Erik Qualman's Blog, page 694

You are worth more than $1.07

They say you can't put a price on friendship, but how about Facebook Fans? In early February, the WSJ ran a great article discussing a Webtrends' whitepaper which found the cost of advertising on Facebook to encourage users to become a "fan" on the brand's Facebook page is $1.07.  Personally I had hoped I was worth at least…three times that!

Now obviously this metric is going to change based on the industry and company, but I think it unwise for a brand to focus too much on this way of thinking, viewing fans in terms of acquisition cost on the social networks. Fans cannot simply be categorized into commodities that can be purchased. In fact Dennis Yu of Webtrends recently presented at a conference I attended, and had some fantastic points regarding this issue. He adroitly pointed out that the people who love you on Facebook, will hate you if you advertise (think of those ads on the side of the page) to them too much. You can't look at Facebook marketing solely through the CPC lens.

The study shows that it is getting more expensive and far more difficult to get clicks through paid advertising.  Frankly I think users are just getting used to ignoring the ads. Creativity has to increase in order to earn clicks. Brands will have to turn to new ways to get fans, not being able to rely on a CPC strategies. So the question that looms is, how do you acquire more fans then?

You empower your digital audience and mobilize them into an evangelizing army of ambassadors who market for you. You create incredible content that is different and unique… and then you inspire them to start sharing. Mr. Yu had another great point, which do you remember more, the banner ad you may have seen yesterday or what your friend told you? Your fans are a force to be reckoned with, and they should be treated as such.

Currently a quarter of all internet time in the US is spent on Facebook. There are over 500 million active users on the site. With so much happening on this incredible site,  brands cannot afford to take their fans lightly and assume that once they are in the door, they are there to stay. Many "likes" never return to the fanpage, in fact over 90% never do. To give the great Seth Godin a shout out, it is time for some Purple Cow thinking for Facebook marketing.

Lastly, there are many brands who have enormous digital followings, but do not have a Facebook following indicative of their online strength. Many of these brands probably shy away from starting the race to acquire fans as they don't want to appear to have too few fans. What is the value of the overall number of Facebook fans your page has? While individually you may not be able to price them, as a collective number, every brand can benefit from having more fans. So get on Facebook, start creating amazing things, give people a reason to share, and watch it grow!

 

 

 

 

 

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Which States Twitter the Most

Melissa Miller and the great folks at Hubspot ran some recent analysis on Twitter by U.S. State to determine which states had the most active Twitter users.  The top 3 states with the most Twitter usage are  Massachusetts, Washington and Oregon, each with usage over 60% higher than the average.  The bottom three states are Mississippi, Montana and West Virginia.  For comparison Massachusetts was +69% while Mississippi was -58%.

The fastest growing state for Twitter usage is Utah which experienced 66% growth from 2009 to 2010.  This may have been the result of Twitter opening a new data center in Salt Lake City.

It should be noted that Hubspot is located in Cambridge, MA as is the author of this post (me).

Boston/Cambridge alone is home to 57 colleges/Universities and is the birthplace of Facebook (Harvard).  Social Media authors Brian Halligan, Chris Brogan, C.C.Chapman, Anne Hadley, Brian Reich, Mike Volpe, David Meerman Scott, Paul Gillin, Dan Schawbel, Dharmesh Shaw, Larry Webber and others call Boston home.

Recommended Book: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs

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Massachusetts Tops Twitter Usage

Melissa Miller and the great folks at Hubspot ran some recent analysis on Twitter by U.S. State to determine which states had the most active Twitter users.  The top 3 states with the most Twitter usage are  Massachusetts, Washington and Oregon, each with usage over 60% higher than the average.  The bottom three states are Mississippi, Montana and West Virginia.  For comparison Massachusetts was +69% while Mississippi was -58%.

The fastest growing state for Twitter usage is Utah which experienced 66% growth from 2009 to 2010.  This may have been the result of Twitter opening a new data center in Salt Lake City.

It should be noted that Hubspot is located in Cambridge, MA as is the author of this post (me).

Boston/Cambridge alone is home to 57 colleges/Universities and is the birthplace of Facebook (Harvard).  Social Media authors Brian Halligan, Chris Brogan, C.C.Chapman, Anne Hadley, Brian Reich, Mike Volpe, David Meerman Scott, Paul Gillin, Dan Schawbel, Dharmesh Shaw, Larry Webber and others call Boston home.

Recommended Book: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs

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Derek Jeter: World's Biggest Shave

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

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What is Tiger Blood?

Shortly after Charlie Sheen told the Today show's Jeff Rossen that he's got "tiger blood" and it makes him impervious to the dangers of addiction "tiger blood" began trending on Twitter.  So I had to find out what exactly is Tiger blood?

I'd heard rumors that it floats on top of whatever, which would be cool, but it doesn't.  In fact there is nothing special about tiger blood.  However, the irony of Tiger Woods and his fall from Grace is too good to miss.  Late Night comedian Jay Leno said "Charlie Sheen said he has Tiger blood and Tiger Woods has Charlie Sheen blood, oh that was the problem, I had Charlie Sheen blood."

