More than reporting on what you had for lunch.

A recent article in the Financial Times quotes findings from a report by phone operator O2 summed up in the title “Small Businesses find big value in Twitter”.

The part that stuck out for me;
According to O2’s survey, 16 per cent said they had saved more than £5,000 on marketing and recruitment costs, while almost a third had saved more than £1,000 since joining Twitter.

These are not unsubstantial sums for a small business. It will be interesting to see further reports that put a dollar value to Twitter activities, whilst this one refers to marketing and hiring costs I think a far larger figure would be that of referral value passed through Twitter. I have already passed three or four business referrals through Twitter that have converted into business for the parties involved and find giving referrals an easy way to add value to your network.

(NB – the full article is behind a free registration page)

It’s SOCIAL media, not just media.

Recently I posted about how the PM and the Opposition Leader were Twittering. This morning Malcolm Turnbull posted this:

I thought that was kind of interesting so within minutes I had replied:

And that, my friends, is where the conversation ended.

Funny, but I thought Opposition leaders were always looking for a chance to get their message out?
Here is a prime opportunity to have a minor bit of engagement (which I would have retweeted) and Malcolm did not reply.

The silence is surprising, take at look at Mr Turnbulls tweet stream and you can see that he generally does seem to engage well, with replies to many people…in fact that is the vast majority of what he tweets. Has it become too much? Are his staffers exhausted with pretending to be him? Were there too many trolls?

It will be interesting to see over time how politicians adjust to the use of Social Media – it’s not a broadcast channel, that gets tired very quickly. It is a chance to engage, but that means eating into what are undoubtedly busy days. Should we expect the level of access to our politicians that these tools can give?

I don’t know, but to not even have a staffer be able to shoot back something as simple as ‘The Economy’ (etc) indicates a lack of awareness of the new reality of the media you are playing in.

It’s also just polite.

UPDATE: Malcolm replied AND included link to the speech – I will actually now read it.

Get outta my face(book)!

One thing I love about Twitter is the stuff that people share. Ben Watson posted a link this morning to this article from Advertising Age.

In it Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at P&G (wow how wide must his business card be to hold THAT title) discusses the relationship between advertisers and social networks.
He is of the opinion that Advertisers really don’t belong within social networks but there is promise for them in social network applications.

“I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser,” he said. “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”

Along with that he thinks that consumer generated media should not be treated as a Media space for advertisers:
“Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.”

Here is what really stuck out for me:
“They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations”.

And I agree with him wholeheartedly – broadcasting a message into peoples ‘private’ spaces is possibly the most idiotic way to try and generate sales. I manage to pretty well ignore all the ads I see in Facebook but I have noticed on several occasions that even though my status says ‘married’ I still get singles adverts placed in front of me (perhaps they need to refine the status so you can say ‘happily married’) and lately it has started to annoy me. Not only have you entered my space, you’re not even targeting me properly – it feels spammy.

Later in the article he notes that applications hold promise as a vehicle for advertisers.

What this highlights for me is the divide between the broadcast and publishing/Social Media mentality.

The first approach, ads in networks, is all about ‘me me me me me me me me me me’ – and no-one cares.

The second approach, building apps, is about providing something of use to your market, something they can choose to interact with if it does something for them….adding value.

The article is an interesting read, and I see already there is a lot of commentary going on in the blog-o-sphere.

I’ll chat to Kev about it.

Our PM Kevin Rudd is on Twitter.
As is the leader of the opposition Malcom Turnbull

The PM’s page is restrained whilst Mr Turnbull’s is a riot of pics, not unlike a Myspace profile. Neither are prolific tweeters at this stage.

How much of a cue are they taking from the Obama Campaign and the way they engaged with younger voters through social media? The PM was active online in the last election campaign, and both parties are stepping it up a notch now.

Mr Turnbull seems to be responding to a number of tweets directed to him whilst the PM, at this stage, is using it more as a broadcast tool. The PM however does instantly follow you back, and has a direct message channel available.

Now I certainly don’t think the PM is sitting at his laptop watching the DM’s roll in, but someone is. Unlike sending snail mail which feels as though it would merely bounce from desk to desk somewhere in Canberra, with the DM option you do feel like you have a more tangible connection to the PM’s office. This is a strangely exciting feeling…I could have a chat with Kev (well, one of Kevs staffers).

Does it get much more Aussie than this? The common bloke can jump on-line and get the ear of the PM, or the leader of The Opposition.
I love the internet.