83% Say Social Media Not Essential to their Business!

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) released their 2013 Technology & Web Usage Report on Tuesday.

The report is 43 pages of information ranging from booking trends to websites utilized by their travel agent members.

My interest is in the Social Media results of the survey.  According to the survey, about 80% of respondents maintain a social media presence of some sort.  However, 39% of users view social media as "not useful or proven."

However, there is a growing percentage (not stated) that see social media as a useful tool.

“Agencies are finding that new technology can be used to their advantage with many using social media to connect with their clients, demonstrate personal expertise, and reach new consumers,” said ASTA CEO Zane Kerby. “Technology changes have always allowed agencies to adapt and grow and better serve the traveling public.”

The ASTA study found that a large percentage of agencies (75%) have passed the "learning" phase and feel that they have a good handle on the technical aspects of social media.

What is lagging behind, and telling, is how many respondents find social media to be useful. Only seventeen percent of those surveyed viewed social media as "essential" to their business, while twenty-two percent felt it was "nice to be there."

Why are these percentages so much different from other business models?

The social media section concludes with the statement that "Primary goals with social media are shifting from general awareness to expanding customer base and communicating with current clients."

If only 17% see a business benefit from social media, somebody has dropped the ball.

The survey was conducted with a research panel of ASTA agencies, the ASTA Research Family. The panel is comprised of a representative sample of ASTA member travel agency owners and managers. The report indicates a 95-percent confidence with an error rate +/- 5 percent.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

The article 83% Say Social Media Not Essential to their Business! first appeared on Confusingly Simple.

Write WHAT?

My blog focus?

Enough!

If I read one more post about "how to write the perfect blog" I'm going to scream!

I understand the dynamics of it. I understand how SEO works, and all that crap.

What I have the hardest time about is the "write what you know and love" blather. My blog doesn't have a defined target, theme or direction. Not that I can determine, at least.

When you know, and enjoy, a little bit of everything, how can you define yourself as someone "in the know" about one particular thing?

I don't feel qualified to bloviate on much of anything, most of the time.

The trick, I guess, is to write when I feel that I know something about something...and don't wait until the "opportune time" to post.  That's what scheduling is for.

Time to keep pressing onward.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Facebook will Eat You ALIVE!

Everywhere you turn online, you'll find a blog posting about the "best times to post on Social Media."

Every expert out there has a formula for when to post to have "maximum impact," like social media is some sort of war game. For the social media marketing person, getting your message in front of your followers, when they are receptive to it, is a major concern. And rightly so, since screwing it up is $$$ out of their pockets.

But what about the average blogger, who just has a story to tell? Oh, and doesn't have 5,000,000 followers all over the world.

• Well, who are your followers?
• Where do they live?
• What do they do?
• When are they active online?

Pretty easy, right.  Yeah, sure.

There are lots of options out there for figuring out when to post on Twitter. Most experts recommend posting several times a 24hr day, taking into effect that your message is not limited to one geographic area. There are websites out there that will evaluate your Twitter accounts and tell you when your followers are active, who is active, and when the best times are to reach them. FollowerWonk is one of these sites.

Facebook

There isn't anything similar for Facebook, though. On Facebook, you have to dig out the pencil and paper, and figure out the best times to post on your own. Post often enough to keep people engaged, but don't post TOO often, or you'll drive people away.

LOLcats live on Facebook. Grumpy Cat reigns supreme. Recipes, family photos, and memes will scroll your news feed faster than you ever thought possible.

Take a look at your FB news feed, spinning like a slot machine wheel, and see when your target audience is active online. Mid-day for stay-at-home types, and early/late evenings for people who work all day? And this is only during the week.

Belle Beth Cooper (@bellebcooper), over at the Buffer Blog, found that the most interaction was seen in the later part of the week, and weekend.  Sorta makes sense, when you think about it. The weekend is in sight!

Weekend postings on Facebook can be a bit elusive to pin down. The data shows that there is a spike in Facebook "Sharing" on Saturdays. But that may not hold true for you.  A lot depends on weekend schedules. Sports, family events, and yard work play a roll in messing up any sort of matrix for weekend postings.  Your target audience might not be there one weekend, but will be for the next two weekends. Or not at all. And your "Shares" may come later in the night than during the week.

So...?

I use Buffer to schedule most of my postings on Social Media. But I space them apart enough so that I can post topically current stuff in between the scheduled posts, and not overwhelm the average follower.

The folks over at the Buffer Blog have put a LOT of thought into posting schedules. For more insight into Facebook postings, check out this article from July, 2013. While it is targeted toward the Facebook Page user (normally businesses), the data holds true for the average user, also.

"While the best time to post is definitely important, there are some other things to keep in mind. I had a look at what kind of updates work best for Facebook pages to increase interaction and found 7 interesting statistics that you’ll probably find useful if you’re trying to make your page more engaging."

They base their recommendations on statistics, science, and psychology. And with over a three million posts processed per week (on average), they have the statistical data to back it up.

Scheduling posts for Facebook was/is a challenge. But I spent a couple of weeks studying the posting habits of others, and set my schedule based on their usage.  I work nights, so I would set up my laptop beside me at work, and leave FB up to scroll.  After a couple of days, I had an idea of when my friends are active.  This might not work for a business page, though.

If I want something to be seen, I post it early in the evening, or right around lunchtime.  Or post the same thing at both times, but a day apart. (Wednesday noon and Thursday evening, for example.)

Make It Work, or adjust it until it does

OK, you set up scheduled post times for Facebook, but they don't seem to be hitting the mark. Um, play with them? This is not "Set in Stone" scheduling.

Feel free to play with your posting times, and let me know if your personal experience differs from what the "recommended times" are.


Photos courtesy of ePublicist(CC) & Buffer(Used with permission).

Cyber Kids, Cyber Pranks & CyberBullying

Three blog posts crossed my desk this week, almost back to back. All three were from McAfee.com, and were related to family safety.

In the first blog posting, titled "So Are You ‘Hot or Not?’ App Rates Appearance," author Toni Birdsong talks about the plethora of Apps that are of questionable virtue. It seems there is a app out there called "Hot or Not." This app allows girls (or guys) to upload their photos and have thousands of other users rate their physical appearance. Now that's a wonderful idea.

Blue Lights Flashing

There are really only three times you gather a lot of First Responders in one location.  The first is when there is a major incident (terrorist attack).

A "Line of Duty Death" is the second event that brings the First Responder family together.

We in Phoenix are dealing with the loss of another officer, killed in the line of duty.

It started with a simple Tweet from the Phoenix Police account at 4:11pm on March 3rd: "43rd Ave and Bethany shut down by #PhxPD. It will be shut down for several hours for police incident. Please choose alternate route."