
• open house tips for realtors
• direct mail postcard restaurant

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

This Is a Marketing Blog – No Really!

I interrupt this (almost) daily source of marketing information to clarify one thing.

You are reading a blog dedicated to the world of marketing.

Why state the obvious? Because I am not sure it is as obvious as we bloggers might think. I get a lot of funny looks when I mention to my peers and clients that I have a marketing blog and suggest they visit it. I get the distinct feeling they are playing along, but wish they could ask what a blog really is.

(Photo courtesy of ©Michael Bretherton)

In an article in MediaPosts’ Marketing Daily (subscribe here), Adrienne W. Fawcett reports that 8 Of 10 Americans Know About Blogs; Half Visit Them Regularly.

The study was carried out by Synovate eNation, which conducted the online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults and they reported that “The segmentation on awareness and usage, and on people having their own blogs, is driven by age, with obviously younger people more active in blogging.” Nearly 90% of 25- to-34-year-olds know what a blog is, compared to 64.5% of those age 65-plus. Similarly, 78.4% of 18- to-24-year-olds report they have visited a blog, compared to just 44.7% of older Americans.”

As I am turning 50 years old in less than 56 hours I am a little sensitive to the fact that only 44.7% of “older Americans” have visited a blog. Assuming Canadians are the same, less than half of my peers are even bothering to visit my blog. From now on I am targeting younger clients.

How many blogs are out there? Technorati reports there are 99.9 million blogs.

Which sex surfs blogs more? Nearly 60% of guys surf a variety of blogs, compared to 50% of women.

Who is blogging? Eight percent of Americans have their own blog.

Which sex has more blogs? Nearly 20% of women versus 14% of men have blogs, eNation reports.

So the next time someone asks if you know what a blog is you can say yes and if you are asked if you have ever visited a blog you can also answer in the affirmative because you have just read this article.

Now email all of your friends, young and old and recommend www.themarketingguy.wordpress.com.

Thanks

Personal Branding Magazine

I don’t usually endorse publications, but Dan Schwabel of the Personal Branding Blog has started publishing an online magazine that I think deserves a look.

Personal Branding Magazine is about you, your brand and your professional career development. With a collection of some of the most talented thought leaders on the internet, this magazine exposes information that you can relate to and use in everyday life. Personal Branding is not only the future of recruitment, but a necessity in a world driven by social communities, both online and off.

Explore topics such as blogging, social networking, multimedia and advice on how to have a successful job search. Each issue will give you the tools and resources needed to differentiate yourself from the competition.

It is sold as an electronic periodical (PDF) with 4 issues per each year February – May – August – November and the best news is 100% of profit goes to charity (American Cancer Society).

The list of articles include :

5 Personal Branding Tips
How to Choose a Brandable Domain Name
Social Networking
Video Blogging
Special Report: Top Corporate Brands of 2007

The premier edition features articles from a stellar cast:

Dan Schawbel Publisher	Personal Branding Blog
Guy Kawasaki	Guykawasaki.com
Neil Patel	QuickSprout
Lyn Chamberlin	SkyePR
Michelle Dumas	DistinctiveWeb
Rick Mahn	Rickmahn.com
Chris Brogan	ChrisBrogan
Rob Cuesta	Branded Leader
Liz Pabon	Branding Maven
David Frazer	Bizz-Blogger.net
Charles Lau	Charleslau.com
Scott Bradley	Effective Networking

I Must Be Doing Something Right

For everyone wondering if blogging works, but are afraid to ask I can assure you that they do. Need proof? WordPress which is the host and software provider for this blog posts The Blogs of The Day that list blogs that have gained the most popularity recently and this blog is number 71. To put that into perspective there is an article in Business Week stating there are 15.5 million blogs so to be recognized as one that is gaining popularity is better than a poke in the eye with a pointed stick. It could also mean I have a huge family that visits it regularly, but I prefer to think it is proof.(Found this picture in the theater of mind)