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So, why are Chase and Living Social asking small businesses to sacrifice these valuable small business customers?  It’s a simple case of greed and PR.  Small businesses don’t have access to social media and PR experts to advise them on business strategies, but obviously Chase and Living Social do.  In this contest, they are the winners.

We know fans are earned.  A ‘like’ is seen as vote of support.  But, in a world of noisy social media where loyalty is scarce, a fan should not be asked to do anything.  People ‘like’ pages to show support, but they are not committing to anything more.  Already most businesses with fan pages are seeing only 5-20% of their fans reached when they post due to Facebook’s new settings.  The goal is to keep fans engaged and rewarded.  So, what happens when a company starts asking fans for favors rather than providing them with resources, providing perks and offering entertainment in exchange for their loyalty?  They leave.  They unsubscribe, hide or unlike a page all together.

According to Beverly Kennedy, general manager for Chase Ink, the Mission: Small Business contest was designed to help small businesses.  In an article on Forbes.com, she states “As part of an ongoing commitment to small businesses, Chase has partnered with LivingSocial to launch Mission: Small Business, a new grant competition offering up to $3 million to small businesses nationwide.  The program aims to find the most inspiring small businesses and provide them with capital, innovative marketing resources and financial advice to help grow their business and make a positive impact within their communities.”  She further explains how it works, “Small business owners are encouraged to rally their customers and fans to vote for their business. Businesses must receive 250 votes to be eligible for a grant.”

On this last day of the contest, Let’s take a closer look at that process.

1. Businesses register, providing their contact information through an online application.  (Small businesses, get ready for the follow-up marketing about addressing your banking needs and participating in Living Social deals – it’s right in the “AGREEMENT TO PROGRAM WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF USE”).
2. The small businesses start trying to “rally their customers and fans to vote”.  (How?  They ask and beg through email, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and ever other method they can find – also known as spamming customers).
3. If a fan or customer decides to support a business, the FAN must use their Facebook account to vote, allowing permission (and access) to Chase and Living Social.  (So, what’s in it for me for supporting you?  More spam.)
4. If the small business gets 250 or more votes, then they are ELIGIBLE. (No guarantees!)

Although it is difficult to get an exact count of the small businesses partcipting, looking at the pages for Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Texas, I can see over 37,000 small business entries.  That means at least 50,000 small businesses across the US have signed up.  That also explains why my Facebook wall has looked like this for weeks:

The small businesses aren’t accessing the social media experts, but Chase does.  So far, they’ve scored big:

1. At least 50,000 new contacts for their marketing database  I’ve seen estimates of 65,000
2. With each of the small companies rallying for votes, they are receiving an avalanche of impressions.  Note at the top of the graphic, Chase and Living Social are shared, not the logo of the small businesses.  Even if every contestant only shared with the 250 people required to vote for them , that’s 12.5 million impressions!
3. If the businesses average 250 votes each (some have 0, others have way over the amount needed), that’s 12.5 million Facebook accounts they have accessed.
4. Press GALORE!  Forbes and Wall Street Journal and local publishers seeking stories about small business have jumped all over this.  Who looks like a hero here?

Even if Chase and Living Social paid $1M to run this campaign, they received all that publicity for less than $4M.  You can’t buy marketing like that.  Oh, wait, they just did.

So, Chase and Living Social did great, how about the businesses?  Those with the 250 votes are eligible for one of 12 $250k grants.  That’s a fantastic pay-off for the winners.  But 12/50,000 means a 1 in 4167 chance of winning.  I’ve seen entrepreneurs spending a huge amount of effort on this and I’ve heard consumers complain about the constant requests for votes.  Time has been their main investment.  But, ultimately, it’s the asking fans and customers for favors that will prove to be the real cost.

Ironically, Chase and Living Social are getting the pats on the back for supporting small business.  But, I just don’t see how this contest has provided support, except to the 12 who ulitamtely win.  What about the other 49,988?

Just yesterday, one of my favorite authors, Seth Godin wrote, “The road to the bottom is paved with good intentions, or at the very least, clever rationalizations.”  Perhaps Chase and LivingSocial thought they were helping; but, my guess is that the big company won by hiring the pricey media consultants to show them how to maximize the contest deliverables: impressions, clicks, PR, shares, permissions, etc.

Likewise, the small businesses made rationalizations too.  They figured it was worth the risk for that chance at big success.  Many will do it again.  This wasn’t the first contest of the sort.  More than 4,000 business owners recently vied for one spot on a Walmart shelf.  Prior to that, we were all bombarded by requests to vote for Mom Business Owners in a Startup Nation contest where there wasn’t even a real prize.

