I read a BizReport article this morning reporting that 33% of some 5,000 UK businesses surveyed by Virgin Media prefer Twitter over Facebook for communicating with their customers. In that regard, the UK is far ahead of businesses on this side of the pond, and really leading the world when it comes to capitalizing on the real-time benefits provided by a channel like Twitter.

Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is great. But creating a presence and a legitimate “community” on Facebook is difficult, to say the least. Here’s an example. We have a client that is a fantastic rehab facility, located in beautiful South Florida. They are awesome, and they specialize in addiction relapse prevention, which is the number one issue affecting those battling addiction problems. Cool, right?

Well, not so much. There’s nothing “glam” about being a rehab services provider and do you think it’s even remotely easy to get people interested in “liking” them on Facebook? If you HAVE addiction problems, you probably aren’t interested in publicly showing that you do, and if you DON’T have addiction problems, it’s easy to ignore a business like this. Oh, and what about getting people excited to ask all their friends to “like” a business that focuses on drug and addiction problems. Tricky, at best.

But, utilizing Twitter, this very same client can be present, monitor the space, engage and make friends in an organic and genuine manner and also be available to answer questions or function as a resource when people have addiction or recovery related issues. They can also use Twitter as a content distribution channel for their blog posts and share other interesting information and resources, and potentially reach a much greater audience than they’re currently limited to based on their relatively small Facebook fan base.

My point is simple: creating a “community” and building a presence on Facebook, for many businesses, is a struggle. Add to that the fact that you can’t really rely on Facebook to monitor your customer service issues, because Facebook is a closed community. Twitter, however, is open and accessible. If you’re looking for information, feedback and commentary on a particular topic, it’s super simple to find using Twitter search. And, when you’re monitoring your brand and other keywords for mentions, whether you use free tools like Google Alerts and TweetDeck or one of the other Twitter clients or using a more sophisticated paid monitoring service like that offered by Spiral16 (disclosure: client), it also allows you the opportunity for real-time engagement, as well as customer service management.

I’m not advocating NOT using Facebook as part of your marketing strategy. I am, however, saying that not all businesses are inherently suited to do well on Facebook. And understanding what suits your business and your marketing needs is what’s critical when it comes to integrating social media into your overall marketing plan. For many, Twitter makes better sense.

The folks in the UK get that. Facebook is great. But sometimes, Twitter is better. Remember that when you’re developing your social media marketing strategy.

Two hours ago, I discovered Cee Lo Green’s new single, F**K YOU, on YouTube. Imagine that. Actually, I first discovered it on Facebook, and swiped it from my friend Redheadwriting’s wall, posted it on my own and ultimately ended up on YouTube, where it had a little more than 750,000 views.

It’s a brilliant example of how effective the combination of a little strategy and a whole bunch of good luck can be when it comes to viral marketing. Cee Lo, with a paltry 8,000+ followers on Twitter and only 3,000 some fans on Facebook, used a combination of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook marketing to drive some almost 750,000 views in the space of a three day period, since its posting on Thursday, August 19th. Do you know how many brands would kill for that kind of exposure and viral buzz?

Not to take anything away from my man, Cee Lo, but this doesn’t appear, at least to me, as a slick marketing campaign carefully orchestrated by an agency and a slew of “social media gurus.” Rather, it seems to be someone who created a great “product” … put it out there, combined it with some timely PR – and then let the public do the rest. I could be wrong. I’m just guessing here, but after spending a fair amount of time looking through Cee Lo’s Facebook feed and Twitter stream, it really appears to be a bit of historic dumb luck. But part of the beauty of this, at least for this consumer, is the inherent lack of slickness in the whole thing. – it appears to have just happened. And that is often a critical ingredient when it comes to the magic of something going viral. Oh, and let’s not forget the power of social media marketing.

The geek in me is compelled to point out some stats here. YouTube has some 2 BILLION views a day and is in an enviable spot as the second most popular search engine in the world. Add to that Facebook’s 45 million daily status updates and 700,000 new members joining on a daily basis, and it’s no surprise that this strategy was effective for Cee Lo. Combine that with a song that’s sure to make even the most curmudgeonly among us laugh – even for just a minute or two – and you’ve got yourself a viral phenomenon.

