Twitter Users are Most Influential Online Group

It’s important to remember that the same people who Twitter about their consumer experiences will often be the very same people who tweet about their church experiences – both good and bad.

A new study released by ExactTarget finds consumers who are active on Twitter are three times more likely to impact a brand’s online reputation through syndicated Tweets, blog posts, articles and product reviews than the average consumer. Here’s how that breaks down:

Reason to Twitter Company or Brand (% of US Twitter Users)
Reason to Twitter	% of Users
Get updates on future products	38%
Stay informed about company activities	32
Receive discounts and promotions	31
Get updates on upcoming sales	30
Ger free samples, coupons, etc	28
For fun or entertainment	26
Get access to exclusive content	25
Learn more about company	25
Show support to company to others	23
Share ideas, provide feedback	20
For education about company topics	14
Recommended	14
Get direct message from company	10
Source: ExactTarget, August 2010

While the information is focused on these tweeting consumer habits, the correlation between tweeting about a company/brand and a local church is very similar. In both instances, the experience determines why they’d tweet about either entity.

In the survey above, it’s worth noting that of the 13 ‘reason to Twitter’ the top 8 – over half the list – are because of a benefit to the consumer. In church speak, this means that the person is interested in what you’re doing and is motivated to tweet about you. The implication for churches is to have a constantly updated, useful Twitter feed(s) so they can follow and discover benefits for themselves.

According to the report, daily Twitter users are about three times as likely as internet users on average to upload photos, four times as likely to blog, three times as likely to post ratings and reviews, and nearly six times as likely to upload articles. Church translation: your Twitter followers are sprayers – people who will talk about their experiences with your church, share their thoughts, and generally make their feelings known online. In other words, your Twitter users are highly influential and worth your attention.

I think it’s also important to note that, given some love and attention, these people can be fantastic online advocates for your church and ministries. Raving fans who spread your message for you are exactly the kind of viral messaging you want online.

Content/Research sources: ExactTarget and the Center for Media Research

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Twittering at the Dirt Conference

I was privileged to share the stage today at the Dirt Conference with Anne Jackson, Guy Walker, and Lynse Stevens all about Social Networking. The list of resources (ever-changing) is included on the right-hand side of this blog.

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Social Media & Email – Beginning to Merge

Strongmail, makers of an email campaign software as a service (SaaS), recently made the news for doing what I’ve been saying is coming: the merging of email & social media.

The way I see it, email & social media often go hand-in-hand. It’s not either/or – it’s both/and. The right tool for the right job, with the caveat that sometime the right tools need to overlap and play nicely together.

Google’s recent announcement of Wave is also a boon, as it’s shaping up to be the next killer app that rethinks email as it should be today, not how it was intended when it was invented.

Here’s a quote from the article about Strongmail Solution’s new thinking:

StrongMail, which enables direct marketers to integrate social media into email marketing programs, has developed a social media framework that consists of three core functions: Social Programs, Social Direct and Social Share. As direct marketers struggle to fit social media programs into their overall marketing strategy, Ryan Deutsch believes the tools that integrate both will become the hub that supports strategies.

Among the tools being introduced into the market today, Influencer Ad enables marketers to create direct-response campaigns. The tool is being offered through a partnership with PopularMedia, which focuses on developing social and viral campaigns.

The biggest challenge then becomes making the campaign interesting to drive it virally. For example, rather than send a coupon in an email for 50% off a bar blender, the email would include a link and message to “mix your friend a drink.” Clicking on the link would enable the person to virtually make a strawberry margarita and send it off to share with Facebook friends.

The pages that allow consumers to mix and share drinks are served up by StrongMail. Technology tracks the message and the people who concoct the drinks. It lets marketers identify “influencers,” Deutsch says. Based on behavior, the marketer can target people with specific promotions.

This is the beginning of a new way of online marketing and communication to collide and converge. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

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Crisis Communications for the Social Media Age

Aliza Sherman of Web Worker Daily wrote a very interesting piece about how companies should prepare and react to crisis via social media networks. I thought the same principles apply for non-profits and churches, too, and wanted to share this with churches to consider.

Here are two compelling quotes from the brief article:

My advice is to plan now. Don’t wait for that communications crisis to take place before planning for how you’ll handle the fallout when something bad (inevitably) happens.

Here’s #5 from the list of things to do:

5. Don’t overthink. Running through committees, endless drafts and approval processes to get a response out there can cause far more damage than good. As long as you have taken the time to assess the situation and can take a rational, respectful tone in your response, even an awkward response is OK to start with, and buys you time to continue to respond to the problem.

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