Do you blog?

This article examines new research that shows blogging is here to stay.

Like many social media tools, blogs have seen a steady increase in numbers and influence over the last several years.

Note the growth charted by Invesp. On Dec. 2, 2011, that number was 178,637,835 (according to BlogPulse).

Number of Blogs Grows

14 million blogs were added since July 2011 (as of 12/2/2011).

If people are adding nearly 3 million blogs per month, surely this is a tool worth understanding and maximizing. That is the conclusion Technorati reached in their 2011 State of the Blogosphere Report.

In this report, bloggers fall into one of five categories:

1. Hobbyist—Someone who blogs for fun and doesn’t report any income from blogging (this represents 60% of the study).
2. Professional Part-time—These people typically blog to supplement their income and blog about personal musings or technology (approximately 9% of respondents).
3. Professional Full-time—These individuals make their living by blogging, but typically work freelance (approximately 9% of respondents).
4. Corporate—Corporate bloggers blog full-time as part of their job or are contracted to blog full-time for a company (8% of respondents).
5. Entrepreneur—Entrepreneurs blog for a company or organization they own (13% of respondents).

***Please note that Technorati’s data is heavily skewed by the presence of 60% hobbyist bloggers—people who blog as a way to express themselves or influence their community, but don’t seek to make money. I will focus on results from the 40% of bloggers who have a business objective with their blogging.

#1: Bloggers are young, educated and experienced

Bloggers come from all over the world and span the age range. But with that diversity come some commonalities worth noting. (Go here to see all the statistical comparisons made by Technorati.)

Nearly 60% of bloggers are between the ages of 25 and 44.

Most business bloggers are ages 25-44, but nearly 50% of entrepreneurs are over 45.

Most bloggers are highly educated, with almost 30% having college degrees and an additional 50% who have started or completed a graduate degree.

Bloggers are highly educated.

Most bloggers have been blogging for at least 2 years.

A vast majority of bloggers has at least 2 years of blogging experience, with a significant 20% carrying 6 years or more experience.

The average number of blogs managed by each respondent is three, up from two in 2010.

Business bloggers now manage three blogs on average.

40% of bloggers spend more than 3 hours a week working on their blog.

60% of entrepreneurs spend 1 to 5 hours blogging weekly.

A majority of bloggers updates their blog at least two to three times per week.

Over 50% of bloggers post at least two to three times per week.

#2: Bloggers help brands

Technorati found that a surprising one-third of bloggers have work experience in traditional media as journalists and in other capacities. They also found that consumers are increasingly putting their trust in blogs versus traditional media.

This reflects a major shift in marketing for brands of all sizes. Brands must become friendly with bloggers. If 40% of all blogs are business-oriented, that means there are around 72 million business blogs. Many of these represent an opportunity for you to foster mutually beneficial relationships with bloggers.

Not convinced? Check this out: 65% of bloggers follow brands on social media and most bloggers write regularly about the brands they follow.

A significant majority of bloggers uses social media to follow brands.

A vast majority of bloggers blogs regularly about the brands they follow.

#3: A growing number of consumers trust blogs

As expected, consumers receive their information primarily through friends, whether in real life or on social media. Of all social media platforms, consumers trust information they receive through blogs more than Facebook or Twitter.

Consumers are almost as likely to look to blogs for information as they are magazines and newspapers.

Consumers have the lowest level of trust in a brand's social media sites.

Consumers are almost as likely to share information they find on a blog as from a newspaper or magazine.

Consumers are more likely to share information found on a blog than from a brand on other social media sites.

Consumers are most likely to share information they find on blogs through email and Facebook with Twitter being the third most likely.

Email and Facebook are the most likely way consumers will share blog posts.

#4: Bloggers depend increasingly on social media

(see stats here).

Bloggers get their inspiration and insights from social media.

Bloggers spend 10-12 hours weekly on social media sites, with 14% spending at least 21 hours. Additionally, bloggers spend another 8 hours weekly reading other blogs.

Most bloggers spend at least 10 hours a week on social media sites.

Bloggers “like” Facebook.

Over 90% of bloggers use Facebook and at least 65% of non-corporate professional bloggers have a Facebook page for their blog.

The primary way bloggers use Facebook is to promote their blog, but a significant 61% of entrepreneurs also use Facebook to market their business.

Entrepreneurs are nearly as likely to use Facebook to market their business as they are to promote their blog.

Twitter is very important for bloggers.

Over 80% of bloggers use Twitter and all professional bloggers have at least 1000 followers.

All business bloggers have 1000 Twitter followers on average. Note that full-time professionals and corporate bloggers have more followers than accounts they follow.

Around 80% of bloggers use Twitter to promote their blog.

The most common use of Twitter is to promote a blog.

Bloggers are early adopters of Google+.

This is one of the first studies I’ve seen on Google+ adoption. Over 60% of all surveyed bloggers have a Google+ account, but few had established a page.

Here are some of the ways bloggers use Google+:

Bloggers use Google+ for bringing interesting links to light, even more than promoting their own blog.

Bloggers have a diverse social media toolkit.

Not surprisingly, LinkedIn and YouTube are the top social media platforms used by bloggers. At least 30% of professional bloggers also make use of StumbleUpon, Delicious and Digg.

LinkedIn is the most commonly used social networking platform for business bloggers after Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

The most effective social tools for driving traffic are Facebook and Twitter, with LinkedIn being a distant third.

Facebook and Twitter lead the pack in effectiveness for driving traffic to blogs.

#5: Bloggers use multimedia

Around 90% of bloggers use some form of media in their posts, with photos being the most popular.