It’s time for large companies to stop preying on small businesses and individuals with these so-called contests that destroy valuable relationships between small businesses and their fans.  Instead, they should be creating meaningful resources for them.  What happened to providing loans to small businesses?  If a business can get 250 votes, shouldn’t they at least be able to get a loan?

Battle of Brands and Bloggers

We know the value of the exposure.  What we don’t know is the true effectiveness of a bloggers ability to create that exposure.  Blog networks and businesses ask for numbers – FB fans, Twitter followers, blog followers, unique hits, etc.  Let’s just skip the whole argument about gaming those numbers (you know, buying 500 FB fans for $5 on fiverr.com, using auto-add software to get Twitter followers, or participating in hops and links that create one time visits in exchange for contest entries), and talk about real reach.  Do followers seek out your opinions and thoughts?  Or have you trained them that you will tell them about a product you tried (for free) and harass or seduce them into liking a fan page to enter a contest?  What blogs do you read?  Are you there for contests or for information?

Traditional media has been tracking true reach for years.  Every show on TV knows its ratings and demographics.  But, if a show has 5 million viewers during prime time, will your commercial be seen by 5 million people if played during that show?  Of course not.  We tune out, fast-forward or watch it through commercial-free streams.  Advertisers pay for the commercial spots based on how many views they think they will actually get, not how many viewers the show has.  If a station played only commercials and occasional content, what would those numbers look like?

Quality and Strategy for Bloggers

With the rise of DVRs, advertisers sought new ways to get their messages across. Sometimes they put those annoying graphics or crawls right across the bottom of the screen.  But, more and more, they are transitioning to strategic product placement.  Done properly, the advertisers study markets and demographics to find the right shows, air times and actors to interact with products.  The soda cans are turned perfectly towards the camera, the fast food company’s sign is lit up like a banner above the actor’s head, the products name is mentioned in context with the script.  Now you’ve reached the 5 million viewers.

Bloggers have this same ability.  They can choose to be the show or the commercial.  Businesses have trained them to be the commercials.  Now that the old model isn’t working well, they don’t want to pay the bloggers much.  A few “bad” bloggers have given the good ones a bad name by begging for product, writing sloppy posts (or not posting at all), and asking for pay despite a complete lack of audience.

But, the businesses still need the exposure.  Bloggers need to see this as an opportunity.  Chances are, blogs were started because moms had something to say or share.  Then the freebies came, then the competition for statistics to get the products of choice.  This is your chance to go back to that original purpose – write about the things moms care about, the subjects that inspire or frustrate you.  Those posts will bring a true audience to you.  Fans will look for your wisdom rather than dodge your blatant advertisements.  And, your “value” will increase.

I truly hope to see more content and quality of writing and thoughts.  Personally, I don’t mind a little strategic product placement if the “show” is good.

Math for Business Owners  (don’t worry I did it for you)

As if business owners don’t struggle enough trying to figure out manufacturing costs, margins and how to factor salaries for themselves into their business plans, now they have to figure out if they are being scammed by social media and advertising companies that use “fuzzy math”.

I received an email this week from a business owner who recently signed up for a software service for connecting with bloggers. She asked if their numbers meant it was a good investment. I don’t have a lot of faith in numbers from bloggers in general – not because the bloggers lie (well, some do), but the numbers are often misleading because they are one dimension of a multi-dimensional equation. But, I was surprised at how blatantly misleading these numbers were. Here’s what the email said:

“…a quick update on the current reach of our Bloggers. Check this out!

Total Blog followers: 1,117,461
Total Twitter Followers: 931,908
Total Facebook Fans: 956,380
# Unique Monthly Hits: 2,907,042

And these numbers are growing EVERYDAY!”

Over one million blog followers? I didn’t know there were a million people who follow mom blogs – well, maybe a celebrity mom blog. So I asked who the bloggers were and was given a list of the top bloggers.  Most names were familiar to me and I’d worked with a majority of them. From what I’ve seen in working with them over the past year, only a couple (if any) have a true following over 10,000 followers.

I realize that’s not what the email actually claimed, but it is important to the equation. You see, mom bloggers are very connected to other mom bloggers. Newer bloggers follow the more experienced ones. They do contests together that result in shared audiences. They tell one another about what blogger networks they like and don’t like and where the review opportunities are. The result is that there is tremendous overlap in audience.

Here’s an analogy. Picture a high school where most of the kids have between 20-100 friends. A few popular kids have over 1000 friends. I walk into a classroom and ask each student, “how many friends do you have at this school?” I add the numbers up and it comes out to 4000. The class has 35 students. The school has 1600 students. When you look at it this way, it’s easy to see that the reason the total number exceeds the school population is the fact that most of the students had some of the same friends. It’s overlap.

