New Twitter App: Bufferapp.com - UPDATED

I recently blogged about my new BFF and now that we have been together for a month, I thought I would update you on how things are going.

I'm still in love. I was at a conference on Thursday where the topic was social media. I was singing bufferapp's praises up and down the hallway -- even in the restroom during a break -- where I had a fairly large crowd. My apologies to all of the women who were trying to get to the sink but we had SERIOUS business to discuss. :-)

My presence on Twitter has increased just over 30% in my first month and I cannot wait to see what the second month brings. Oh, I've lost a few here and there but the number of new followers has offset that easily.

I have used HootSuite for a long time and will continue to do so to reach my Facebook, LinkedIn and other accounts. The ease of bufferapp to schedule tweets is what sucked me in. In the words of Ron Popeil, "Set it and forget it."

Do you have a favorite app that makes your social media efforts effortless?

Thinking of Jumping Into Social Media? Five Things You Need to Think About

Everyone is jumping on the social media bandwagon and then finding out there is a lot to digest. Before you go biting off more than you can chew, here are some things to consider:

1. What do you want to accomplish? Determine why you want to utilize social media and whether it is just conversational or marketing a service or product.

2. Define your goals and determine how you will measure success. One of the most debated topics with regard to social media is how to measure ROI. One company might wish to raise their Google search ranking while another might measure their success by the number of fans/friends/followers they have.

3. Who is in charge? Is it the executive? Staffer? Marketing Department? Intern? Someone needs to head the project and be responsible for the success (or failure). You must have a commitment to make it a priority and become as much a part of your company’s culture as checking email.

4. Meet criticisms head-on. You should deal with any non-positive comments in an open and friendly manner. If you want to maintain your integrity within the community you are building, do not delete these less-than-flattering comments or pretend they do not exist. Simply ask the person who posted the negative comment how you can help them and make sure they are helped.

5. Does your company have trade secrets? Pharmaceutical reps can be fired if they discuss products or any aspect of their jobs on social media sites. Develop a social media policy to deal with these issues.

Once these items have been discussed, you can begin to formulate a more comprehensive plan of action and you will be one step ahead of the competition.

Outsourcing Your Social Media

I recently read an article on the Mashable website: Should You Outsource Your Social Media Efforts?

This article really hit home as these are the questions I have been asking during the first meeting with my potential clients. I am amazed at the number of companies that still think they should be actively engaging in social media because everyone else is doing it. Social media is more about strategy and time.

Here's the sales pitch -- if you need help, call us. We are more than happy to consult with you to increase your social media visibility, as well as develop a strategy that best fits your market.

Is There Such a Thing as a Social Media Expert?

I attended a seminar last week about social media. I've attended what seems like 1,000's of these over the past year and usually take away one or two juicy tidbits of information.

Let's talk about the word 'EXPERT.'

Early in my social media education, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal which stated that there was no such thing as a social media expert. The logic was that social media is changing so rapidly that not one person could claim to be an expert and know EVERYTHING there is to know about social media.

I have called myself a social media STRATEGIST as I felt that better defined my skill set.

The speaker in last week's session made a point of stating that you should use the keywords that your potential customers and competitors would be looking for. A quick search on Google results in 2x the number of listings for social media expert as there is for social media strategist.

The definition of expert:

1. A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject.
2. A person who has extensive skill or knowledge in a particular field.

I guess that applies. I am a social media expert.

Are you an expert at something that has come as a complete surprise?

New Twitter App: Bufferapp.com

Meet my new boyfriend, Buffer. Once you get to know him, you will love him too. I promise.

This is from the Buffer website:

Buffer makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule tweets. Work out all your tweets at one point in time during the day. Then fill up your Buffer with your tweets and Buffer schedules them for you. Simply keep that Buffer topped up and you will then be tweeting consistently all day round, all week long.