Videos are also widely used by almost 50% of all bloggers.

Photos are the most popular media type. Notice how audio is much less utilized.

#6: Bloggers are earning money through their blogs

While only 14% of bloggers earn a salary through blogging, bloggers are increasingly finding ways to earn money through advertising and brand partnerships. If you’re interested in knowing how bloggers approach revenue and advertising, see these interesting results.

#7: Bloggers are increasing their activities

Professional bloggers are generally increasing their blogging activity since they started blogging.

Professional full-time bloggers are significantly increasing their blogging activities.

How about you? Do your 2012 business plans include blogging? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Keep reading to discover why social media is changing small business for the better.

Six months ago, I highlighted many benefits of social media for small business, but several new research articles add urgency to this message.

Swiftly Changing Landscape

Social media marketing is a rapidly changing environment, as we all know. But the good news is that your customers are embracing social media as a normal part of their lives. Even the over-50 population is adapting at staggering rates.

The following 26 stats should impress upon you the importance of developing a social media strategy for your business.

#1: There are now more than 800 million active Facebook users, with over 200 million added in 2011. Notice the growth trend traced by Ben Foster.

Facebook is growing rapidly. Which side of the wave are you on?

Nielsen found the following in their 3Q 2011 Social Media Report:

#2: Over 80% of all Americans use a social network.

#3: Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other U.S.website.

#4: Approximately 40% of social media users access their accounts through mobile devices.

#5: Nearly 23% of online time is spent on social networks.

#6: Facebook is the top destination among social networks and blogs:

Nielsen found U.S.users spend nearly 10x more time on Facebook than Twitter or LinkedIn.

#7: Social media users are more active and influential offline:

Social media users are more active offline and have greater influence than their peers (Nielsen).

What Does Facebook Say About its Users?

At Facebook’s recent F8 Developer Conference, Facebook shared the following statistics:

#8: More than half of Facebook users log in every day – that’s more than 400 million people.

#9: The average user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events and groups.

#10: There are 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, etc…).

#11: Facebook hosts over 7 million apps, and over 20 million apps are downloaded each day.

#12: Around 75% of Facebook users are outside of North America with accounts available in 70 languages.

#13: Comscore released a study earlier this year that showed how business brands that post at least once every day will reach 22% of their fans in a given week.

Comscore shows the impact of consistently posting to Facebook.

How Are People Using Social Media?

Experian recently released their 2011 Social Media Consumer Report. The following trends help paint a picture of how people are using social media.

#14: Experian estimates that 91% of online American adults (approx. 129 million) access some form of social media each month.

#15: And get this: 98% of 18- to 24-year-olds access social accounts monthly.

#16: This confirms their stat that college towns log on to Facebook the most.

#17: The average Facebook user spends 20 minutes on his or her account during each visit.

Note that Facebook users spend nearly twice as much time on the platform as Twitter users. The jury is still out on Google+, as data hasn't been accumulated to show the effect of the public release.

#18: A majority of Facebook users log in 3-4 times per week.

Notice that Twitter users are nearly as likely to login once per week as they are three to four times per week.

#19: One out of 5 social network users is likely to visit another social site after leaving one.

After visiting a social network, 45% of users will visit another social site, a multimedia site like YouTube or use a search engine.

Small Businesses Moving Toward Social Media

So what are business leaders doing in light of the obvious shift toward social media in online behavior?

Zoomerang interviewed 1,180 small- to mid-sized business (SMB) decision-makers and 500 consumers in September to release this study in an attempt to answer that question.

#20: The 3 most important reasons small businesses leverage social media are:

• Connecting with customers
• Visibility
• Self-promotion

81% of small business leaders use social media to get in front of customers and find new customers.

#21: 44% of SMB decision-makers use social media.

This graphic highlights how important it is to integrate social media with your website, email and direct mail efforts.

#22: Of those SMB decision-makers who use social media, 86% use Facebook vs. 41% LinkedIn and 33% Twitter:

Small- and medium-sized businesses are investing the most effort in Facebook.

Small Businesses Getting Results Without Spending Much

Social media is good for business, not just relationships. Mediabistro published an infographic produced by Crowdspring that reveals the following findings:

#23: 50% of small business owners reported gaining new customers through social media – most notably through Facebook and LinkedIn.

#24: 51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands they follow.

Twitter fans are more likely to buy from a brand they follow (Crowdspring).

#25: Small businesses don’t have to spend much to get results: Zoomerang found that nearly 60% of all small business decision-makers spend less than $100 on social media and 74% of businesses don’t employ anyone to manage their social media marketing.

Small business owners can get results without spending a lot of cash.

More Good News for Small Businesses

#26: Ning has found it only takes 20 people to create meaningful many-to-many interactions and bring an online community to a significant level of activity. That’s something almost any business can achieve.

How to Bring It All Together

There are numerous conclusions to draw from these statistics. Clearly, small businesses are increasingly leaning on social media to grow their businesses. Many of your customers are using social media almost every day. The opportunities to connect directly with your customers are unprecedented, but so is the competition.

How Your Small Business Could Improve Its Social Media Efforts

Social Media Examiner has brought together 25 small business owners who are pros at social media to teach other small business owners how to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities available in social media.

How? In its new summit—Small Biz Success Summit!

Speakers like John Jantsch, Anita Campbell, Mike Stelzner and Mari Smith will teach sessions in the month of February at Small Biz Success Summit 2012. Click here to learn more.

What do you think? How do these statistics compare to your experiences? If you’re a small business, I’d love to hear your success story here. Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a framework for measuring the impact of your social media efforts?