The same thing happens within a community of bloggers. Your true reach is generally just slightly more than the one member with the largest reach. In the example of the classroom, it’s the one popular kid with 1200 friends. If you add a few other students from outside that class, their friends will make up the other 400 (for the total of 1600 students at the school). In the mom blogger world, the rules are the same. Some bloggers have larger sets of friends/followers. One way to increase the total reach is to step outside of the classroom or network to recruit separate groups. That puts you in different social circles.

The bottom line is that influence isn’t reached by following fuzzy math. You need to think through the process and find someone you trust to help you – another business owner or a blogger you have seen results from. They can recommend other bloggers and ways to reach different social circles. But, don’t play the numbers game. When it comes to influence, quality wins over quantity.

If businesses take the time to understand that marketing is not as simple as a few numbers, they will see which ones are truly valuable to their brands.  And, when that happens, “commercials” will decrease and content will improve and be the perfect background for strategic product placement that reaches a REAL audience.

The reality is that most mom blogs are not Journalists or High-Traffic blogs.  Instead, they fall into one of these categories or a combination of two or more:

- Personal blogs – family photos, updates on happenings for friends and family to access

- Review blogs – product reviews from spaghetti sauce to coffee makers to cars

- Sweeps blogs – sometimes in conjunction with Reviews, these focus on giveaways

- Coupon/frugal blogs – shared information and links about deals and coupons

- Content blogs – similar to journalists, these blogs have well-written content and a specific focus

The success of some of the early “mom bloggers” (in terms of culture, traffic/reach and income), spurred millions of other moms into blogging.  Some just wanted a place to share and connect with other moms about the trials of motherhood.  Others wanted the swag – the free products in exchange for reviews.  A few others wanted the opportunity to turn a blog into a career.  It works for some for awhile, but now – with literally millions of blogs out there – the power of the individual blogger has diminished, while the overall value of the community has increased.  In 2010 and 2011, companies big and small decided they needed to tap into the mom blogger marketing machine.  It was seen as affordable and easy; you send out some products and get great “exposure” and improved SEO.

But that’s where the problem began.  Suddenly there was a frenzy of blogger networks, and hundreds of bloggers vying for the free products to be reviewed.  The companies and PR agencies needed to select the best, so they did what was easiest – they required traffic stats to judge the blogs.  After all, marketing classes taught us measurability was important, right?  Suddenly, bloggers needed to have 30,000 “uniques” per month to qualify for this or that opportunity.  For moms who became bloggers in the past couple of year, those are tough numbers to achieve.  But, moms are resourceful.  They formed ways to increase their traffic – giveaway trains, blog hops, link shares, automated click programs, and a variety of “I follow you, you follow me” strategies.  Then came the coupon craze.  A bunch of moms discovered they could share their passion for deals and increase traffic to their blog by posting coupons.

I liken this evolution to the concept of standardized test in public schools.  If we incentivize teachers to get their students to score high on tests, teachers focus on teaching the test, not the subject matter.  Similarly, if we tell a blogger her value is based on her traffic or “uniques”, she may start focusing on that rather than the original purpose for starting her blog – sharing advice, creating community, posting honest reviews, etc.  That’s how corporations (through selecting blogs based on rank) are killing mom bloggers.

Today there are a variety of genres of “mom blogs”, but they are commonly categorized as one.  That was a good thing when companies believed that tapping into mom blogs for marketing was a good idea.  But, more and more, I hear companies say they no longer want to do it because, “Mom blogs don’t work.”  OUCH!  ALL mom blogs?  Throughout 2011 I did my own tracking of promotions with mom bloggers.  I provided the bloggers coded links so I could track traffic, checked searches after promotions, calculated hits to campaign pages, and gathered feedback from the companies who had sought out the bloggers.  I made a few discoveries:

1)      In general, a blog post does not lead to any immediate sales of a product.  That shouldn’t be a problem except that some marketers expect an instant spike in sales.  But, let’s look at it from a consumer perspective.  She follows a blog intermittently and sees a review of a vacuum cleaner.  It’s honest and well-written and even a little entertaining.  But, she has a vacuum cleaner.  She’s not going to run out and buy a new one tomorrow.  But, several months for now, she may be in the market for one, searches for reviews of certain brands, and stumbles on that post.  That’s when it influences her – at the point of decision making.  Blog posts live on well past the marketing campaign.  Good reviews with original content will show up in search results.

