Internet Data Technology

Twitter used more as search tool than Bing and Yahoo! combined

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:38:44 GMT

It's time to embrace Twitter businesspeople!

According to Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, who spoke yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Twitter is the fastest growing search engine and now serves over 800 million search queries per day. That's 24 billion searches per month. Let's put that into perspective with some general numbers found around the Internet on competing search engines.

Search Engine	Searches per month
Bing	4,000,000,000
Yahoo!	9,500,000,000
TWITTER	24,000,000,000
Google	88,000,000,000

That's more than Bing and Yahoo! combined. Twitter is still a long way away from surpassing Google, but one note of interest is that Twitter is handling 33% more search queries than it last reported in April, 2010. While I think these numbers may be open to interpretation, it doesn't change the fact that Twitter is growing, and quickly.

When Bing was first launched, it quickly gained market share before leveling off. In the case of Twitter, it seems like this platform continues to surpass it's previously reported results, quarter over quarter, year after year.

This type of staying power is hard to ignore and something every business should be considering in their marketing plan. We've seen first hand just how powerful Twitter can be for many of our clients site traffic results with a carefully crafted plan.

With the ability to specifically target users by industry, message and location it's hard to ignore it's power for target marketing. The added fact that more and more people are using this platform as a source of information and search is something to get excited about.

With 24 Billion (that's billion with a B) searches per month, Twitter is certainly doing something right. Get started today and do a search for your relevant industry/business search terms here: http://search.twitter.com; you might be surprised at the results.

Once your done with your search give me a call for some professional direction to make this platform (and others) work for your business...and don't forget to follow me on twitter here: @subers and @idatatech.

7 Reasons this Blog Post doesn't Suck

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:13:56 GMT

While there are no hard and fast rules about how to write and structure your blog post, there are a few guidelines you'll want to follow so your post doesn't suck.

There has been a lot written about what goes into making a great blog, but in turning it around it may open your eyes to a few new ways of thinking about making your next blog posts the best they can be.

The headline captures your attention
Think about it, you were intriged to see the reasoning behind the title. The headline is so, so important because it serves as the 'face' of the post on social media sites, search engine results and RSS feeds among others.

It's done in an easy to scan format
We all love bulletted lists. It's the easiest way to digest the huge amount of information we process daily from our research on the internet. It makes a post easy to scan so we can quickly determine what (if any) information is important to us.

It's original
While there are thousands of posts about how to write a good blog, I've tried to make it more original so that the potential exists that readers like yourself will see new information when it's posted in a new and unique manner.

It's well layed out
I spent 10 years as a typesetter before transitioning the business to a digital medium. The layout of your blog should ALWAYS be carefully considered. Think about when you get to a particular style of page layout that instantly turns you off. The first thing you say to yourself is "Ugh, I'm not picking through this novel to find the tidbit of information I'm seeking". If you deliver your content in a warm and inviting layout your readers will appreciate it and reward you by hanging around longer to digest all of your wisdom.

It's engaging, unique and my wife loves it
Still here aren't you? I researched pretty extensively to make sure this information has never been presented quite like I have presented here. This blog also offers a few bullet point titles that capture your attention to grab you in. As far as my wife goes, it's important to always run your work by a trusted confidant.

Intriguing Introduction and Conclusion
It's important to write a short introduction and conclusion to draw people into your meaty center. The majority of folks are only going to scan your post, so it's important you hook them in early on. A well written, intriguing conclusion will ensure that the folks who scanned your content will potentially pick up something they missed and scan back into the middle again. A blog's most valuable asset is contained in the amount of words read. The more content of a blog that your readers read, the more likely they will share that information.

It's short
I'll never understand why some posts go on for pages. If you have a lot to say, break it up into several digestable posts. When you come upon a really long post your first thought is, "I don't have the time for all this, let's check for something shorter". Keep it short, enough said.

CONCLUSION
Let's face it, nobody wants to write a sucky blog. These things are hard enough to write and research without ending up with bunch of words nobody cares about. Hit most of the points outlined in this blog if not all of them and you'll be successful. Most subjects have been blogged to death, so it's important to heed this advice with every new blog you write. If you liked this post, please share it; if not, no worries, I had fun writing it. Have a great day.

12 Misconceptions About Social Media

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:49:07 GMT

I love this article written last month by Tom Pick (@tompick). He totally hits the nail on the head when it comes to how new clients perceive social media. I applaude the folks that are ready to embrace change and implement a new (and very foreign) marketing technique.

When clients start to actually experience social media marketing, only then do they really start to warm to the new direction. Unfortunately some show up to the party late, convince themselves they've missed the bus and decide to think the concept was just a bad idea.

Invest the time to really understand the concepts layed out below and you will be on your way to that new direction, like a comfortable old shoe.

1. Social media marketing will lead to overnight sales success. It can happen, but it isn’t common and shouldn’t be expected. Social media is about building relationships and influence. It takes time, but the payback can in social currency will last longer and spread wider than the most traditional marketing methods.

2. Anyone can implement a social media strategy. Social media is so easy we can hire an intern to do it. Because social media is fundamentally about conversations, the individual(s) behind your social media activities is often perceived as the public face of your company. This person is answering questions about your products and/or services, responding to or redirecting complaints, sharing interesting content, providing more information…you’ll probably want to be a bit careful about who gets this responsibility. ->

3. Social media marketing doesn’t apply to my business. There are isolated niches where this is true. For example, if you build weapons systems for the U.S. military, you not only don’t need social media marketing, it would probably be best to avoid it. And there may be a few other such situations. For virtually every other type of business however, someone, somewhere is discussing your brand, your industry or your competitors in social media. You’re missing out if you’re not listening and participating.

Read the complete list here

...and here's one more to add to Tom's list
12. Social Media can be totally outsourced. While probably true and may work for some companies, most businesses should plan to be well involved with their social media plans. You have to be involved at some collaborative level in order to make your effort a success. Nobody knows your business like you, and nobody else is going to light the fires and the passion of the marketing team like only a leader can.

20 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:01:30 GMT

We really can’t deny the fact that businesses are testing out Twitter as part of their steps into the social media landscape. You can say it’s a stupid application, that no business gets done there, but there are too many of us (including me) that can disagree and point out business value. I’m not going to address the naysayers much with this. Instead, I’m going to offer 50 thoughts for people looking to use Twitter for business. And by “business,” I mean anything from a solo act to a huge enterprise customer.

Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
Add a picture. (Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
Share links to neat things in your community. (@wholefoods does this well).
Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. (@jetblue gives travel tips.)
Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. (@TheHomeDepot does it well.)
Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.
Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

For more ideas and tips, visit Chris Brogan's blog:

50 Power Twitter Tips
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

What else would you add? How are you using Twitter for your business?

Welcome to our New and Improved Blog

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:10:51 GMT

Thanks for taking some time to check out our new blog site. We've worked hard to create a new area that we can fully integrate into the social fiber of the Internet so that we can share ideas we feel will be beneficial for our clients.

When we find new technology, new marketing concepts, great money making (and saving) tips dealing with web development, design and marketing...we'll be sure to bring them to you here.

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