That’s where Susan Etlinger’s new research for the Altimeter Group comes into play. Susan did qualitative research with 60 social media marketers and vendors to understand how businesses currently measure their social media performance.

Her goal: to develop a framework for tying social media performance to business goals.

NOTE: Because Susan’s original research targeted enterprise-level companies, I interviewed her to add some small business insights. The following comments combine results of the research and that interview.

Start with your strategic goals

Business owners who see great social media success tie their technology choices to their strategic goals. The following graphic shows the importance of a thoughtful process when designing your social media plan.

Make sure to start with your business goals when choosing your tools and measures.

Etlinger advises all businesses follow this process, but particularly small businesses that have limited resources and less tolerance for missteps.

Spend ample time thinking through your vision of success so you can select the right metrics. This means getting specific about your business objectives and strategies before thinking through social objectives. Then you can organize your staff (or your personal time if you’re a solopreneur) around those metrics. Only then are you ready to select the best technologies (including which social platforms and measurement tools to use).

Once you’ve established your goals, then you’re ready to consider Altimeter’s Social Media Measurement Compass. The points of this compass identify six major business goals that social media can help influence.

Your challenge: determine your goal and then think deeply about how you will measure whether you’re achieving that goal.

These six categories will help you think through the business objectives of your measurements.

The Six Points of the Compass

#1: Brand Health

Do you know how people are talking about your service, your products or customer experience? Big brands spend lots of money managing their brand image, but small businesses also need to be aware of customers’ perceptions.

How are people talking about your service, products and selections?

Etlinger noted that people have no problem complaining directly to big brands, but might feel more reserved about criticizing a small business owner to his or her face.

Social media monitoring can help you hear what people are telling their friends, but might not be willing to tell you directly.

Beware that you can never hear the whole social media conversation about your brand. There are at least two reasons: 1) Twitter is capturing such large volumes that you can only hear about 5% of the conversation; 2) Privacy settings on Facebook prohibit non-friends from hearing many conversations.

These two factors make it critical to find ways to validate what people are saying. Small business owners may find it challenging to hear critiques, but put on your tough skin and ask some customers (in person and online).

To unveil how social media listening can help you understand your brand health, Etlinger’s research discovered the following themes (in the graphic below) as critical for your social media listening.

Notice the insights to be gained and how to measure your listening results to find these indicators of health. (I will not reproduce each matrix for the following measures, but you can see them in her article here.)

Allow these questions and thoughts to force you deeper into your measurement practices.

#2: Marketing Optimization

Social media listening can help you fine-tune your marketing efforts to better find your target audience. For many businesses, Google Analytics might be the best tool.

Your goal is to determine what terms people are searching and from what sites they are coming to your site. Some of the things to optimize are campaigns, content, channels, timing and influencers.

It’s important to realize that people share differently on different social channels. While not strictly a social media platform, Yelp provides a good example. People wanting to position themselves as food critics are likely to be far more critical on Yelp than they might be on Twitter or Facebook.

#3: Revenue Generation

This measure may be less relevant if you don’t have an online store; however, all businesses want to know if social media is driving sales.

Generally, social media shouldn’t be expected to directly lead to increased sales. Instead, it can generate leads and conversions. If you think about revenue as a relationship and not just a transaction, as suggested by Richard Binhammer of Dell, then you’ll see that social media can have a tremendous influence on the long-term relationship.

Some important things to understand are the impact of social media on: 1) purchase behavior, 2) search results and 3) customer loyalty.

If you have a physical store, make sure you have tracking systems in place for each channel.

You might try campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and Groupon and see what drives repeat business the best. Groupon is likely to attract deal-seekers who might become new customers, whereas your fans on Facebook and Twitter might find themselves more deeply connected after experiencing one of your “Facebook only” deals.

Test the hypothesis and run your own numbers. Results will vary widely based on your business type and fan base.

#4: Operational Savings

Social media can provide opportunities for hard and soft savings to your business. As customers become brand advocates, your brand reach will extend without significant expenses.

Additionally, social platforms can become far less expensive places for handling customer service. That depends on whether you have someone who can be dedicated to listening to online conversations in real time.

One smart practice is to forge relationships with fans who have strong social media influence. These people can become your advocates and even help with customer service. If they’ve already shown a willingness to speak on your behalf, find ways to feed them information.

#5: Customer Experience

Etlinger’s research discovered a direct correlation between social media and customer experience that translated into improved brand health, increased revenue and cost savings.

An example not cited in the report comes from Kraft Foods. The social media listening team discovered a trend on words like “cut,” “blood” and “salad dressing.” Those aren’t words you want associated with food, so the team dug deeper to discover that customers were cutting themselves when opening a newly designed salad dressing bottle.

The problem was easily solved, but wouldn’t have been discovered without social media. The injuries weren’t serious enough to require emergency room treatment. It was merely an inconvenience, so customers didn’t call the 1-800 number. Instead they told their friends on social media and forgot about it. Because you don’t usually buy salad dressing very often, this problem could’ve gone undetected for months.

#6: Innovation

As highlighted by Etlinger, Starbucks and Proctor & Gamble have found ways to crowdsource ideas through their innovative sites MyStarbucksIdeas.com and pgconnect.com. Not everyone can resource their own social media innovation site, but all businesses can find ways to listen to their customers for insights into product and service improvements.

For example, Twitter can give you insights into what people want. Follow statements such as, “I like,” “I wish” or “I hate.” If you heard, “I wish Charlie’s hadn’t discontinued the chicken cordon bleu,” you would have some great intelligence.

Alternatively, you could even start a conversation on Facebook asking your customers for ideas on new products, services or promotions. Maybe you could even host an “Idea Wednesday” where you spend an hour on your Facebook page looking for creative ideas.