2)      Brands and companies don’t measure results of their campaigns accurately.  If they did, they’d see that a post about a new $129 coffee machine on a Coupon/frugal blog does not generate traffic to the product site, even if the blog has 100,000 uniques per month.  This is called reaching your target market.  Someone looking to double coupons on canned goods is generally NOT (with a few exceptions) in the market for a fancy coffee maker.  However, if a company needs to spread the word about a coupon, deal or promotion, these bloggers can do it.

3)      Small companies do go visit the bloggers’ sites – after they arrange the review.  What they discover is that they selected a blogger based on traffic numbers, not on market demographics.  They complain the blogs are ugly, generic, or poorly written.  I blame this on the point about studying for standardized tests.  Bloggers are after quantity, not quality because that’s what they are judged on.  Companies need to view the blogs before sending the items for review to see if it is a fit.

4)      Those Journalist and High-Traffic blogs look very different than the ones who appear on all the PR-friendly lists.  Bloggers seeking product for review should spend a little time analyzing what makes those big blogs successful (hint: less clutter, decent graphics, real content).  You don’t have to “be like them” in order to learn from them.  Companies need to realize those “big” blogs are bombarded with review opportunities.  Don’t expect them to drop eveyything, write a post, and promote your $10 product for free.

5)      Facebook rules and formulas for presenting content in feeds have impacted the effectiveness of bloggers.  It’s become easy to unsubscribe, unfollow and generally tune-out.  With the constant stream of giveaways, the posts become background noise.  True influencers are rising above it.  Notice who they are.

6)      Most bloggers are followed by mainly only other bloggers.  I’ll get backlash from this, but I proved it last September when I organized over 100 reviews and giveaways on over 100 blogs.  It was the same people participating in all the giveaways.   The audience of 10 bloggers = the audience of the blogger with the largest reach.  In other words, 500x1100x1000x1000x500x1000x800x1000x200x1000 = 1100 (the reach of the biggest blog).

None of this is necessarily bad news.  However, it suggests that both bloggers and companies need to make some changes.

Bloggers, decide who you are and what you goals for your blog are.  In business, they say “dress for the position you want”.  In other words, if you want to be a Journalist blog, make your blog look like theirs – dump the buttons and banners and opt for strategic advertising.  If you want to be a High-Traffic review blog, set your site format to be like one.  Make it searchable by category.  If you enjoy couponing and frugal advice, be the best at it – don’t distract yourself with product reviews that don’t fit your market.  Readers will know you received the product in exchange for a review, so they won’t be interested in reading it.  Use your high traffic for sponsored posts and paid advertising.  On the other hand, do you like sharing honest reviews and tips on new products you’ve discovered?  Then stick with that.  Write quality reviews, double check your grammar and spelling, and use your own pictures of the products in use (unless instructed to use stock photos).  Make your site attractive like a pretty picture frame for the review.  Small companies love to point to pretty reviews of their products.  That will increase your traffic and get you more review opportunities.

Companies seeking bloggers, look past the traffic numbers.  Read the blogs.  What do they post?  How sincere are the reviews?  Are the other posts just cut and paste content from product pages?  Does the blogger put more time into collecting badges, links and memberships than focusing on content?  Some of the highest traffic “mom blogs” suffer from all those inadequacies.  On the other hand, note the ones that appeal to you.  If you’d read it, would your customers?  That’s what counts.

Benefits of a social media campaign include general awareness, positive branding, customer acquisition, increased site traffic, improved SEO, and positive customer quotes for use in other marketing programs.

Although there is great potential for a well executed campaign, there is also a potential for pure loss.  A successful campaign requires strategic planning and execution of the why, what, who, when and how.

Why?
Why are you running a campaign?  Are you seeking exposure, recommendations or sales?  For example, is your product something that is bought for a specific occasion or only when needed?  If so, discovering how to reach those people at the time of need is more important in a campaign than just developing a positive brand image.  Positive reviews don’t result in instant sales.  On the other hand, do you have a product that many people would want if they simply knew it existed?  If that’s the case, your approach should be quick, captivating and far-reaching.  If you want instant sales, consider a short-term promotion tied to the campaign.  This could be a coupon code for your site or printable coupon for use in a store.

Write down your goals.  They may include objectives like:

• Reach 100,000 moms and make them aware of my product
• Get 1000 visitors to my site this month
• Get 200 new fans on Facebook
• Sell 500 specials
  •  

Be realistic in your goals.  If you work with 20 bloggers with 2000 followers each, you will not get 40,000 new customers.  You may have 40,000 people briefly see your product name.  A fraction of those will read the review, and a fraction of those will take interest in it.  Then, only a fraction of those will click a link or take action.

