Good friend Michael Stelzner just released a killer report (and free, tool!) on social media, compiled from the input of some 900 folks. Entitled Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses, it’s available for download here.
Among the key findings?
Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 88% of marketers
surveyed are using social media to market their businesses, BUT 72% have only
been doing so for a few months or less.
How much time does this take? A significant 64% of marketers are using social
media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly.
The top benefit of social media marketing: The number-one advantage is
generating exposure for the business, indicated 81% of all marketers, followed
by increasing traffic and building new business partnerships.
The top social media tools: Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were the top
four social media tools used by marketers, in that order.
Now, I haven’t made much of a secret out of the fact that I’m not big on social media right now for my commercial freelancing business. And judging from the first finding above, I’m not that far behind most folks. I’m guessing I’ll get on the bandwagon at some point, but it’s the second finding above that has me push back: The Timesuck.
I already spend enough time sitting in front of my computer; last thing I want to do is spend another hour+ a day (at the least) doing just that, and for what appears to be an as-yet undetermined payoff. My goal is to enjoy REAL life more, not just get better at the virtual one.
But, hey, I realize that’s possibly a short-sighted point of view, and there are no doubt ways for commercial copywriters like us to get maximum benefit from minimal effort (yup, guess that makes me a typical lazy card-carrying member of the human race). I figure I’ll wait till the rest of the world sorts it out rather than be part of the beta-test group.
I also realize that it IS working for many people, so I’d love to hear from you commercial freelancers about how you’re using it to build your businesses.
Are you active in social media (i.e., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo)?
If so, which are you using, and what’s been your experience?
Most importantly, has it brought you more business in some specific, measurable ways? Or in less obvious, but still promising ways?
If you’re NOT using it, what’re your thoughts?
Thanks Peter!
Guess what? You ALREADY do social media marketing because you have a blog (you just didn’t realize you were doing it!) 🙂
BTW, I am a BIG fan of Twitter
Mike – https://twitter.com/mike_stelzner
With everyone doing their own tweeting, listing, linking and logging, will increasing social media heighten or lower demand for good writing? Well it’s not going down: https://davidtandet.com/twittercom-great-writing/
Despite the undeniable black hole of time absorption that can undercut productivity, as well as life balance, I’m active on LI as a way of showing clients, prospects and business contacts that I’m engaged with issues involving marketing communications, public relations, freelance writing, social media, ethics, a client’s industry . . . OK, and Syracuse University basketball.
I regularly answer and occasionally ask discussion forum questions in the Public Relations and Writing/Editing topic areas, aided by an RSS time-saver that feeds me new questions in the PR category. I also post links to magazine, newspaper and blog items of interest to a few specialty interest groups. I’ve even linked to your site and suggested this blog as a useful resource more than once. (“How much should I charge” questions are common.)
Intangible benefits include professional standing (‘thought leadership’), at least locally (one group is PRSA Detroit chapter) and among clients (who may see links to my posts, automatically fed to their LI home pages). I also have earned seven ‘Best Answer’ recognitions in the PR category, which I show with a small screen image on my site. (Yeah, does seem a bit like gold stars from the teacher . . .)
Tangible benefits have been slight so far: Two one-shot, relatively low-fee engagements to improve web content and consult on SEO/web marketing for LI strangers whose “critique my new website” questions I answered . . . evidently with more enticement than others. (And yes, each paid half up front and followed through with the rest. My caution meter was set on high during introductory e-mails/calls.)
Mainly it’s fun, zone-expanding and adds ‘conversation’ to solitary days at the screen. A siren song, perhaps.
[ Also on FB, but that’s purely social. No Twitter . . . yet. ]
Love LinkedIn, but it’s tougher to keep personal separate from business on FB since it’s a hybrid. High school friends find you and want to connect – and so do clients. That poses some potentially sticky situations when contacts see comments/postings from each other!
Twitter is a much tougher nut to crack for me – just can’t seem to leverage it the way others have: with everyone tweeting everything under the sun, I’m sort of at a loss for anything interesting to say that hasn’t been said (or forwarded) 10x over. So I continue to sit on the sidelines…
I’m on several social networking sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, and for a time (now inactive), Ecademy (mostly UK based, but same idea as LinkedIn).
I find that the Timesink Factor is a real deterrent for me. In order to have a chance at meaningful (and potentially profitable) connections, you have to give up some productive time that may be better used in more traditional marketing pursuits. That means being visible and vocal on message boards and being proactive in disseminating information and opinions with other message board readers.