Finding the Right Tools

There are many measurement tools available, and quite a few are free or very inexpensive. In addition to Google Analytics, here are some worth checking out:

Simply Measured has created two tools that work well together.

• Export.ly helps you analyze your Facebook fan page, Twitter audience and more through downloading customizable Excel spreadsheets.

With Export.ly, you can export data from Twitter, Facebook and email into an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.

• RowFeeder is an inexpensive way to monitor what people are saying about your brand.

With RowFeeder, you can track your brand name; Twitter handle; the hashtag for a specific campaign, event or promotion; or general topics of interest.

If you want to figure out how often your tweets are being shared and by whom, check out TweetReach.

TweetReach analyzes the tweets that match your search.

Edelman has developed two tools called TweetLevel and BlogLevel that measure the level of influence, popularity, engagement and trust on your Twitter account and blog. These can be good indicators of the health of your social media efforts. Edelman also provides helpful tips on how to improve in each of these areas.

You can use TweetLevel to find "important" people within a specific context and start conversations with them.

BlogLevel is a purpose-built tool for PR and marketing to help ensure brands use blogs effectively.

To Learn More

Susan Etlinger has shared more detailed information about the report in the following webinar created for CoreMetrics.

Key takeaways:

1. Tie your measurement program to key business objectives.
2. Understand the key terms to follow for your business.
3. Find tools that will give you the results you seek without breaking your budget.
4. Understand that revenue is not a transaction, but a relationship. Treat your customers like people and understand how your online actions are affecting those relationships.
5. Find ways to get your customers involved through customer service, brand advocacy and idea generation.

What are your thoughts? How do you measure your social media efforts? How do these ideas help you align your business goals with your social measures? Leave your comments and questions in the box below.

More than 1400 nominations came in from our contest.

Our panel of Facebook experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing their landing pages, engagement, reader involvement and creative use of promotions (among other things).

None of these businesses have huge budgets, yet they have all achieved amazing success. The following are the winners of Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages for 2011:

#1: Intrepid Travel

Intrepid Travel is an Australian travel agency specializing in creating unique travel adventures.

Fans: 79,018

What the judges liked:

• Great description of company philosophy on Info page
• Appealing use of “photo of the day”
• Keeps customers returning through mystery trips (“surprise and delight” element) and an interactive game
• Creates customer community on Meet Others page

#2: Easy Lunch Boxes

Easy Lunch Boxes makes healthy, green lunch boxes and containers.

Fans: 11,606

What the judges liked:

• Fabulous branding on welcome page, also making clear the incentives for liking the page
• Creative use of Photos tab
• Excellent responsiveness to each individual commenter
• Shares good content for moms/people raising families

#3: SnapRetail

SnapRetail is an online marketing agency for retail stores.

Fans: 3,455

What the judges liked:

• Good use of quotes, links and personal stories in posts
• Keeps it personal through photo uploads and allowing employees to reveal their identities
• “Snappy Hour” is a great way to increase conversation, involvement and answer social media marketing questions
• Welcome tab has a good video and integration with other social media platforms

#4: Garden Quest

Garden Quest is an innovative Facebook gardening game that requires knowledge of gardening to win.

Fans: 56,719

What the judges liked:

• Effective pre-launch page and campaign – good buzz created
• Smart use of incentives for liking the page
• Fantastic interaction on the wall (getting fans to post pictures, etc.)
• Effective job of marketing its unique 3D gaming experience

#5: Arizona Pro DJs

Arizona Pro DJs is a teen entertainment company based in Scottsdale, AZ.

Fans: 10,261

What the judges liked:

• Vibrant graphics appeal to the right demographic
• Good use of prizes for liking the page
• Great enforcement of spamming policies
• Excellent engagement practices of posting photos and music asking for feedback

#6: Dog Training Ireland

Dog Training Ireland are dog trainers and behavior specialists based in Blanchardstown, Ireland.

Fans: 2,287

What the judges liked:

• Tons of helpful info on Info tab (might never have to visit website)
• Good use of Facebook for customer service (e.g., taking reservations)
• Fun video under About Us
• Great practice of posting pictures of dogs available for adoption

#7: New Jersey Family

New Jersey Family is a magazine and resource for New Jersey kids, parents and families.

Fans: 2,515

What the judges liked:

• Great use of the avatar and photo strip
• Outstanding family-oriented content (recipes, trip ideas, free advice)
• Good customer engagement
• Fun use of Questions tab

#8: Obeo

Obeo is a creator of online interactive visual experiences for realtors.

Fans: 2,378

What the judges liked:

• Good use of incentives to like the page for Facebook exclusive promotions
• Variety in posts (blogs, pictures, trivia, links)
• Nice presentation of video and virtual staging on Welcome tab
• Smart balance of content on YouTube tab – informational and inspirational

#9: Piggies & Paws

Piggies & Paws are creators of custom art from children’s hand- and footprints.

Fans: 5,961

What the judges liked:

• Fun and engaging Welcome tab (good use of Fan of the Week in avatar)
• Find an Artist Near You tab is helpful to fans wanting to host a party
• Posts are audience-appropriate
• Consistently responsive to fan posts

#10: Brasserie Sixty6

Brasserie Sixty6 is a modern European restaurant in Dublin, Ireland.

Fans: 4,730

What the judges liked:

• Excellent use of apps for displaying menu, reviews and reservations
• Strong call to action for joining mailing list
• Good use of videos
• Engagement on wall is personable and consistent

Congratulations to the winners. Be sure to check out these amazing pages!

