Archive | Blog
Twitter Growth Slows Down, User Interaction Increases
Just read a great blog post from www.blog.hubspot.com regarding a serious decline in growth for Twitter.
The number of new people signing up to Twitter has reduced from 13% in March 2009 to 3.5% in October 2009.
Other statistics include 81% of people signed up to twitter follow LESS THAN 100 people. To me this makes absolute sense (as I found to my cost when I decided to follow lots of celebrity twitter accounts!). Maybe this is beginning to show that people are becoming more refined when using Twitter.
Not surprisingly 82% of people HAVE less than 100 followers (what happened to the other 1% ?!?)
What is encouraging is that people are now engaging more with twitter (and each other), particularly the way people are beginning to set up their profiles correctly – 54% now have a bio in their profile, 65% have now got a link through to a website and 41% of people have included their location.
When we run our Social Media Training Course, we cover the potential value of twitter as both a resource to your business AND as a possible way to pick up new business. And everything posted above is included in our recommendations for setting up a twitter account.
Google Realtime Search & Twitter
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog regarding the Google Realtime search (a full 1 hour before the news broke on the BBC!!). But I was asked a question recently about why sometimes a tweet someone makes appears in the results, and othertimes it doesn’t.
No surprise to learn that Google “pick” which tweets to publish in realtime and which ones they ignore.
So what convinces Google to choose your tweet?
It appears to be based on popularity (as far as we can tell – since Google’s algorithm is in the vault next to the KFC recipe!). By this we mean that it not only depends on the number of followers you have on twitter, but ALSO the number of followers THEY have on twitter (and possible the number of followers they have…….) well you get the idea!
I am also convinced it is about the type of people THEY FOLLOW – i.e. are they following other people with thousands of followers who tweet about similar subjects to you. If they are, then why would they follow you, if your tweets were of a poor quality?
It also appears to be about the quality of your followers – if you have people who tweet alot about the subjects you also tweet about (with a # tag) who have hundreds or thousands of followers.
It appears that all this following and followers adds up in Googles mind as an “endorsement” to your tweets.
This makes sense as why would you follow someone you either had a) no real interest in or b) who was posting poor quality tweets that didn’t add value to your own knowledge on a particular subject.
I don’t know the “reason” twitter was originally created, however I do know that it has become a valuable resource of information and that it is far easier to keep your finger on the pulse regarding almost any particular subject.
Haiti Earthquake Appeal
The latest pictures and stories coming from Haiti are simply awful. Which is what has prompted me to promote the official haiti earthquake donation website http://www.dec.org.uk/haiti-appeal.
I know times are still tough for people out there at the moment, however spare a thought (and a pound) for the victims of such a major tragedy. At the moment they still have very little water, very little food and no homes.
According to reports it will take £343 million to help the people of haiti – so every ounce of effort people can make will make all the difference.
Sorry this post is nothing to do with Google however I couldn’t just sit there, watching television and eating my breakfast.
Google AdWords Tip #5
Okay last Google AdWords Tip for this evening.
When considering a Google AdWords campaign, ask yourself this question -
Is your website good enough to convert visitors?
If you think your website isn’t up to scratch then I can (almost) 100% guarantee that your “new” visitors would think exactly the same thing and leave without making an enquiry.
This is the biggest problem I come across when people ask me to create a new Google AdWords campaign for them. I could just “cut and run” – create their AdWords campaign and then not worry about the conversions they get – however this isn’t how I do business (and it certainly isn’t the reason I get referrals!!).
I am NOT a web designer, however I have a good idea on how usable a website is, whether there is a clear call to action on each page, and whether the website looks 2010 and not 2001!!
Of the points mentioned above, the main one for me is the clear call to action on each page to “get in touch” with you. If people have just read about your product or service, don’t then make them have to search out your contact details to take their enquiry further.
Google AdWords Tip #4
My penultimate Google AdWords tip for today.
What are you wanting to achieve from your Google AdWords campaign?
Do you want to raise your profile and brand, or are you looking for clients?
Knowing the answer to this question would determine whether to do text ads, image ads or other forms of Google AdWords advertising. You might want to have image ads showing on a placement targeted campaign if you are trying to raise brand awareness. You might have products that “sell” on its image alone. You might end up with more value for money having your AdWords showing up on a website about the subject matter being researched using Google Adsense technology.