For me, Facebook has the most payoff potential for networking, since I can keep my personal and professional pages separate, followed by LinkedIn. However, that site has a premium subscription fee to gain access to the more powerful networking capabilities of that site (contacting more than five people per day, and being able to openly market to other LinkedIn members, among other “premium” features). Unless I can see that my monthly fee ($24.95/Month to $499.95/Month for Pro membership) ultimately results in quality clients and assignment pay amounts that exceed what I pay for subscribing, I can’t justify paying for the privilege of networking on one specific network as opposed to networking for free on Facebook.
MySpace is too chaotic and informal for me, and Twitter (in my opinion) is effective only if you already have an audience, or can attract one. So far, the only people that have started following me are close friends and random people who only want to “friend” me to sell whatever MLM scheme they’re into. (I block these guys automatically).
On the positive side, if one is a web copywriter, I can see the benefit of putting in the time and effort of social networking. In that case, it’s the adage “Go where your clients are” when it comes to spending time capital on Facebook or LinkedIn.
[ P.S. ] Actually, Peter, I’ve thought for a while that you belong on LI if only to let the monthly communique evolve into WELL-FED E-PUB 2.0.
A WFCW membership group, administered by you, could be set up as a discussion forum for the same topics we toss around here and in the e-Pub.
–> Advantages:
* Participants could post discussion-starters anytime for you and others to jump into. And in a ‘News’ area, we could post links to articles or blog posts of interest.
* Less typing for PB.
* Global audience. (We could link to you as ‘Expert’ when answering questions in Writing/Editing, Freelancing and Public Relations areas.)
* New channel to attract potential book-buyers, webinar registrants and faithful followers.
* Elevated professional standing and SEO as a commercial writing authority . . . available for hire.
* Database expansion of names, e-mail addresses for e-Pub and profit-center pitches (after opt-in request).
–> Disadvantages:
* Less control as a moderator. LI discussions would open with your context-setting intros and personal insights only when you start them.
* Sharply reduced promo announcements, which still could be woven in as “here’s a useful resource . . .” — but only occasionally.
* Possibly diminished interest in e-Pub, which you’d likely maintain to reach non-LI readers.
Now let’s see what others in this here social network think . . .
P.S. Alan, I too am a HUGE S.U. basketball fan–enjoy the game tomorrow night!! (FYI I have lived in Syracuse most of my life.)
Geez, talk about losing control of my venue – the Syracuse University hoops fans are taking over… 😉
But seriously, thanks for weighing in Alan. Good stuff and intriguing suggestions. I’m not convinced the E-PUB would be better as a LI thing. I do need to keep it as a somewhat controlled thing. And while I’m not sure exactly how it works (and will likely show my ignorance here…), if every time I (or someone else) posted something, it sent a note out to subscribers, pretty soon it would be just another LI communication of many, and hence far easier to delete/avoid. As I just send it out once, and don’t bombard you guys with 3-4 messages a week, it’s more likely to stand out in its current state. But I appreciate your thinking it through. You always contribute thoughtful comments!
Saw several confirmations of the Timesuck thing. I can see investing some time into LI, but just not convinced on FB. A day doesn’t go by without some friend asking, “You on FB?” and I’ve been taking a perverse pride in saying, “No.” NOT, “Not yet.” “No.” “But you get to connect with all these people from your past.” Hmmm… What if I don’t WANT to connect with all these people from my past? I know, sounds pretty misanthropic, and I’m not that way, but still…
“But, you can connect with all your friends and share pictures, etc.” Um, I can do that now with this hopelessly outdated communications platform called “email,” and a positively Paleolithic communications device called the Phone. It’s this thing where you push numbers on the handset, and… never mind, just Google it…
As for Twitter, when I first heard about it, I had a bona fide “You’ve-GOT-to-be-kidding” moment. So, let me get this straight: a bunch of people “follow” each other during that day, sharing their most minute, insignificant random neural firings. “Standing in line at Starbucks…” “Bad traffic today on the Downtown Connector…” “Boss is such a jerk…” Philosophically speaking, Twitter to me (and Facebook and MySpace to a certain extent as well) is so totally emblematic of our individual-centric culture, where everything that every person does or says during their day is important, for no other reason than we can now elevate those positively mundane and quotidian events to a stage of sorts and have the world look at us. I mean, is the technology driving the trend (my assertoin) or the other way around?
THAT said, I think the fundamental distinction to be made with any social media (though certainly Twitter is the first to come to mind…) is whether you’re using it as a tool or a toy. I guess my railing is against those in the latter group. As an author with a new book coming out, say, I can absolutely see the value of Twitter in letting a bunch of people who are “following” me to know when it’s officially released. Or any other worthwhile event (teleseminar, appearance, interview, etc.) for that matter.