Cee Lo. Dude, what can I say? A few hours ago, I’d never even heard of you. Now, you can count me among your biggest fans. Hat tip for a job well done. Oh, and your song – well, it rocks! Gawker calls it the song that should have been the song of the summer. I say that no matter when it’s “officially” released, it’ll be at the top of the charts.

Oh, and in the FWIW category, in the time it took me to write this blog post, the YouTube video has had an additional 80,000 views, bringing it to 830,741. In two hours. That’s 80,000 – in two hours.

Susan Weinschenck, Ph.D., wrote an interesting piece on influence, and how a common theme that researchers encounter is that we think that OTHERS are influenced by certain things, but that WE are not. We are wrong.

Regardless of what we think, we are very much influenced by the thoughts, actions, opinions and purchases of others. That’s why online reviews are so important. Face it, we’re a bunch of sheep. When we see what others think, what their experiences have been, what their thoughts on quality, price, functionality are, all of that factors into our ultimate buying decisions.

The same is true when it comes to Facebook, and that’s one of the reasons Facebook is growing in popularity – and in power. When we see that our friends “Like” a product, service, event or even a person, we are more inclined to explore and, in most cases, “Like” them or it, too. Familiarity, recommendations, either explicit or implied, lead to a comfort level that consumers seek.

Here’s an example. Susan (whom I would really like to stalk follow on Twitter and anywhere else she hangs, but she did not give me that opportunity by putting connectivity buttons on her blog, grrrr) roped me in with a simple blog post. I discovered Susan’s nifty post when her content was retweeted by Beth Harte, someone in the industry that I respect and admire. I not only enjoyed the blog post, which was implicitly “recommended” by Beth, I also retweeted it which, for the non-Twitterai, means sharing it with my pals on Twitter. Then, I posted it on my Facebook wall because I can’t resist sharing great stuff with MY friends, and now I’m off to Amazon to buy Susan’s book, Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click. All of this because my friend, Beth, recommended it. And without ever really realizing that she was doing so.

Let’s recap: She liked, I saw, I paid more attention because she liked, based on her “rec” I shared, which means I endorsed, I went back and bought something and then I told you about it. Get it?

Influence drives sales. Need I say more?

Two important things: This is a perfect example of the power of social media and how opting NOT to use it as an integrated part of your overall marketing efforts is, well, stupid.

Secondly, it illustrates the importance of listening in the social media space using monitoring tools. If you’re a brand, you should care what the sheep are saying about your product or service, and the only way to find that out is to monitor and gather business intelligence. Here at V3, we use Spiral16 (client) and that helps us stay on top of what’s being said that could potentially influence and impact our clients.

What are you doing to influence the people you want to buy your stuff? And how do you know whether or not it’s working?

I was reading today’s AdAge about The Gap’s sister brand, Piperlime, and their experiment with adding some edgy personality to their Facebook wall posts. The postings were in conjunction with a well-planned marketing campaign, and it ruffled the feathers of some consumers.

First of all, let’s just get on over the idea that it’s important to please everyone, every time. That’s just not possible. And I think that’s important for everyone, marketer or consumer, to regularly remind ourselves.

More importantly, Piperlime decided to step out from behind the shadow of The Gap and try to find the distinctive voice of their brand. In order to do that, you sometimes have to go out on a limb, and maybe even experiment a bit. They identified their target audience – an older Gen Y female, aged 20-30, identified what they perceived to be some shared behaviors and feelings, and worked with Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners to create the “Let’s Get Dressed” campaign targeting that demographic. Big surprise that not every consumer liked the campaign. What matters, though, is that apparently some did.

As a direct result of this campaign, the Piperlime “likes” on Facebook increased a whopping 934% during a two-week period, and the page’s comments increased 479%. Not every comment was favorable, but guess what – it doesn’t matter.

Engagement is what matters. A brand reaching out to an audience, tossing something – an idea, a statement, a slogan, a campaign – you name it – out there, and testing it to see what people think is what matters. Engagement is what today’s consumers are looking for and Piperlime’s tactics are creating just that.