What?
The best way to increase all those fractions is to consider what you are offering.  Are you just posting an ad and having a blogger repeat it?  People generally don’t like ads.  PR agencies call this part of the campaign “the Pitch”.  Tell moms how they will benefit from using your product.  The goal is to find moms who like it and want to tell everyone why it is so great.

Some popular review blogs also host giveaways.  This part is about them, not you. They need to offer giveaways to keep their readers coming back.  If possible, offer two of your product – one for the blogger to review and one for her to offer as a giveaway (note: you ship to the winner, not the blogger).  Another possibility is to offer a coupon code, special bundled package, or other incentive that gives the blogger something of value to pass to her readers.

Write down the pitch.  What are you giving away and what can they offer their followers?

Consider the value to the blogger.  If you have a $5 product, is it worth their time to write an article and promote it?  A blogger who is just starting out or who has lower traffic may be more willing to do it for the cost of the product.  However, a blogger with 10,000 followers may want a fee for their time.  As a general rule, (coupon/review/giveaway) blogs with 1000 followers or less will write free reviews for low value products.  Bloggers with 1000 to 5000 followers generally want a combined value of $25 (value of item plus fee).  Bloggers with 10,000 or more followers can charge $50 for a meaningful review.  Prices also go up when the blog has a more engaged audience (personal interest, specialty, etc.).

Who?
There are many different kinds of blogs that are geared towards moms.  They range from coupons and deal sites, to reviews and giveaways, to and personal diaries and special interest sites.  Which is best for your product?  Coupon and giveaways sites have high traffic and are heavily promoted with Twitter and Facebook, but their audiences may be looking for deals, not higher value items.  Special interest sites have fewer reviews, but they are typically more focused and read by faithful followers of the blogger.  Some bloggers charge, some don’t.  You don’t always get what you pay for.  There are at least 3 components to examine when selecting a blogger to work with:

• Type of blog (Does your product fit with what you see when you visit?)
• Traffic (How many followers do they have on their blog, Facebook, and Twitter?)
• The blogger (Do they want/like your product?  You want a sincere review.)

Write down your requirements.  What kind of blogger are you looking for?  What kinds of blogs would YOUR potential customers read?  Information can include number of followers, whether the bloggers has children of a certain age, what kind of blog they run, etc.

Blogs have taken the place of traditional small publications.  PR agencies would pitch these publications hoping for an article.  Just because moms are bloggers, not traditional journalists, does not mean they are not as effective.  They can reach the same size audiences.  In addition, online links make them one step closer to a sale than a print article or advertisement.

When?
What’s your timing for your campaign?  Are you using it to strengthen a PR campaign or promote a new product launch?  Give bloggers a couple weeks from the time they receive your product until they post the review.  Present your expectations to the blogger about when you’d like the review posted.

Write down a timeline for your campaign.  It starts with developing strategy, writing the pitch and selecting the bloggers.  Next, determine when product will ship and be received, when the reviews will be written and when you will follow up and promote the reviews.

Be sure to use the reviews that are written.  Plan to share them through social media and on your website.  Combined with articles in major publications, they can be a powerful tool in promoting your business.

How?
How is this all going to happen?  Planning is required.  The better you plan, the easier it will go and the better the results will be.  Things to consider include: how the bloggers will be selected, how communications will be managed, when shipping will occur, how questions from bloggers will be answered and how you will track which bloggers fulfilled their part.  You can keep a spreadsheet of all steps and contact information to help manage the process.  It’s very similar to managing participation in a tradeshow or sending a direct mail piece.

Write down the steps and communication points.  Be sure to include who does what.

Running a blog campaign can be a lot of work.  Not managing it can result in shipping a lot of free product and getting no results.  But, managing it well can result in huge exposure to new potential customers and even increased sales in the short term.  Look at bloggers as messengers and journalists, not as your sales team.  You still need to do your part, but they can make it much easier.

Summary
Blog campaigns have some of the highest ROI (Return on Investment) for marketing.  Compared to print ads, online click ads, and tradeshows, they are inexpensive to execute.  They do take time, but consider it partnering with the bloggers who are also your customers.  Building a good relationship with them is like having a customer who loves to brag about you.

For those who just want steps, here are the highlights:

1. Make goals
2. Write a pitch
3. Select bloggers
4. Manage the timing and process

Although our highest value is in connecting you with the right bloggers, InstantQuest can manage entire campaigns.  Email us for a quote.

Form for planning.   IQ_Blog_Campaign

I explained in my previous post that Twitter is like millions of little radio stations that you can tune into or not.  I rarely have the radio on.  Do consumers in your target market tune in to you or any stations? Whether they do or not doesn’t matter much for my strategy.  The key to my strategy is in Twitter email notifications.