And I don’t think for a moment that anyone weighing in here IS looking at these things as toys. I get that you’re all diligently trying to wade through the toy-like exterior of some of these venues (LI excepted), and figure out how best to capitalize on it for business value. But, when the sun sets, you still have to factor in how much you’re spending per day on it and how much it’s bringing back to you, a calculation the “toy crowd” cares less about…
PB
Peter – TO your questions about Twitter, you need to read this article I wrote:
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business
https://copyblogger.com/grow-business-twitter/
Honestly, I think it will give you a new perspective.
Mike
Don’t mean to hog thread, so just brief return volley on “I can do that now with this hopelessly outdated communications platform called ’email.’ ”
Also thought that until it clicked after a few weeks of FB’ing: Using fewer clicks, we post + see quick riffs, substantive comments, news links or 1-line acknowledgments that we’d *never* send or get via email (more time-consuming, too intrusive). No addressing, no subject line, no deleting from ‘Sent’ folder.
–> Sanity keys: Skip or minimize photos-posting, videos, games, list-making fads (FB version of chain letter).
–> Value: It’s like picking up in mid-conversation when you see a biz, social or family FB’er. You each know answer to Q. #1: What’s new?/What’cha been doing?
One thing that has not been mentioned so far is that you have controls on all of the social media sites. FB, for example has tons of different privacy settings–you can even filter which contacts see which comments. So you can block professional contacts from seeing what all those “people from the past” post. I have profiles on Twitter, FB, Linkedin and MySpace and use them in the order they are listed–the MySpace profile is so I can check on my teenage childrens’ profiles and see what they are up to and I very rarely put anything on it. Many people use the different sites for different purposes: Twitter for both professional and personal and a much looser network where you will connect with people you don’t really know, Linkedin as a purely professional tool but one mainly for people you have met or worked with or who at least know the same people you know, FB for both as it has those handy controls.
Speaking as someone from a fairly small town with a very limited network, these sites are all useful for me. To keep the Time Suck Factor under control, I just set limits for myself. I only check Twitter when taking a short break or eating lunch, FB is for non-work hours and then in about 10-15 minute intervals, Linkedin once per week for 10-15 minutes, and MySpace maybe once a month.
One thing about Twitter that is really cool is that you can “follow” people you admire. Fro instance I follow Mike Stelzner, and when he has a new blog post, I usually access it through the link he posts on Twitter. And, Mike returned the follow which both gave me a little ego-boost and access to an experienced writer who would likely answer a question if I asked him one.
No doubt you can be successful without ever using any sort of social media but it is here to stay, so why not use it for whatever its worth and “meet” some people along the way? But again, that is the perspective of someone very new to this business who doesn’t have much of a network of live people I can pick up the phone and call for advice.
I love LinkedIn. I have the free account and spend about an hour a week on it, mostly sifting through the connections of my connections. That’s brought me two new clients and both have hired me for multiple projects, so it’s a great use of my time. I also include a link to my LinkedIn profile when I’m prospecting via email. It allows people to get a better sense of who I am–of course I also include a link to my website. But I think seeing who my connections are perhaps helps relieve some of the anxiety they may feel about hiring someone they’ve never met. The people who respond to my email solicitations often mention that they’ve looked at my LinkedIn profile, so I know that it works for me.
I have a Facebook account because my friends wore me down, but I rarely use it, and then just for very limited personal stuff. Perhaps this is a generational thing, but I don’t want my personal photos, descriptions of my social life or family activities or dog training challenges on a site where business contacts can see them. I’m going to sound prissy and rigid, and I’m SO not, but that stuff is personal and not appropriate for business relationships, in my opinion.
I’m really trying to understand how I can use Twitter. I joined only a couple of weeks ago and started following people who either work with the same group of clients or do similar sorts of work. Mike Stelzner is one of the people I follow. He and several of the others I follow post useful, relevant links, and so I learn from the experience of following them. But I’ve already had to “unfollow” a person who is well-respected in my industry because she posted her random thoughts and activities constantly–I mean, literally, every five or ten minutes she put up a new post. I now am questioning how this woman earned the excellent reputation she has, and wonder whether her excessive tweeting about nonsense won’t harm her reputation. But again, maybe I’m just getting old. Too many people I respect are high on Twitter for me to dismiss it; I’ve decided I’ll spend an hour or so every day reading about it and working with it for a month. If I haven’t found a way to make it useful to me for business purposes by then, it will go the way of my Facebook account-not something I’ll spend time on.
Jill
Sorry-I misstated something above. The public LinkedIn profile doesn’t allow people to view connections, so I guess whatever benefit people I’m cold-emailing are gleaning from reviewing my profile comes from looking at the background info, etc.
Jill
We must be nearing the Apocalypse, because I actually signed up on Twitter.