The Prizes

Each of our winners receives the following:

A free pass to Facebook Success Summit 2011: Each company wins a pass to attend the web’s largest online Facebook marketing conference.

The badge of distinction: If you’re a winner, you can post the image you see here on your blog or Facebook page and please link back to this page.

A special thanks to our judges—Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day), Dave Kerpen (author, Likeable Social Media) and Michael Stelzner (author, Launch)—for their participation!

What do you think? Share your comments in the box below.

What if you could understand why your audience shares some information and not other? That would make your content stand out from the competition.

The Science of Sharing

30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month, including blog posts, links, news stories and photo albums.

HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella has found that three things must happen to get your content shared.

First, people must be exposed to your content (be a fan on Facebook or follow you on Twitter). Second, they must be aware of your content (meaning they actually see it). Finally, they must be motivated by something in your content to share it.

Many articles have been written on how to increase your audience size and make people aware of your content, including these by Mari Smith and Denise Wakeman. This article will focus on the motivations for sharing.

The New York Times recently partnered with Latitude Research to unpack the psychology of sharing. Based on their study of 2500 participants (and some other recent research), here are 9 reasons why your customers aren’t sharing your content.

#1: Your customers don’t trust you

Stated plainly, people won’t share your content if they don’t find you or your content to be trustworthy.

The 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer found that globally only 56% of people trust businesses to do what is right. However, in the US, the UK and Japan, that number fell significantly between 2010 and 2011.

Notice the evolution in trust.

#2: Your customers don’t care about your brand

That hurts to hear, but customers have short memories. They wonder “what have you done for me lately?”

Your customers are looking for valuable information, great deals and a chance to meet other people who share their interests. As soon as you stop offering these things, your fans will go looking elsewhere.

They may not feel a commitment to your brand, but you can keep them interested in your content. The next couple of points offer some remedies you can implement immediately.

#3: Your posts are boring

“Don’t be boring,” says Grandma Mary, the alter-ego of Social Media Examiner’s Facebook community manager, Andrea Vahl. People are far more likely to share something they find intriguing or funny.

Look at the case of Volkswagen’s videos. Their Cannes-winning episode, The Force, a spoof on Star Wars, earned over 40 million views. None of their other videos, more traditional marketing content, came close to 1 million views. Of course, most of us would love a million views. But look at the relative difference in sharing power.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0

#4: People care about causes more than brands

The New York Times found that people are more likely to share about something they are passionate about.

Let’s face it. People rarely wake up wondering what they can do for XYZ brand today. But they do dream of ways to help their favorite cause. Whether it’s ending poverty, supporting Greenpeace or advancing a local charity, many people give sacrificially to help things they care about.

Notice how CREE has taken a boring subject like lighting and made it a mission and revolution to change lighting in public places across America.

While not a cause in the humanitarian sense, this does get people excited about being part of something bigger than your brand or product.

#5: People share to build relationships with others

Research shows that people value relationships with other people, not necessarily with brands. They are definitely looking for community. Your brand might be able to create a platform for that community.

Here are two interesting factoids from The New York Times study:

• 78% of respondents use links to stay connected to people they might not otherwise stay in touch with.
• 73% of respondents said sharing content helps them find people with common interests.

Red Bull does a nice job of sharing content their fans might be willing to share with their friends.

Notice how Red Bull asks a question and then encourage sharing.

#6: Customers are looking for validation

Some things haven’t changed since junior high. We are all trying to build credibility in the eyes of our friends. We want to be seen as experts in some area(s).

The way we do that online is through the content we share.

68% of The New York Times study participants said they share content as an advertisement for themselves. They want to give others a better sense of who they are.

#7: People share to manage information

You’ve heard it said, “I’m just thinking out loud.” Today many people think out loud through social media.

In fact, 73% of the study participants said they process information more deeply, thoroughly and thoughtfully when they share it.

Additionally, 85% of respondents said that reading other people’s responses helps them understand and process information and events.

Social media scientist Dan Zarrella found the following words generate the most comments in his research.

Notice how popular words like "giveaway" and "jobs" are.

#8: You’ve misunderstood your audience

If you’ve been around marketing for very long, you understand the concept of a marketing persona. This idea has been around for at least 20 years and advocates understanding your customer profile by creating detailed pictures of your ideal customer(s).

The New York Times study found there are six sharing personas for online fans and I’ve listed a seventh based on my experience and our audience. Understanding who your customers are can help you identify common motivators:

1. Altruists—Altruists share content out of a desire to be helpful and aspire to be seen as a reliable source of information. Preferred tools: Facebook and email.
2. Careerists—Careerists are well-educated and seek to gain a reputation for bringing value to their networks. They prefer content that is more serious and professional in tone. Preferred tools: LinkedIn and email.
3. Hipsters—Hipsters are younger sharers who have always lived in the “information age.” They use Twitter and Facebook to share cutting-edge and creative content. They share content to build their online identity. Preferred tools: Facebook and Twitter.
4. Boomerangs—Boomerangs seek validation and thrive on the reaction of others to their content, even when it’s negative responses. Preferred tools: Facebook, email, Twitter and blogs, wherever people will engage them.
5. Connectors—Connectors see content sharing as a means of staying connected to others and making plans. They are more relaxed in their sharing patterns. Preferred tools: Facebook and email.
6. Selectives—Selectives are more thoughtful in what they share and with whom they share it. They personalize their sharing and expect responses to their content. Preferred tool: email.