Most people leave the Twitter default settings to notify them of a new Follower and/or of a Direct Message (DM).  If a consumer has these settings, you can directly email them using Twitter, but you only get one shot and 140 characters to do it.  When people you follow decide to follow you back, you send a direct message as a thank you.  That direct message is your marketing opportunity to get them to your site.  Sophisticated Twitter users tend to know this strategy and may ignore you or consider it spamming. Because of that, I use a secondary account that is not my personal/business account.  Here’s how it works:

1. Set up a Twitter account for this purpose.  I recommend making it a person, not a business.  The website on the profile should be your company website.  The profile content should be interesting and thoughtful.  You will also need a separate email account for it in order to create it.

2. Send out a few tweets, follow a few people, make it real.

3. Download an auto tweet program (like I mentioned in my previous post) and add the account.

4. Set the account to follow your target market (based on keywords in their profiles or who they follow).  Use maximum daily settings.

5. Create an intriguing, fun or useful message to send as a “Thank You” DM.  Don’t sell, entice.  Include a link (shortened) to your site in case they want to click it from their email and not go to Twitter first.  For some things, coupon codes work well.  Try something like “Sssshhhhhh, here’s a coupon code only for my Twitter Followers -link-”.  Be as creative as you can.

6. Set the software to automatically send the thank you DM when someone follows.

7. Change your DM every week or so and watch your traffic analytics to see what messages resonate with your target market.

I started experimenting with this about 6 months ago.  I recruited moms and bloggers to fill my research and marketing panel using this method.  Once I had a panel, I used it to recruit clients.  I generated web traffic (with a low bounce rate) and picked up leads that turned to clients.  For clients, I used the DM, “Do you want to know what 100 moms think of your idea or product? -link-”

It’s not a “one size fits all” solution, but it’s cheap and doesn’t take much time.  Let me know how it works for you.

Yes, it's this simple to get followers.

Social media needs to be about strategy and measurable results. It’s difficult to track effectiveness of marketing campaigns, so maybe “Followers” is just a measurement to make us feel better about our efforts.  Everyone seeks out numbers and rankings.  I propose we use different number as measurements for true rank.  But first, let’s talk about how Twitter works and what Followers really are.

I LOVE Twitter as a business marketing tool. Unfortunately, only a very small fraction of businesses know how to use it effectively.  Twitter is like a swarm of micro radio stations.  Everyone broadcasts into thin air.  You don’t  have to be a follower to tune into someone’s station.  You just read that person’s “feed”.  Even if you have no Followers, you should broadcast; because, anyone may tune in at any time.  And, anyone can see your last few “tweets”.

So, what is a “follower” then?  It’s similar to bookmarking a web page or liking a page on Facebook.  People who follow you have opted in for your feed.  It shows up on their page with all the tweets from all the other people they follow.  Initially, the idea was probably to follow a few people you knew or admired.  If you are following 10 or even 100 people, you’d visit Twitter and see all the tweets from those people.

Then the popularity contest started.  How many Twitter followers you had became a status symbol.  It changed to, “I’ll follow you if you follow me,” and the game changed.  So did 3rd party software.  Tools to help you manage your Twitter account popped up.  For $39, or maybe even free, you could install software to get you new followers.  How?  By using the game above: you follow, they follow back.  If they don’t, you dump them.

I bought this software around November of last year.  I was building a panel of survey respondents and needed access to bloggers and moms on Twitter.  I had been manually searching for my target market, adding a few a day, and successfully recruited the right people.  I followed the same principal with the software and got even better results, partly due to the automated message feature which sends a DM (Direct Message) to each new follower.  When I decided I didn’t need a lot more survey takers, I turned it off, or typically just forgot to turn it on.

Since November, lots of other people have added this software.  If you are a Twitter user, you know who they are.  Their “Following” to “Followers” ratios are very tight.  With so many people asking me how to increase their number of Followers, I did an experiment:  I found an account that was obviously using the software and had a similar target market.  I set my software to follow all followers of that user.  It worked so well, I had to turn email notifications off.

Now I have thousands of followers.  But, what does that really mean?  Absolutely nothing.  If I go tweet an urgent message, a coupon code, or a request for comments, few of them will ever see it.  They are all following thousands of people too.  They aren’t tuned into my station at the time I tweeted.  I’ve tested it many different ways.  Most recently, I tested it through someone else.  Two influential experts in my client market (businesses looking for survey panels/feedback from moms) sent out tweets encouraging their followers to use my service and provided a link.  One of these people has 50k followers (and uses software), and the other has 23k followers and does not.  The result? Not a single click.  My web traffic didn’t budge despite the glowing endorsement.

