How Often Should You Be Updating Your Followers?

Originally, this question started as simple as the title: How often should you be updating your followers on Twitter, Facebook and various other social media outlets? The question came up recently at a Social Media Networking workshop I attended. The facilitator's answer was a minimum of twice a week, but after a month of exploring this topic - that answer is quite too simple and does not address the different needs of your different audiences.

Twitter

Ray Romano, the comedian, recently described Twitter like a dinner conversation with his aging parents -A situation where updates of random information keep coming up, but no single topic is discussed in a cohesive way and everything seems like it's coming out of nowhere.

I think for most people, Twitter is exactly that. A space of overwhelming updates - so much in fact that it often deters many users from becoming fans of the social space. Twitter, in my experience, is a place for meeting new fans, developing relationships with those of a common interest, and a great place for news updates. It is supposed to be the quickest, easiest use of 2.0 technology. Yet, too often, we fail to engage our followers in a 2-way discussion. We are blasting information at them at such a rapid pace that followers are turned-off.

The pace of Twitter is going to be faster and more frequent than other outlets - it is the nature of the experience. I think it is completely acceptable to tweet daily, but examine your content and space your updates over the course of the day. Not only will it appear more relevant, you won't annoy your followers with several updates in a row.

Facebook

Facebook is definitely more sacred ground. One person's Facebook page is like his Internet home. It's not the coffee shop on the corner constantly a-buzz with the latest gossip. It's the intimate gathering at some one's house where only friends and family are invited. If you're going to pop into this party, please make it important.

I reached out to my followers via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. An overwhelming 75% majority of people said once-a-week updates from businesses on Facebook is more than enough.

A past Hot Dog Marketing client, Elizabeth Sherman said, "Once a week is a MAXIMUM. I recently un-hid some of the groups & friends that I had previously hid. One of them is going right back because they're too chatty. Additionally, I don't like the way that FB does messaging; so messages go unseen for days or weeks; I would prefer status updates from them versus messages."

So be careful! I would limit your normal Facebook updates to weekly unless you're in the midst of something urgent. And, once again, consider your content. When your looking at updating less, your content should be JUICY.

On person, via our poll question on AskMyMob.com said, "Typically, I'm a fan of hearing from them only when new and relevant information is available. Information can always be referred back to on their feed and it doesn't gum up the Interwebs."

With that said, after all of this investigation and research, my conclusion really isn't about timing at all. The subject of your updates is significantly more important than anything else. The depth of your content and the urgency of your news should ultimately dictate your frequency. Your social media marketing plan should focus more on content and then on frequency.

Join us in June for Finding Your Social Media Voice.

May's Topic is Social Media and Marketing

In an effort to add more value to my clients, friends and curious followers of Hot Dog Marketing, we're launching a different, more active approach to sharing information. Each month, we'll pick a general topic and gather insight from followers in our LinkedIn Discussion Group - Austin's Small Business Exchange, and from Twitter and Facebook. We'll share this information here, on our blog, and send a summary of our month's information in our monthly newsletter.

So, if you haven't already: Join us on LinkedIn, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and sign-up for the monthly newsletter . . .

. . . That's the perfect lead-in to May's topic: Social Media Marketing - How Much is Too Much?

I recently attended a workshop on Social Media Marketing, I couldn't help but think about how clients and friends use social media to promote themselves. There are clients who clearly don't utilize these tools enough, but there are times I have to wonder, "How much is too much?"

Stay tuned . . .

What Does Price Have to Do With It?

Yesterday, I held a small focus group with some high school students, and we discussed lunch. Most of these students don't eat in the school cafeteria on a regular basis. Because of open campus, students tend to rush out to the nearest fast food joint and load up. I asked, "How much do you pay for lunch when you're at a fast food restaurant?" They replied, "$5-8."

Can you believe it? School lunch costs $2.50. The pennies per calorie make for a better bargain at school. Plus, you don't exhaust time and gas to leave campus. Why are students willing to pay 100%-200% more for lunch elsewhere?

I'm reading The Price of Everything right now . . . If this question puzzles you as well, I highly recommend this book.

NPR: Display Ads

There was an interesting story on NPR today explaining why overstock.com is stalking me . . . I mean, it detailed why Internet display ads are growing in popularity and how "smart" cookies are nowadays in finding out what you like and where you go online.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130349989

Mad Men = Genius Advertising

If you're not watching Mad Men, I can imagine you already feel out-of-the-loop, so I won't make you feel worse by reiterating how great the show is . . . at least not in this article.

What I will mention is that, this season, you see genius marketers at work. Just as Don Draper would suggest if he were working with a client in this day and age - Unilever has created a series of commercials that match Mad Men's style of lighting and environment to a tee. So much so, that this chronic DVR-Fast-Forward-Fan accidentally stops on the commercial thinking the show has started again. Intentional or not, Unilever may have found a solution to commercial skippers.

Read more about it here.

Web Mistakes that are All Too Common

I'm a practical marketer . . . since I started my company, I dreamed of a flash site with a custom flash pre-loader. But I remembered how much I actually hate websites with too many bells and whistles. This is the downfall for most graphic designers who dabble in web - they shoot for the moon, but then the site isn't easy to navigate, hard to track, and a pain-in-the-butt to load if your Internet happens to be running particularly slow that day.

I read a great article in HOW Design Magazine that reaffirmed my belief in clean and simple sites. Their tips included: Don't use a splash page, don't use flash throughout the entire site, don't use small scroll-through text boxes, and don't overuse animation. Some additional tips I would add include:

1. Whether you're a small business or a band, pic 5 to 6 topics for your main navigation. Essentials include: Home Page, Product/Services, About Us or Testimonials, and News. If you have 10-20 ideas for your navigation, chances are your promotion plan isn't focused in a way that a consumer will be able to understand.

2. If you have flash, keep it simple and don't let it stand in the way of functionality.

3. When thinking about your homepage, think about the four key things you'd say about your business/band in an advertisement and make sure those elements are presented cleanly on your home page through graphics and well-composed, concise text.

4. Implement elements that are easy to update so you site always looks fresh like a blog, news page, event calendar, etc . . . and keep them updated!

5. Collect information! Track Track Track (Google Analytics is free!) and collect your visitors information at some point. Offer a mailing list sign-up, newsletter, etc . . . Don't forget to include a field to track your marketing efforts like a "How did you find us?" question on your mailing list form.

What's in a Name?

Today's article by philanthropic columnist Andrea Ball tackled a GREAT subject: What's in a name. This week's column in the Austin-American Statesman was a great look at how you can lose your audience with a bad name.

Read her column here.

To elaborate, my opinion on business names are as follows:
1. Don't pick anything too long.
Why punish your audience with a mouth full of words that they won't remember. Not only that, you probably won't have great word of mouth if people are talking about how long and hard to remember your name is instead of how great your business is.
2. Think about your audience.
If you're looking for that Wall Street/High-Tech exec crowd, definitely choose a professional, traditional name. If you're attracting a more independent crowd, pick something more fun.
3. Don't be ambiguous.
I think names can be like art. Certainly, you can choose a name that doesn't say much unless one really thinks about it or learns more about the company. You can also pick a name that's super obvious, but you might be sacraficing some originality. Find a comfortable medium that does say what you do.
4. Pick a name that people can spell.
This is important especially in the day of the Internet. Say you decide to advertise your website but your company name is a commonly misspelled name. Your target will have a hard time finding you online if they're anything like me (a terrible speller). Here are some commonly misspelled words to avoid.