Although this is not based on The NY Times research, I’d like to add a seventh persona to the list:

1. Trendsetters—Trendsetters are thought leaders, marketers and business leaders who purposefully seek to stay abreast of breaking news and trends in their industry, sharing it quickly and aggressively. These people are typically seen as experts (or aspire to be seen as such). Preferred tools: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

A couple of observations: 1) notice how many of these personas prefer email; 2) notice that the platform significantly predicts the motivation pattern.

#9: People are more personal with email

The study authors discovered that people have not abandoned email. In fact, participants share most frequently through email and consider it more private. Therefore they have higher expectations for responses through email.

Some final pointers

If you want a deeper understanding of the psychology of sharing, see this article by Dr. Rachna Jain.

One of the most overlooked rules in content creation is the rule of simplicity. Shorter posts (80 characters on Facebook) get shared 27% more frequently. Keep your writing style at a fifth grade or lower level of understanding.

Create a sense of urgency in your writing. Give people a reason to respond now. If they don’t act immediately, they probably never will.

Finally, remember that getting your content shared is just the first step. See this as part of longer-term strategy of building a loyal following.

Share your comments!

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your comments on how you get your audience to share your content. If you have any stories, please leave them in the comments box below.

What if these marketing reps would freely write about your brand and tell their friends and all they expect in return is recognition and access to insider information?

Who are these free marketers? Brand advocates. BzzAgent has recently released a new research study giving us the skinny on the habitat, behaviors and motivations behind brand advocates.

Who are brand advocates and what motivates them?

This careful study identifies many attributes of brand advocates. I’d like to discuss nine of them that will help you think through how to effectively engage advocates for your business.

Some examples of brand advocates:

• Walmart’s “mommy bloggers“
• Ford’s “Fiesta agents“
• Community support systems, like at: Dell, BestBuy, Quicken and Fiskars’ crafting site Fiskateers

Ambassadors for crafting and for Fiskars.

So what can we learn about who advocates are and what motivates them? Here are nine observations, based on the research of Dr. Kathleen R. Ferris-Costa from the University of Rhode Island’s College of Business Administration.

#1: Advocates are prolific creators of information

Internet users are becoming increasingly comfortable sharing their experiences with products and services through social media. What makes a brand advocate stand apart is his or her prolific communication about these experiences.

The survey found that brand advocates create and curate more than twice as many communications about brands as the average web user. They are savvy in writing meaningful content and sharing it on highly visible sites.

#2: Advocates influence the opinions and purchases of their friends

In Malcolm Gladwell’s classic book, Tipping Point, he identifies three unique kinds of people who make social movements possible: connectors, mavens and salesmen.

Brand advocates blend the strengths of a connector and a maven. They love connecting people with others of similar interests. But they are also information storehouses who love to share their knowledge.

The study found advocates are 70% more likely to be seen as a source of reliable information.

Additionally, brand advocates are 50% more likely to create content that influences a purchase.

Starting an influencer program does not have to be expensive. Note researcher Jeremiah Owyang’s observation that even experienced large brands don’t have to spend a lot of money to maintain effective advocate programs.

#3: Advocates love to talk and are probably already talking about your brand

Brand advocates are 83% more likely to share information than the average internet user. What’s more, 54% of advocates view information-sharing as a form of relaxation.

Notice that brand advocates are also motivated to make decisions, solve problems and contribute to a pool of information.

Smart businesses make it easy for brand advocates to share information about their brand. Provide relevant information through your blog, Facebook page or through exclusive emails and watch advocates share it.

#4: Advocates like to use social media to help people

At their core, brand advocates like to help others. They don’t hoard information to inflate their egos; they want to be seen as useful.

Advocates love to meet new people through social media. In fact, they are 2.5 times more likely to use social media to expand their circle of friends.

In case you’re skeptical, be forewarned that advocates are not purely altruistic. They also want to get something out of this. Be willing to give them what they’re looking for.

Notice that receiving free products and other incentives rank at the top of their list. But deep satisfaction also comes from helping others make good decisions.

Not all advocates will be enticed by discounts and rewards. Some of them will even find it offensive and inauthentic. Word-of-mouth marketing expert Andy Sernovitz says that you shouldn’t mix love and incentives. Make sure your advocates don’t feel like you’re forcing them to praise you without having freedom to voice concerns and critiques.

#5: Advocates want to be known for their valuable insights

Advocates like helping people and getting free stuff, but they’re deeply motivated by recognition. In fact, they’re 150% more likely to value being seen as a reliable source of information.

Social Media Examiner does this well through their Fan of the Week program.

#6: Advocates are most likely to use social media for sharing their opinions

Advocates are twice as likely to share product information on social networks than average web users. In fact, social media is their first choice for sharing their insights.

#7: Advocates have a broader reach

Here’s something that sets brand advocates apart from the crowd: advocates are 3 times more likely to share brand information with someone they don’t know.

Brand advocates love meeting people online. Given their desire to influence people and share information, it’s predictable that their messages will reach a much broader audience than the average web user.

#8: Advocates like talking about their product choices.

Advocates love to talk about their daily product and service decisions. Their top three topics to discuss are: food or dining, personal care products and household products.

How do these topics relate to your products or services? If your company’s deliverable is not on this list, you may need to work harder at giving advocates a reason to talk about you.

#9: Advocates are loyal to brands with which they have a relationship

Why do advocates do what they do? They appreciate the incentives and rewards, but at the end of the day, they want to be known as a trusted agent of the brand. The relationship is important to them.

Should your company use brand advocates?

That obviously depends on your business. I would recommend you do two things:

1. Look for people who are already talking openly and honestly about your brand. Invite them to help you build a program that will be meaningful for you and your future advocates.
2. Think through carefully the costs and benefits of an advocacy program. Nichole Kelly wrote a helpful article recently helping you weigh the pros and cons of an advocacy program. Check it out.