It appears for now the Charlie Sheen took the Accenture ads featuring Tiger Woods proclaiming "Go On Be a Tiger" to heart.  And his almost 2 million followers on Twitter are drinking it up.

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Twitter Charlie Sheen – Fastest to 1 million followers

Twitter welcomed new member Charlie Sheen two days ago (@charliesheen).  Since that time he has acquired over 1.7 million followers and growing.  Charlie Sheen's Twitter account set a Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest Twitter account to reach one million followers.

@charliesheen twitter account breaks record

Charlie Sheen's Twitter followers are growing at a record pace and gobbling up tweets from Sheen like the above

 

 

 

 

 

Sheen is starting to own the hashtag #WINNING.  However Sheen is making some Twitter rookie mistakes by not being consistent in his hastags, as over a span of one day had used the following #winner #winning #EarnYourself #TeamSheen.  Despite this, the account still grows at a record pace as a result of the proactive content he is providing.

Sheen tweets provactive content like the above

 

 

 

 

 

Sheen plans to take advantage of his Twitter success by getting paid to tweet about products from @charliesheen.  If Twitter doesn't fill your "Sheen" appetite Sirius Radio has started a station named "Tiger" that follows Sheen 24 hours per day.

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Smartphones turn bar code squares into sales tools

Good article from USA Today, talking about QR code usage among various groups.  More and more brands seem to be utilizing QR codes to help engage consumers.  The article references several interesting use cases:

Real estate agents are placing them on front lawn for-sale signs, enticing prospective buyers to hop out of their cars, scan the tags and receive all the listing information, including photos, to help them make a purchase decision.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is offering special, exclusive video of its models from QR codes placed throughout the magazine.
Some of today's top music acts are leveraging QR codes to engage with fans. Tim McGraw and Dave Matthews, among others, feature QR codes that grant access to free music videos and chances to sign up for their mobile fan clubs. A quick visit to Tim McGraw's digital properties shows that they are definitely leading the way.
A survey by Scanbuy found that mobile bar code usage jumped 700% in 2010 compared with 2009.

Seems things are moving forward with QR codes. I agree with Mr. Cooper of Red Light Management (which reps McGraw and Matthews) when he says that  music fans may lead the way. They are to his point, very plugged in with digital technology and could provide the push necessary to get QR codes a bit more mainstream.

Read Full USA Today Article Here

 

 

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Steve Jobs: 15 Things You Didn't Know

Steve Jobs returns!

It was great to see Steve Jobs back on stage yesterday for the iPad 2 announcement.  The below is a quick infographic from onlineschools.org on 15 things you may not have known about Steve Jobs.

Via: Online Schools

Hats off to Ellie Koning for a great infographic design.

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Facebook Divorce: 20% of Divorces Fueled By Facebook

Facebook fueled divorces are growing in popularity. In a recent study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), it was revealed that 1 out of every 5 divorces cite Facebook as the cause for the break-up (United States).

The AAML indicated more than 80% of the divorce attorneys polled stated the number of people using social media to engage in extramarital activity is burgeoning.

"If I'm talking to one person five times a week vs. another person one time a week, you don't need a fancy psychological degree to conclude I'm more likely to fall in love with the person I talk to five times a week," clinical psychologist Steven Kimmons, Ph.D. told ScienceBlog. "I have more contact with that person. We're coming across it more and more."

"We tell our clients when they come in, 'I want to see your Facebook page. I want you to remember that the judge can read that stuff, so never write anything you don't want the judge to hear." It's all pretty good evidence … the judges don't really have any problems letting it in. It's very common in my new cases… I've had some fun ones." – AAML vice-president elect Linda Lea Viken

Facebook, originally called Facemash, was created to see if the cute boy in your economics 101 was dating someone, or if you should ask out that cute girl from last nights party, so it is no wonder that Facebook would also be the catalyst for break-ups.  A typical Facebook  break-up is showcased in the humorous video below.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Hat Tips: ZDNET | San Diego News

Image source: metashirt.cricketsoda.com

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iPad 2 Covers Steal the Show

iPad 2 covers may have stolen the show at the recent iPad 2 announcement.  Apple's created the iPad 2 Smart Cover.  The cover design is genius in its simplicity.  The iPad 2 covers come in 10 different color options and they adhere/magneticallyto special metal spots on the new iPad.

The cover automatically wakes the iPad 2 when it's unraveled.  The Smart Cover folds similar to an accordion-style yoga mat so it double as a triangular stand  if you want to type or watch a movie .

It'll be $39 in plastic (in five colors), and $69 (also with a choice of five colors) for leather.  One issue with the covers is they will not protect the edges and back much from drops, the hope is that this cover is compatible with third-party covers (e.g., Speck) that do offer this protection.

iPad 2 Cover Colors

iPad 2 cover colors: Pink, Orange, Lime Green, Light Blue, Grey, Taupe, Khaki, Black, Graphite, Red

 

Will the new iPad 2 case work for the original iPad?

The new case won't work for the original iPad since it doesn't have the metal posts for the cover to adhere to.

Related Stories: iPad 2

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