The other thing we need to get over – as people and as marketers: the ridiculous idea that everyone should agree with us. How boring would that be? Personally, I post often (and well) on my personal Facebook page. Not everyone agrees with what I say or think and, as a result, we have interesting discussions, different points of view are shared and guess what – it’s fabulous! And interesting. Sometimes more than one friend has a differing opinion and I love the fact that they share their thoughts and feelings, especially those about which they are most passionate, with me and with the community of friends who pop in and out.

I say “Bravo” Piperlime. You don’t know until you try, and engagement is what matters. And even if it’s engagement from consumers who don’t like or agree with your message, the opportunity to directly interact with them and dig deeper into their feelings on an issue – and maybe even use the insights gleaned to tweak a campaign if needed is, for a marketer and a brand, pretty valuable.

What say you?

I love information. I’ll admit it. I’m an addict and a user. My mother, God love her, routinely clips articles from the daily newspaper that she thinks I’ll find interesting and mails them to me from her idyllic home in south Florida. Sometimes she even sends me crossword puzzles that she’s clipped, copied, and is sharing with me to ensure that I don’t miss out on a single one. And so, I blame her for this addiction to information and the quest for knowledge that so consumes me. Even worse, as an accompaniment to the addiction, is a need to share that veritable treasure trove of information that I come across on a daily basis with others. Annoying, I know, but surely now that you know I can’t help myself, you’ll realize that it’s best to just shut up and deal.

And now, I’ve found an even better outlet than sending 50 different emails to 50 different friends containing what is no doubt information that they can’t live without. And this is it. You guessed it – this post will now be a weekly feature intended to share with you the handful of items that I found the most compelling this week. Without further ado—here goes:

Twilight Fever Still Abounds

There’s nothing like the mention of the Twilight series to bring rabid fans out in droves. This week was no different. My partner in crime, the lovely Michelle Lamar, is one of those rabid fans and can always be found at the forefront of the Twilight goings on. In fact, she developed a quiz to help you see what your level of addiction is. Go ahead, you vampire nutballs, take the quiz, I dare you.

Geek News

The Geekazoid in me loves the fact that Google has launched its developer resource site for HTML5. I work with creative teams and developers on a daily basis and am constantly in the middle of the ongoing Apple v. Adobe battle, so I’m more than a little interested in how this will all play out. You can see the full story “Google Launches HTML5 developer site,” as originally published by InfoWorld and also read how HTML5 will change the web.

My iEnvy for the iPhone 4

It would be impossible to ignore that the much-heralded iPhone 4 is out and now in the hands of many an excited technonerd. I do not have one. I want one. The fact that I have a less than year old MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch and an iPod Nano do not dispel the iEnvy that I feel. I really, really, really, really want one. Suffice it to say that a contract that has yet to expire and a desire to keep my gadgetophile nature in check has precluded me (as of this moment anyway) from purchasing an iPhone 4. There are no promises as to what next week will bring.

Here are some great customer reviews on the object of my gadget lust, written by Gizmodo readers who are, at a minimum, at least as geeky as I am. Whether you have one or not, you’ll probably enjoy these.

The Tragedy in the Gulf – Raining Oil and Dead Cleanup Crews

I thought I’d seen the worst news of the week when I read about it raining oil in New Orleans. Then, I saw CNN’s report yesterday about the fact that almost all of the crew responsible for the clean up of the Exxon Valdez spill are now dead – after an average life expectancy of 51. Add to that the fact that BP is using the same kind of dispersant in the Gulf and I wanted to go stick my head in the toilet and retch.

Kudos to Top Chef Susan Spicer for Taking a Stand

And, as a reminder that fishermen and beaches and inhabitants being rained on by oil aren’t the only ones suffering in the Gulf, I was inspired to read the news of Top Chef Susan Spicer’s filing of a class action lawsuit against BP. Her suit alleges that her restaurant, Bayona, as well as other restaurants and others in the seafood industry have suffered damage since the explosion of the drilling rig and that they are entitled to compensation. I think she’s right and it will be interesting to see how far reaching the courts find the impact of this spill to be and, ultimately, how much responsibility they require BP to take.

I loved watching Susan compete on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters series – she is spunky, talented and clearly devoted to the city she loves.

Diesel Cam Brings Facebook to the Dressing Room

I really loved this overview from my friends at T2 + Back Alley Films about how Diesel is using integrated experience design to make the shopping experience a social experience. I think it’s nothing short of brilliant and that we’ll soon see more and more of this.