What about you?

What do you think? If you have an advocacy program, we’d love to hear how your experience compares to this study. If you’re contemplating starting a program, what’s holding you back? Leave your comments in the box below.

This article reveals the findings of a few new research studies. What they found might surprise you.

Small Business Focusing Big Time on Social Media and Blogging

Small businesses are spending three times more on social media and blogs than larger businesses.

In HubSpot’s 2011 State of Inbound Marketing Report, researchers discovered that small businesses plan to spend 29% of their lead generation budget on social media and blogs. Asked the same question, medium to large businesses only plan to spend 9% on the same categories.

HubSpot‘s conclusion: all marketers are increasing their lead generation budgets for social media and blogs. In fact, the average company increased their spending from 9% to 18% between 2009 and 2011.

The HubSpot report has many more important insights on acquisition rates and comparative data on various industries. Check it out here.

Social Media Spending Trending Up

64% of all marketers plan to increase their social media budget in 2011 according to Target Marketing’s Fifth Annual Media Usage Report. Email marketing is the only area where more marketers will increase their spending.

Email and social media are becoming rivals for acquiring new customers and customer retention:

• Email – 85% of marketers use it for acquisition; 90% for retention
• Social media – 75% use it for acquisition; 65% for retention

No-one belittles our current economic crisis. That’s what makes these trends even more interesting.

In a day where many marketing budgets are frozen, marketers are allocating an increasing portion of the pie to social media. Some might say they are panning for gold, but I think the signs show that they’ve already found some gold.

Match Social Media Spending to Your Experience

All businesses should consider their social business maturity as they establish priorities and their social media budget. This is Altimeter Group’s conclusion after conducting a study of 140 social media strategists at enterprise-level corporations (1000 employees or more).

While the data is derived from large companies, the principles recommended apply to businesses of all sizes. See which of the following strategies match your needs and priorities for 2011:

What about you? How do these reports get you to look at your plans for 2011? How do your social media spending plans compare to these trends? Leave your comments in the box below.

Well, maybe that’s the wrong set of questions.

In fact, the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report has some good news for small business marketers. Small business owners are seeing the greatest results from social media marketing.

Michael Stelzner authored the third-annual industry study in which he surveyed 3342 marketers, 47% of whom were either self-employed or small business owners. This group reports some amazing results from social media marketing. Let me show you what they found…

"Is social media important to your business?"

Social Media Is Becoming More Important

Over the course of the last 3 years, Stelzner has seen social media move from an uncertain strategy (2009 report) to a permanent fixture (2010 report) to a primary tool (2011 report) in the savvy marketer’s toolkit.

No-one has benefited more than small businesses.

Ninety percent of those surveyed agreed that social media is important to their business. The report reveals that the self-employed (67%) and small business owners (66%) were more likely to strongly agree with this statement.

Top Benefits for Small Business Owners

Almost all marketers find that social media helps them stand out in an increasingly noisy marketplace. In fact, 88% of all marketers found social media helps get them increased exposure. Additionally, 72% of those surveyed saw increased traffic and subscriptions as a result of social media.

This chart highlights the top benefits identified by all marketers.

Small business owners were more likely than all other groups (89.2% reporting benefits) to see increased exposure.

Here are some other areas where small business owners saw greater benefits than their peers:

• The self-employed and small business owners were more likely to report new partnerships, with at least 59% noting a benefit.
• Small businesses were twice as likely to find qualified leads than other types of businesses.
• Forty-eight percent of self-employed and small business owners saw improved sales as a direct result of their social media efforts.
• The self-employed (59%) and small business owners (58%) were more likely than others to see reductions in marketing costs when using social media marketing.

Time Investment Pays Dividends

Small business owners have many demands on their time. For most of them, marketing is just one of a dozen hats they wear.

Like last year’s report, the 2011 study proved that time is a key success factor for social media marketers. Spend more time (wisely, of course) and you’re likely to see greater results. The question is how much time is required?

This can be answered in two ways:

• The power of endurance—those with 3 or more years of experience in social media marketing are seeing the greatest results. For example, only 25% of those just getting started in social media saw new partnerships form, as compared to 80% or more of those with 3 or more years of experience. So marketers shouldn’t make snap judgments on the value of social media after only a few months. Give it some time!

• It doesn’t have to be all-consuming. It may not take as much time as you fear. In fact, 75% of those spending as little as 6 hours per week on social media marketing saw increased traffic.

Likewise, those who spend at least 6 hours per week are almost twice as likely to see leads generated as those who spend 5 or fewer hours.

While the study didn’t draw any firm conclusions on how much time marketers should spend, there’s clear evidence that those who commit at least 6 hours per week will see significant rewards for their investment.

What’s in Your Toolkit?

It’s easy for marketers to become enamored by the newest tools, but the industry study showed that almost all marketers have four tools in their toolkit: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs. Two surprises in this year’s study: Facebook surpassed Twitter since the 2010 survey, and MySpace is not being used by at least 81% of marketers.

Some tools that benefit small businesses:

LinkedIn

The self-employed (80%) and small business owners (78%) were more likely to use LinkedIn than their counterparts (71%).

The self-employed are the most likely to increase their use of LinkedIn in 2011 (68%) versus 61% for all marketers.

Video Marketing

Seventy-seven percent of all marketers plan to increase their use of video in 2011.

While this is the first choice for all marketers, small businesses lag behind their larger counterparts (82% of large businesses see this as a key growth area).