The basic account is free which allows you to have up to 10 tweets in your buffer to a maximum of 10 tweets per day. It also has an easy to understand analytic tab to see when you get the most reads, retweets and click throughs.

I have increased my number of Twitter followers about 7% since meeting Buffer a little over a week ago. I have mine set for three each day with one set for 1:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. I get the most response to the 1:30 a.m. tweets. Who would have thought that?

I'm anxious to hear if someone else loves Buffer as much as I do. Let me know.

How to Keep Up With it All

I'm feeling just a little overwhelmed at the moment. There is so much technology being thrown at us on a daily basis that I cannot seem to ever get caught up. It seems that just as I grasp the concept of one little small piece of the pie, someone cuts another piece which throws everything off balance.

Some things that I do to try to keep up:

Read White Papers/Articles: Print or put them on an iPad or tablet so that I can read them in my downtime (not that I really have any of that). Now that I have access to a tablet, I will probably stop printing and killing trees but I still find it useful to have that piece of paper and a yellow highlighter.

Tech Sites: I follow a lot of techies on Facebook and Twitter. Let them keep up with it. I just want to be the sponge to absorb their knowledge.

Weed Out the Static: Figure out what's important to me, my business and my clients' businesses. I'm sure it's important but is it important right now? I saw an article this morning on mistakes that small businesses make when designing their websites. I have at least four clients who are working on their websites right now! They needed that information, not information on something new with Google Adwords -- at least not right now.

What are ways you utilize to keep up with this ever-changing techno world we live in today?

Notes from the Science of Timing Webinar I Attended This Week

Earlier this week, I was able to hear the audio portion of a webinar entitled "The Science of Timing" with Dan Zarrella who calls himself a Social Media Scientist. He's full of numbers, formulas, hard facts and a few theories. Sounds like a scientist to me. He talked a lot about contra-competitive timing for marketing. In other words, sending updates when others are not sending updates.

Here are a few of my notes. All times in notes are EST.
 

Fast facts

• More men are on social media sites in the evening.
• It is okay to tie your blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts together as long as you are not repeating everything. Add some original content to each outlet.
• Marketing events on Twitter should start happening two weeks out.

Twitter

• Most re-tweets happen during the day.
• If you post something to Twitter late in the day (2-5pm), it will be more likely to be re-tweeted. Also posts made late in the week have a better chance of being re-tweeted.
• Click-thru rates are stable throughout the week, including weekends. Monday and Thursday have the lowest click-thru rates.
• Click-thrus spike between 11am and 5pm.
• Do not fear that you are sending too many tweets. Tweet more!
• Tweet links to other sites more often than to your own site.
• Tool: tweetwhen.com to analyze your retweets

Facebook

• Don’t crowd your content.
• More articles are shared on Facebook on the weekends.
• 12am – 3am are the better times for Facebook postings.
• Post links to your site more often than other sites.
• Facebook is better for direct marketing.
• There is very little difference for marketing on Facebook between B2B and B2C.

Email

• Emails are read mostly in the mornings.
• Most emails are opened 5am – 8am
• Abuse/spam reports are highest on weekends.
• Open rates are higher on the weekends.
• Higher click-thru rates on weekends because of contra-competitive timing.
• Frequency – Know your audience.
• If you are sending quality, informative emails, once a week is good.
• Put the unsubscribe button right at the top of the page. Do not be afraid of unsubscribers. They help you keep your list up-to-date. Why would you want to market to someone who doesn’t care about your product/company?
• Send more emails! The more emails you send the lower your unsubscribe rates.

Blogs

• Most blogs are read in the morning between 10-11am
• Blogs have the most page views on Mondays, least amount of views on the weekends.
• More blogs are shared on Facebook on the weekends.
• More comments to blogs are made on the weekends.
• If you are blogging so others will share a link to your blog, then you should publish on Monday and Thursday.
• Blogs posted between 6-7am get the most links.
• The more frequently you blog, the better your stats