I’m having fun, I’ve made some interesting connections, I’ve followed some forwarded links that have generated more connections. As far as cash — well, I think I’ve been on it about two weeks, so I haven’t seen cash in connection to the freelancing — but it’s certainly helped me think of some things in new ways, and I created some proposals/pitches based on information gleaned via Twitter that I might not have otherwise stumbled across, so we’ll see.
It bumped up the fiction sales. That’s a definite. That cash will show up in the next round of royalty statements. And increased the blog traffic for Ink in My Coffee.
I found if I spend a few minutes on it several times a day, it’s not a time suck, and I’m careful who to follow — dropped a few because I got too many tweets that were, in my opinion, the equivalent of spam email, so buh-bye. If I wait to long and there are too many tweets to read, it becomes a time suck, so short check-ins wind up utilizing the time better (I actually tracked this over a 3 day period because I was curious).
I respond to tweets if I have something to say, and I tweet if I have something to say, not with just daily details unless there’s a (short) amusing/satirical comment on it.
I only do it as part of my workday at the desk, not via my mobile phone.
I don’t use LinkedIn — had joined ages ago, don’t remember my password, didn’t like it, should probably try it again, but haven’t.
I don’t do FaceBook at all. Since I publish under multiple names and have a strict “no photographs” policy, and I can’t use the pseudonyms, it’s useless for me.
I have a couple of MySpace pages — a main Devon Ellington page, one for the Jain Lazarus Adventures, and I’m designing one for the pseudonym under which the YA horse racing mystery will release this summer. Again, I’ve found it more helpful in the fiction sales/promotion/interviews/reviews than in the commercial writing.
Just my experience thus far.
I assumed I’d hate Twitter and quit in two days, but I’m actually finding it useful.
Peter:
As a “baby writer,” social media is very attractive to me for one important reason: all it costs is time, which I have in abundance.
Does it make sense for others? Only one way to find out – try it, measure it, and make a data-driven decision. You know, like all the other marketing methods one might choose to employ.
PB,
I can attribute the social media sites to over 50% of my income last year…and an even higher percentage this year.
My phone (for outgoing marketing calls) is starting to gather dust.
I equate the social media to attending a giant seminar…where you can actually control the audience in attendance, and depending on what sites you decide to use, develop VERY profitable relationships.
Business is about people, it always has been, it always will be. The social media allows you to tap the Internet for all it’s worth in that respect.
An instant way to reach your market without hype…group together with like-minded individuals…and capitalize on a mutually beneficial level.
I love it. 🙂
Joseph Ratliff
Here’s a discussion about LinkedIn vs. FaceBook:
https://toughsledding.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/linkedin-and-lame-begin-with-l-coincidence/#more-2164
I am using Twitter because I find the other sites such as MySpace way too time-consuming. Twitter also has the virtual water-cooler effect which is pretty cool when one is isolated day in and day out.
One tool that I appreciate is the ability to automatically post a link to my blog posts. I’d certainly like to see that from you. I don’t enjoy feed readers but when the links are delivered to my Twitter stream I often come look. I’ve found that as I interact more with the Twitter community I get more readers. This is a Good Thing. I’d certainly like to receive your blog posts that way.
Thanks Linda,
Good stuff! Hadn’t thought of that angle (not surprisingly, since, up till now, I haven’t given a lot of thought to social media in general, though, yes, a blog is social media…). But, obviously many (like me) are coming to realize is that social media can have wildly different applications depending on one’s circumstances. For someone like me, who might be able to attract a decent following, using Twitter to be able to send out notices of blog posts, new book/product releases, upcoming events, etc., makes it infinitely more useful. It then becomes a tool which, in fact, bears almost no resemblance to the random-neural-firings-stream-of-consciousness vibe Twitter seems to have originated as… The Tool vs. The Toy.
PB
Hi Peter,
I’m not sure it’s as clear-cut as tool vs. toy, at least not on Twitter. If you use it as a tool only you’ll come across as a self-promoter, where it’s one-sided and well, frankly, boring. I’m learning that Twitter is not really a place to reel in business, but it’s useful for creating visibility and yes, of course, let your posts get a higher readership. I also find that there are lots of interesting links being bandied around so it’s like an ongoing, fast-speed education and a way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on.
But the real value is in “meeting” people you’d never otherwise meet, the exposure your name/brand gets just by taking part, and in the very give and take. Your fame/expertise is certainly an advantage, but you’ll only attract a large following if you put something into it. And quite ordinary people can, and do, attract a large following by doing the same and being open to their readers. You can also get instant feedback and answers to questions.
It’s quite a wacky, unique environment. I didn’t think I’d enjoy Twitter, but I do in a way that I don’t enjoy forums and classic social media sites, and it’s (with care) much less time-consuming.