With all the reports on SEO and engagement benefits from video, I find myself wondering why small businesses aren’t leading the pack here. David Garland and Grant Cowell have shown us that it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Outsourcing for Growth

Only 28% of all marketers outsource any part of their social media marketing. Even though this is a 100% increase over 2010, marketers are still not sure how and when to outsource their social media. This could have to do with the relative inexperience of the audience (50% of the marketers have less than 1 year of experience).

Small business owners are the most likely to use outsourcing (34%), whereas only 24% of the self-employed have utilized outsourcing. Experienced marketers are also more likely to use outsourcing than the less experienced.

Here are the tasks that marketers are outsourcing (percentage shown is out of all surveyed marketers):

Integrating Social Media With Traditional Marketing Strategies

In a survey that highlights the increasing reach of social media marketing, it’s surprising to see trends that emphasize a growing use of more traditional (online and offline) marketing approaches. For example, at least 64% of all marketers plan to increase their use of search engine optimization and email marketing in 2011.

Here’s how small businesses are using some more traditional marketing tools:

Email Marketing

Nearly two-thirds of all businesses plan to increase their use of email marketing, but small businesses are the most likely of all.

Event Marketing

Sixty percent of all marketers plan to increase their use of event marketing (networking and speaking at conferences and trade shows). Of these, the self-employed (70%) and small business owners (65%) are significantly more likely to participate than marketers from large corporations (43% to 38%, depending on the size of the company).

Press Releases

Eighty percent of all businesses plan to either maintain or increase their use of press releases in 2011. Small business owners are more than twice as likely (52%) to increase their use than businesses with 500 to 1000 employees (24%).

Webinars and Teleseminars

A surprising 42% of all businesses have no plans to utilize webinars or teleseminars in 2011. But small businesses are far more likely to make use of this strategy. In fact, 49% of the self-employed plan on increasing their use compared to 27% of businesses with 500 to 1000 employees.

What Difference Does it Make?

Clearly small business owners are finding great value in social media marketing. In many cases, they’re benefiting more than their large company peers.

The 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report has insights that help marketers from businesses of all sizes and levels of experience. Download your copy here.

If you’re a small business owner, do your results agree with this report? Where do you plan to invest your marketing energies this year? What’s the biggest difference social media has made in your business? Leave your comments in the box below.

Look no further.

All of the answers (and more) are right here in this free third-annual social media report.

Watch the above video for a quick summary.

To understand how marketers are using social media, Social Media Examiner commissioned the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. We set out to uncover the “who, what, where, when and why” of social media marketing with this report.

A significant 3300 social media marketers provided valuable insight you won’t find elsewhere. In this free report, you’ll discover:

• The top 10 social media questions marketers want answered
• How much time marketers invest with social media activities
• The top benefits of social media marketing and how time invested affects results
• The most used social media tools and services
  
• Marketers’ future social media plans
• Activities social media marketers are outsourcing
• And much more!

If you’re responsible for marketing your business, you’ll want to closely analyze the pages of this free 41-page report and use it to persuade others.

Remember, the nature of social media is to “share,” so if you like the report, please let your peers know about it.

>> Download the report here by right-clicking (control click on Macs). NOTE: Having trouble downloading? The file is large and may not display properly in some browsers. Try right-clicking (or control-click on Mac) to save it to your hard drive. Alternatively, view in Scribd.

Michael can be reached at report@socialmediaexaminer.com.

What do you think about these findings? Please share your comments in the box below.

According to the survey, marketers admit to struggling with customer engagement on multiple channels. This makes sense as many marketers are just beginning to experiment with more engagement efforts, one channel at a time.

In the near future, we’ll begin to see this single channel engagement morph into a more synergistic engagement effort over multiple channels. As we’ve seen with other social media trends, these shifts take time.

Here are some of the findings:

• Customization: The vast majority of respondents have created a customized experience for their social channels. (Only 9% admitted to not customizing any of their channels.)
• IT vs. Marketing: 66% of respondents admitted to having friction between their IT and marketing departments.
• Social Conversations: A vast majority of marketers (7 out of 10) say they have little understanding of social media conversations surrounding their brand.

In addition to delivering these insightful statistics, Alterian also created the above infographic to give a snapshot of the most important stats.

Click here to read the full report and download the infographic.

Alterian asked marketing professionals a series of engagement questions. Let’s take a look and see where you stand in relation to others in your industry.

#1: How will marketing budgets change over next year?

About half of the marketers surveyed claim their budget will increase slightly, while about 9% see their budgets greatly increasing.

In addition, about a quarter of those surveyed plan to maintain the same investment, roughly 10% will decrease their budgets and a little over 7% say they have not yet determined next year’s budget.

#2: How will social media budgets change over next year?

About half of the marketers surveyed expect their social/digital marketing expenditures will increase slightly while 23% see their expenditures greatly increasing.

Also, 14% of the marketers plan to maintain the same investment while 4% will spend less than the year before.

#3: Do you monitor social media conversations?

Almost 40% of those surveyed said they are using a few ad-hoc tools and 30% said they are reporting regularly to management.

In addition, almost 30% claim they have very little understanding of the social media conversations happening around their brand or those of their clients.

#4: Are you as engaged with customers as you should be?

A little over half of those surveyed (57%) feel their brand (or client’s brand) is somewhat at risk and are taking action to fix the challenge.

13% said they know they need to better engage but haven’t taken action and 7% admitted there were major concerns, but didn’t know where to start to fix the issues.

Lastly, about a quarter of the marketers claimed their brand (or those of their clients) was not at risk and they were fully engaged with their customers.

Now it’s your turn! Did any of these statistics surprise you? What changes have you made to engage with your customers? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.