In a recent MarketingProfs survey 425 Twitter users were asked a series of questions about their use of Twitter. There where some interesting findings, including why we use the micro-blogging service.
Twitter users were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree):
I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64
Curiously, despite a strong showing for being “connected to lots of people” only 34% of users agree it’s important to follow those that follow you. Not quite sure how that gels with their desire to make lots of connection. Oh well.
Lastly, despite spending an average of almost 3 hours a day on Twitter, we’re apparently not discouraged when we tweet and get nothing back but crickets–only 24% of us have our egos bruised when we tweet with no replies.
If you’re interested in the full study head to Marketing Charts
This is a case for strategic questioning. In many cases Twitter resembles an online conference or trade show. If you examine most industry categories on Twitter, competitors are following each other in almost every instance.
As long as a competitor is presenting a quality presence, it does more help exposing your brand to that audience as it harms you brand integrity from exposure to the other brand.
In many cases, this is about properly identifying project niches on Twitter and securing that niche. Reaching out and rallying the core supporters is more important than worrying about the 10% of cross-contaminated or impartial consumers.
More importantly: WORKLOAD. Trying to launch multiple Twitter accounts for a singular client is a sizable task. If a Twitter manager has a hard time updating/monitoring one account… they are doomed to failure when given the daily task of using multiple ones.
JustVocabulary.com, the podcast for ESL (English as a Second Language) students, has won this year’s podcast award. The podcast is mostly popular in the United States, with over 30.000 downloads per day. JustVocabulary is listed in the top three US Educational Podcasts (along with Grammar Girl and CoffeeBreak Spanish).
But what’s really interesting about this CapeTown based podcast is the business model behind it. Just Vocabulary has placed advertisements from Saturn.com, Audible.com, PlayUK and CISCO.
The website has also started to sell study tools for iPods and cell phones (including iPhone and iPod Touch) since November 2008.
Is this the only way that podcasts can remain sustainable?
If we look at the Top 100 podcasts in the United States, the country that has embraced podcasting the most, you’ll find mostly traditional media (newspapers, radio stations), politicians and celebrities using the medium. For them, podcasting is an additional channel to distribute existing content, and thus they are not dependent on a podcast business model only.
For podcasts like JustVocabulary.com, a sustainable podcast business model is the route to go. For such a model to work, a podcaster needs to have extensive reach and clear audience demographics.