Are there exceptions?  Of course.  If you are a news station or celebrity, the odds are that the general public is following you because they want to.  I’ve also seen effective customer support through Twitter.  This is strategy, not a simple desire for popularity.  Hashtags and “mentions” are effective, but they have nothing to do with your number of Followers.

So, if you want Followers, you can have them.  I may even keep adding them just for kicks (I like to feel popular too).  Just don’t mistake Followers from effective marketing.  That said, you can use Twitter to get measurable results – it’s one of my highest traffic sources, but not because of my Follower count.  One last thing: if you want to follow me I’m @theIQMom.

My Discovery Process
I started using Twitter to find panelists for QuestionMoms.com.  I searched for moms who are active online, working at home, and looking for extra income.  I’d follow them, they’d follow me back.  Many signed up to be panelists.  When I ran statistics on our panel, I discovered many were bloggers and product reviewers.  I realized that was the perfect match for the panel, so I started searching for mommy bloggers on Twitter.  I followed them and learned how they interact.  Meanwhile, my panel grew quickly.  Looking at Google Analytics, I noticed Twitter accounted for about 10% of my traffic and that there were some other sites bringing even more traffic – bloggers who were sharing with each other about the opportunities on my site.  Very cool!

As I started to communicate with my community more, I learned these bloggers are hungry for great products to review and additional income opportunities.  So, for the price of your product and shipping it, you can get incredible exposure.  In most cases, you can get more exposure than through paid banner ads, email blasts, etc. Why?  These women have formed a real network.  They know who to trust and read one another’s reviews.

All Blogs are NOT Equal
When I analyzed my site traffic on one specific busier-than-usual day, I saw that I had 83 visits from 1 source – a mommy blogger who had joined my panel.  With only a 26% bounce and an average of 6:38 minutes per visit on my site, this one superstar blogger provided me with about 60 new panelists in ONE day.

Not all bloggers have that power.  In November, I ran a contest asking existing panelists (many bloggers) to recruit friends and followers.  Most of them were able to recruit only 3 to 20 over the month.  So, you have to find out who has the influence in your product space.  Most pro bloggers post site statistics such as number of followers and site traffic.  Look for bloggers who blog daily, are active on Twitter, write quality reviews (not all positive), and have an honest reputation.

Connecting with Bloggers/Reviewers
Find the ones you like.  Send them quick emails expressing your interest in having them review your product.  Be sure to include a link and brief description of what you’d like reviewed.  Offer to send them a free sample if they are interested.  You’ll notice on many of these sites, they have information about how to get your product reviewed.  Be sure to read that first to see if they have specific policies or instructions about contacting them.

Measure Results
Be sure you are running Google Analytics or other site stats that show where your traffic is coming from.  Have several bloggers provide reviews and then watch the traffic from those sites.  If it is an effective market strategy for you – do it again.  There is no shortage of great bloggers out there to provide reviews.  Let them be your virtual sales team (if it is a good fit for your business).

Don’t Know Where to Start?
Maybe I can help.  I’m compiling a list of bloggers who are moms and review products.  I’m providing a Profile for them to complete stating the information about their blog, what kinds of products they review, ages of children, etc. for QuestionMoms.com, and I’m sure others have compiled similar lists.  Also, I have made some great contacts with superstar bloggers who would also be happy to distribute your request to other bloggers.  So, if you’d like your product reviewed, just contact me and I’ll connect you.

Give Back
It’s always in your best interest to post the reviews of your products.  Be sure to support that blogger over time.  Forward links to their site, retweet their links on Twitter, etc.  I think this is an incredible – and honest – way to market.  I’d much rather hear from a trusted “friend” blogger about a product than from a huge a marketing organization paid by the company.  The big companies are doing it, so as entrepreneurs, maybe you should too.

Don't be afraid to "Hide"

We’re all still learning this “social media marketing” stuff.  There are thousand of blogs, books, articles, etc. that tell you how to do it.  They all explain the free marketing benefits of using social sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote your business, but sometimes they leave out the etiquette.  Sometimes it is not even etiquette, just common sense.

Here’s an example:
Someone has a personal profile on Facebook.  She has quite a few friends, so she decides to transition it to be their “vanity” profile.  Her profile has the pictures of the family, likes, etc. and a blurb about how successful she was at turning her business idea into a cash machine.  Now she does seminars and webinars to tell you how you can be just like her (for only $99!).  No problem, she’s a friend — well a Facebook friend you met through a networking group or something.  Then, one day she gets the social media marketing bug and decides to start promoting herself A LOT.  She posts links to her website several times a day.  They start stacking in your news feed because she sends them through Twitter, her fan page and other feeds.  She sends messages to your Facebook inbox.  She invites you to events (her seminars).  She SPAMS you.