That’s it. All the news that really captured my attention this week – the good, the geeky, the bad, the really bad, the tough as nails “we’re not gonna take this” actions of a chef like Susan Feniger and the act of a brand that’s paying attention to what’s transpiring in the world and making an effort to connect in a more authentic way with its customers.

Hopefully you’ll think these pieces are as interesting as I did. Can’t wait to see what happens next week—and to share it with you!

As if BP doesn’t have enough of a mess on its hands in its efforts to apparently single-handedly set about to destroy the planet, they’ve also got a buffoon at the helm. While I realize that BP’s CEO Tony Hayward and his issues are not nearly as important as stopping the oil gushing into the Gulf, it’s hard not to watch his antics and shake my head. And then be thankful that I’m not part of the PR team charged with damage control in Mr. Hayward’s wake.

This morning’s CBS News broadcast covered the fact that BP is now focused on steps to deal with the idiotic comments made by Hayward on Sunday, when he said “nobody wants this thing over more than I do. I’d like my life back.” Can you say “massive fail on all counts” seven hundred times. Quickly. And even that wouldn’t be enough to cover how unconscionably insensitive a statement like that is. When this is the leader of an organization trying to handle what is the biggest environmental disaster of our times, how can anyone have confidence in the company’s ability to be successful? Talk about having your head in the sand, Mr. Hayward seems to have almost his entire body buried in the sand – and it’s oil-drenched sand at that.

The BP public relations team is now trying to deal with the fallout and global backlash in a myriad of ways, including an apology posted on Facebook, to the families of the men killed in the explosion that started all this. Can you imagine this being your job? I can’t.

To add public insult to environmental injury, the Huffington Post reported today that BP is using Google and paid search in an effort to manipulate public opinion. Holy craptastic, Batman, will they never learn?

There’s more. YouTube is filled with videos expressing rage at the situation, Greenpeace UK has launched a campaign to rebrand BP and people everywhere are filled with exasperation and hatred for the oil giant. This is a classic example of the public dealing with a crisis by taking to their social mediums of choice to vent and raise awareness and indignation, as well as to spread the word about their various calls to action against the oil giant.

This YouTube parody video, Big Oilmance, created by @orlandojamie is on its way to viral fame and does a terrific job of summing up how a lot of us feel about this mess.

This song is dedicated to you, BP.
Thanks for everything you’ve done

Oh, the oil, caught in a big oilmance.

BP Lies Lies
Yeah, so what, some birds die.
Laugh, laugh to the bank.
Ha ha, an oil rig sank

Blah blah, we can’t hear.
Got fingers in our ears.
Close our eyes, disappear.
This is an oilmance.

We want your money, you make us so rich.
Get on your knees, ‘cause you are our bitch.

We are BP..
Oil. Oil. Oil.
We are BP

Wired

Keep in mind: YouTube’s audience statistics are from worldwide views, while ABC, CBS and NBC audience numbers are only from the United States. The bigger picture is that the future tipping point is coming.  The major networks have dreaded the day when the web could overtake TV to become the way we watch TV.

As Shelly pointed out in an earlier post today, the growth of social media and the world wide web is amazing.  If Gary Hayes Social Media Count doesn’t convince you, maybe some of these numbers will.

Everyday on the Internet

• 210 billion emails are sent  – which is more than a years worth of letter mail in the United States
• 700,000 new members are added to Facebook members  – that is the approx size of the country of Guyana
• 45 million status updates on being posted on Facebook
• 5 million Tweets
• Bloggers post 900,000 new articles– that’s enough posts to fill the New York Times for 19 years.

Source: OnlineEducation.net

Still think social media is a fad?

Two weeks ago, Facebook rolled out its Like button, which replaces the option of Become a Fan.

As is the case with change of any kind, there was an immediate uproar and massive unrest about Facebook and its complete and total disregard for the privacy of its users. Articles started springing up faster than wildfires during the California dry season and panties were, universally, in a wad.

