From the monthly archives:

April 2009

“Twitter is a fad.” So why does your business need to be there?

by Tim on April 30, 2009

Is Twitter a bad idea for your business? Isn’t it just a waste of time? And now that Oprah’s doing it, has Twitter “jumped the shark?” After all, BusinessWeek says Twitter is a fad.. And MediaWeek reports Twitter’s audience has no return policy.

“Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

Alright. It “ain’t.”

First, let’s look into those numbers everyone’s throwing around. Twitter has a retention rate of 40%. But 40% of what? Compete says Twitter gained 6 million new unique visitors in the last month, to raise its total from 8 million to 14 million:

As I read it, 40% of 14 million is 5.6 million people. New people. And that’s up from 30% retention of the preceding month’s 8 million visitors. Put another way, it looks like Twitter increased active users from 2.4 million people (30% of 8 million) to 5.6 million people in one month. Does that look like a service in free fall to you?

More important, the folks claiming Twitter is a fad miss its true value. They assume the quantity of visitors – which, as we’ve just seen, Twitter seems to be gaining – equals quality visitors. And that’s just not the case.

Like any network, Twitter won’t gain “mass appeal” until each new member finds the right set of connections for himself. But, the service attracts a valuable audience for your business today. Journalists and bloggers. Influencers and thought leaders. The types of people you want to talk to. You may not reach all your customers on Twitter. But you’ve got tremendous opportunity to reach people who reach your customers.

Long time readers know I’m bullish on Twitter. But there’s a simple reason: Twitter is a valuable tool. Any tool gaining the mindshare Twitter has in recent months is far from “jumping the shark.” And any tool with the audience Twitter retains offers great opportunity to grow your business. Let your competitors think it’s a fad. You’ll know better.

Do you think I’m crazy? Is Twitter really just a fad? Or is it useful for your business? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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Technorati Tags:
e-marketing, internet business, internet marketing, marketing, social marketing, social media, social strategy, strategy, twitter

Tagged as: social, social marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, social network, social networking, social networks, social strategy, twitter

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How not to run a Google AdWords campaign. Or any other.

by Tim on April 28, 2009

in E-commerce

Do you use Google AdWords? It’s an excellent sales and marketing tool for most small businesses. Why? Well, the great thing about Google’s AdWords program is that marketers can place effective ads in lots of unexpected places – not just in search results – while still offering relevance to consumers. It’s a simple program to participate in. So, how can you go wrong? Well….

HP is using AdWords to market their MediaSmart servers inside Gmail. As it happens, I’m looking for a media server for my home and their ad showed up alongside an email conversation I’m having with a friend about possible options. Here’s the ad:

Fantastic! Relevant, timely and the ad introduced me to a product I wasn’t aware existed. Everything advertising should do. It even has a strong call-to-action (“Shop now!”) and, as it states, I can “save big.” All HP has to pay for is the click. How can they lose? I was hooked and immediately clicked through. To this:

Um… whoops.

What do you think happened to HP’s bounce rate for this ad?

Obviously, the point here isn’t to suggest AdWords is a bad idea. Not at all. I’d argue quite the opposite. Placing relevant ads in front of customers with purchase intent is the holy grail of marketing. And tools like AdWords make it happen. But, execution matters.

Think I’m being too harsh? Or did HP really drop the ball on this one? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
bounce rate, call-to-action, e-marketing, Google, google, internet marketing, landing page design, marketing, online marketing, ppc, ppc marketing, adwords, google adwords

Tagged as: adwords, E-commerce, e-commerce sales, ecommerce, Google, google adwords

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Does Dell’s hidden discounting work? It’s a mystery to me.

by Tim on April 27, 2009

in E-commerce

Clearly, we’re all looking for new ways to drive sales in a down economy. Here’s one worth looking at more closely. Dell sent a new promotion over the weekend, offering “Mystery Savings.” It looked like this:

That’s right. You don’t know what your savings will be until you enter your promotion code. Could be 35%. Could be 25%. Who knows?

Worse still, Dell’s landing page really fails Bryan Eisenberg’s “scent test.” Where on the page do they talk about this offer? It’s a mystery to me.

While I like this concept as a test – and I hope it’s a test – I suspect Dell is going to end up with lots of cart abandonment once customers see the discount.

What do you think? Is Dell onto something here? Would you offer a similar concept to your customers? Tell us about it in the comments.