So, what do we do?  We unfriend her, hide her from our feed (love that Facebook option), or block her.  One day when I *do* want to learn secrets of making a cash machine, I won’t be able to find her.  Is this really what she wanted?

You’ve heard it before, but thought I’d say it again anyway:  Think about what your “friends” are seeing from you.  Offer tips, great links, insights.  But, sell softly.  If any of your friends turn into spammers, you may want to kindly tell them.  And, don’t be afraid to use that Hide button.

Just moments before signing on to my blog, I responded to a friend request on Facebook. The request came from a business woman I don’t know personally, but it looks like she networks with some of the same people I do.  I accepted the request, then viewed her info.  She had a link to her business site so I clicked.  I landed at a very low budget, amateur website where the woman sells her books.  I wanted to see her books, but the awkward site actually made me close the tab.  The logo was small and blurry, the images of the books were super small, and the text looked more like a filled in comment box than an introduction to the site.  Nothing on the homepage made me want to stay.  Nothing.  It looked amateur and even a bit annoying.

If the site is lousy, might this mean the books are amateur too?  Ok, so she’s not a web designer.  But, if you love your product, wouldn’t you want to invest a little to sell it?  My point here is not to promote web designers, it’s to say feedback is valuable.  This woman probably has no idea that I visited, that I left right from the homepage without shopping, or that I don’t like her site.  She may be thinking people aren’t buying because prices are too high.  I didn’t even get to the prices.  She may think there is low interest in her products.  Maybe, maybe not.

Ideas, new products, websites, branding – they all need market validation, or at least a little outside feedback.  So how do you get it?

#1.  Ask.  First, ask friends and family what they think of your idea.  If you have a new product idea, find out if people like the idea.  Ask good questions like what they currently use to solve the problem that your product solves, how much they would spend to solve the problem, whether or not they understand your solution, etc.  After you ask friends and family, you need to take it a step further.  Our loved ones tend to tell us what we want to hear.  They think we are brilliant.  They will encourage us.  We need that, but we also need honest, unbiased feedback.

#2. You can take your idea to an industry expert – usually a successful business person who knows your market or coaches inventors.  Watch out for scams and get references.  A good consultant may charge $200-$1000 to evaluate your idea, give you feedback and next steps.  This knowledge is worth every penny if it helps you cultivate your idea and learn how to profit from it.  However, beware of experts who tell you your idea is great because they want to bring you on as a client, sell you tapes and books about how to license your product, start a business or make instant millions.  An evaluation should be just an evaluation, not a bait and switch.

#3. Your other option is to get market feedback.  You can formulate a questionnaire, take copies to a mall or park and ask your target market.  This can be time consuming and you still need to beware of bias.  Some people are uncomfortable giving constructive criticism – especially in person.

#4. A DIY (do it yourself) online survey.  There are lots of great “free” online survey builders.  You create an account, write your questions, then send the link out to YOUR contacts.  Most free survey sites allow you to capture up to 100 responses for free.  But, remember, they do NOT provide the panel (people) to respond.    I’ve done several this way, and it becomes a begging fest.  I post the link on all the social network sites, offer prizes, and wait for responses.  Those who actually respond are usually my friends and family and, again, they tell me what I want to hear.

#5.  A better way is a professional online survey through a marketing research company.  Effective research requires two elements: a well-written survey and the proper panel of people to answer it.  Your questions need to be formed in a manner that does not sway your respondents to answer a certain way.  Your panel needs to be comprised of your target market.  Ideally, they should not know you and you should be able to cross reference their responses with their demographics (age, income level, area they live in, etc.).

There are many companies offering free software for writing your survey, but fewer companies that provide market panels.  Some do both.  To find them, search the words “online market research companies”.  Expect to pay $10-20 per person/respondent for a brief questionnaire.  There may be minimum charges.  I now a couple of the top ones have a $2000 minimum.

So how much is it worth to know if you have a good idea?  If you ASSUME you do, how much will you spend before you KNOW you have a good idea?  Thousands on trademarks and patents, tens of thousands on prototyping and manufacturing, a few hundred on a website, or ?  Sometimes it is about the money saved.  I’ve seen plenty of entrepreneurs who have spent their life savings on a bad idea.  Some were unsafe items for children, some were unknowingly offensive, some just didn’t know their market, and some were “solutions” that created more hassle than the original problem it was trying to solve.  But no one told them the truth, or maybe they never asked.