Here’s the deal, folks. There are a million things I don’t particularly care for about Facebook, and I know I’m not alone on that front. And its arrogance about privacy of its users is one of them. The reality, however, is that if you really have an issue with your privacy, there are some easy steps to take to modify your Facebook privacy settings. However, as an analogy, even though I’m not an iPhone user (gasp), you’d have to live under a rock to not know that there are a million things that iPhone users hate about AT&T. But they don’t quit using their iPhones. And tons of people can’t stand Steve Jobs and his apparently boundless arrogance. However, iPhones and Apple products continue to sell like hotcakes – because they rock. Similarly, I don’t think that people are going to quit using Facebook any time soon, simply because they don’t like the Like button. The reality is, at least in my mind, that for many it’s easier to gripe about something that results in change than to dig deeper and figure out how change might actually be a good thing. But then, I’m a glass half full kind of gal – I actually like change – and welcome it.

As a marketing strategist, I’m easily seduced by numbers (please don’t tell my husband) (oh wait, he already knows). In fact, it’s so much about the numbers that it’s hard to think about anything else. And, as someone who is responsible, on a day-to-day basis, for helping brands of all sizes grow their businesses, not liking the Facebook Like option, to me, is nothing short of massive short-sightedness.

Here’s why: The Like button is an instant focus group. It’s an immediate snapshot of trending topics and information. It’s an instant update on what matters – to people – right now. As a marketer, that pretty much gives me a case of the vapors. Check this out and tell me you don’t feel a swoon coming on right away, too.

Holy Moly, Batman, this is real time search, served up on a silver platter. Do I really need to say more? What marketer doesn’t get dizzy just thinking of the possibilities here?

We’re a bunch of smart people, people. Let’s quit griping about change and dive into this new functionality that Facebook has served up and see how it benefits our clients. Let’s see how it helps us do our jobs better. Let’s see how it helps us make more of an impact, more money, raise more awareness – or whatever it is that we do on a daily basis. Then, if we find out that it stinks, we can dis it until the cows come home – but how about giving it a chance? I know I’m going to – what about you? And if you’re nosing around this blog and like what you read, subscribe to the RSS feed, for Pete’s sake. And while you’re at it, connect with me on Facebook, too. I can, on occasion, be moderately entertaining.

Today at SOBCon one of the event sponsors, the great folks at Intuit, had the brilliant idea for an exercise for the group. The challenge: Come up with a list of things you want to bill the Internet for. It was a perfect example of the great things that happen at SOBCon – the audience is actually expected to roll up their collective sleeves, work with their tablemates, and come up with thoughts, solutions, brilliant ideas, you get my drift. Naturally, given the nature of this eclectic group of smart, yet massively nerdy folks, great ideas do happen, but they are oft combined with a fair amount of ridicularity. . It’s no wonder this is such an amazing conference. And a sold out one.

Everyone contributed and the ideas were fantastic. And, since somebody’s gotta do it, I put myself in charge of generating the invoice. Of course, that means that I should get to retain the lion’s share of the proceeds. Right? Shhhh, keep that on the DL, willya?

And so, without further ado, here is my invoice (Disclosure: Some of these are original to me and my table, and some stolen from others in the room – after all, it’s social media – stealing is a given).

INVOICE

1. Effin’ music that blares when you load a website and scares the CRAP out of you – never mind blows your cover when you’re goofing off at work.

2. Stupid, slow-loading, Flash intros that force us to wait for the stuff we are looking for – this is soooo annoying and soooo 2009.

3. Squirrels. A term coined by the nothing if not dynamic Sheila Scarborough that encompasses things that suck you in like Peanut Butter Jelly Time, anything on the TED site and everything published by The Oatmeal.

4. The Rabbit Hole. All the time we’ve lost doing crap we weren’t supposed to be doing because we got sucked down the rabbit hole. Searching for a new pet goldfish, finding the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish site, getting hungry, thinking ahead to tonight’s dinner, looking up the takeout menu for the local Thai restaurant, realizing I want to learn to speak Vietnamese, planning a trip to …. well, you get the drift.

5. The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that we ALL now have, to some degree or another.

6. My Divorce Attorney. Since I didn’t pay enough attention to my significant other because of my addiction to YOU.

7. My Children’s Education. See above, since I’m now single and it sucks. And others, too numerous to mention here. All categorized as “relationship issues.”

8. Pop-up Ads. You know who you are.

9. 40% messages. Loading, loading, loading, loading. No, NOT loading.

