10 Reasons Why Twitter Is So Popular

I was pondering today why the social networking site  Twitter is so incredibly popular. So I thought I would Google it and read what others are saying about Twitter. Surprisingly I couldn’t find much out there so I wrote down some thoughts and it wasn’t long before I came up with the following reasons for Twitter's popularity.

Everyone seems to love lists so here are my 10 reasons why I think Twitter is so popular.

1. Twitter is so darned easy to use - period. No further explanation is required. 
2. It’s a lot easier to get Twitter followers than it is to get Blog newsfeed subscribers. 
3. Twitter is a complete no-brainer. Absolutely no technical know-how is needed. Just open an account and start tweeting. 
4. It’s an excuse for being a bad writer. Because of Twitter’s 140 character limitation you can be excused for bad judgement grammar and abusing abbreviations. 
5. Twitter makes you feel like you are a part of something greater than yourself. You never have to feel alone again.
6. For the ‘always-connected’ generation Twitter keeps you in contact with all of your ‘friends’ no matter where you are. When you are mobile and on-the-go it’s like a free conference text-messaging service in your cell phone.
7. Having lots of so-called Twitter “friends” makes you feel you are popular. How else can you make a lot of friends as quickly? Where else can you find an audience interested in what you ate for dinner and threw up later?
8. Is there a better way to keep in touch with your favorite celebrities? Twitter is an instant social fan club. You can write to them and they (or their entourage) might respond. You can almost reach out and touch them. Do you feel the love?
9. Similarly, if you follow your favorite a-lister they will probably reciprocate and follow you back. Wow! Is Howard Stern really tweeting?  He really is the King of All Media.
10. Twitter is a great way to pretend being someone’s friend so you can sell them something later. Backdoor marketing for the new media age. 

Perhaps you have your own reasons for Twitter’s popularity. Did I miss anything?

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/

Do You Need a Facebook Fan Page?

Cultivating a Facebook Fan following is a unique and powerful form of permission marketing, whereby your target audience have consented to your constant contact.

• They’re yours to share your message with time and again.
• They already like you.
• They already stick around for the long haul.
• They already care about what you have to say about your business.

But the profitable impact of Facebook goes much further than just a medium to contact customers.

What’s better than you being able to share your message every day to your target audience?  Having them share your message for you, to every single one of their friends on Facebook!

When your customers take 1 second out of their busy schedule to hit "like‟ on your Fan page, a small easy step... it is a HUGE public commitment that they’re a fan of and recommend your business! They are publicly declaring themselves a fan of your business, a very powerful message to both themselves and their peers.  It literally shows up as clear and direct as “Sally Buyer likes YOUR BUSINESS”.

Now consider that if your average customer has even 50 friends on Facebook, 10 "Likes‟ = 500 brand exposures for your business, with a cost of $0... Can you think of another way to get your customers to recommend your business to pretty much everyone they know, with 1 click, for free? A few of their friends will also hit „like‟ and so the profit virus spreads, without you having to do a thing.

Needless to say, these numbers are conservative given the dramatic adoption of Facebook among basically the entire developed world. Most of your customers will probably have over 100 friends... now that’s the kind of math we like! Of course as a business owner, you’re more than likely aware that “word of mouth” is the strongest form of marketing around. You’ve worked hard to make sure your customers have a great experience, but how many of them are really spreading the word? I bet it could be more. Don’t let that goodwill go to waste, let your customers share it on your Fan page!

With some clever marketing that relies on some basic principles of human behavior, you can build a following you can bank on in no time.

Here are some things you can do with a Facebook Fan Page:

• Give your customers an incentive to like your page, i.e. a discount that reveals itself when they click that magic "Like‟ button.
• Stay at the top of their mind so when they want something they think of your business.
• Sell directly to your fan base with special sales.
• Showcase new items.
• Get rid of slow moving stock or fill your venue during off peak periods.
• Run competitions that encourage your customers to spread the word about business.
• Collect people’s email and mail addresses from your fan page to execute direct mail or email campaigns.
• See who your customers are. Take the time to browse through a few of your customer’s profiles. Notice their age, their likes and interests, where they live, what engages them.

You’ll be getting access to market research that would have cost a small fortune not too long ago. The possibility of your business message going viral, your name spreading like wildfire and your customers raving are well worth pursuing when you think of the impact this can have on your bottom line.

Create A Facebook Fan Page

PHANTOM POWER
Marketing by Design
http://www.phantompower.co/