10. Spam. #spamsucks

11. Contact Us pages that lead us to default email programs that we can’t STAND and which cause us to immediately leave your site.

12. Our Eyesight.

13. Our Bodies. The slouch, the pallor, the neck permanently out of alignment, not to mention our growing midsections and spreading backsides. We hold you responsible for our collective inability to get the laptop out of our laps long enough to work out anymore. Damn you.

14. Google. For making search so addictive. And for all the times we can’t find what we are searching for. And for not making Gmail better.

15. Microsoft. For all the crashes and all the bull.

16. Facebook. For all the time wasted looking up old boyfriends.

17. ATT. For crappy service. Always.

18. Sites like “Tampon Craft Ideas” – they just don’t need to be there, do they?

19. Captchas. Enough already with the effin’ Captchas. Please.

And the line item voted MOST popular with the ENTIRE crowd:

20. Ego Destruction: All those pretty girls who pop up in the right hand side of Facebook who promise they want to go out with me, but who really don’t. That sucks.

AMOUNT DUE: $$$$ Priceless

That’s our invoice. Got anything to add? Come on, let’s hear it!

P.S. Invoice Due Upon Receipt

We Can’t Rewind, We’ve Gone Too Far

I don’t know why, but most blog post concepts that pop into my mind start with a silly song. This one is no exception. Online video – it’s where it’s at. What is your business doing about it?

Online video viewing is on the rise and it’s going nowhere but up. Sure, I’ve been in a business that for years looked down its pretty little nose at video – much the same way that we eschewed template based websites and other nouveau creative-o (yes, I just coined that term) creative ideas. It used to be all about film, dahlink, and high production values and all that fancy schmancy stuff. Today, we’re a generation of documenters of our every move, amateur filmmakers and veritable content generating machines. And, in addition to generating our own content, consumers are viewing it online in record numbers.

For marketers and small business owners to ignore the prevalence of video in today’s world is, quite simply, a major misstep. Still don’t believe me?

Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart

According to ComScore in October of 2009, there were 27.94 billion (that’s billion with a “B”) videos viewed – in the month of October alone. YouTube captured a lion’s share of that audience, or about 10.52 billion views, but Hulu and Facebook are growing like wildfire. In fact, YouTube is the #2 Search Engine in the World. Yup, you heard me. These days, when people want to know about something, find something, see what others are doing, saying, where they are buying, etc., they head right on over to YouTube, which has about 1 million views a day. Oh wait, there’s more. Mashable reported in the late fall of 2009 that Facebook and Hulu are shattering online video records and those numbers just continue to climb.

According to eMarketer, a paltry 66.7% percent of all US Internet users (only 147.5 million folks) are watching online video on a monthly basis. And oh, wait, it’s predicted that by 2014, that number will rise to 77%. Hmmmm.

Think online video viewing is just for kids? Let’s ignore the young’uns and go straight to the numbers of “mature” online video viewers in 2010 alone:

Ages 25-34: 84.1%
Ages 35-44: 77%
Ages 45-54: 58%
Ages 55-64: 43.8%

Will you look at that? Even the “oldies” have caught on to the convenience and immediacy that online video viewing adds to their lives. And if you think those numbers are going anywhere but up, you’re fooling yourself. I’ll bet you’re listening now.

Blame It On The VCR

Errr. Scratch that. Blame it on the Internet. Consumers are no longer content to wait for content to be delivered to them via television, newspaper, radio, email newsletters and other content delivery platforms. They want what they want and they want it now.

Rob Garner said it brilliantly in a post for today’s MediaPost: “With the world buzzing 24/7, the surfacing reality is that a brand that is not interacting fluidly, or lacks in-the-moment presence, might as well not exist.” My point is this: interacting includes giving customers what they want where they want it. When your customers or prospective customers are online, viewing video, will they find you? Or will you still be relying on those direct mail postcards that they immediately put into the recycling bin. Or buying print ads in newspapers that they no longer read?

So indulge me, if you will – what are you doing about it? Is video content production and distribution in YOUR marketing game plan? And, if not, why not? And, if you’re in the marketing biz, I’d love to hear innovative things that you and your clients are doing with video and how you feel about the importance of this medium.