This morning I read a very disturbing article from Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), in which the author came to the conclusion that social networking sites are ineffective in driving traffic to the companies’ Web sites, based on a recent survey.

If we break down the stats provided in the article we can agree that perhaps IBD should not be using “Study Finds Facebook, Twitter Often Ineffective Traffic Drivers” as a headline. What exactly constitutes “often?” As per usual, we don’t see any methodology or link to the actual study/survey.

56.2% of the companies surveyed used Facebook, Twitter, My-Space and/or other social networking sites to attract consumer traffic to their Web sites.

22.7% of responding companies found social networking to be “ineffective” for driving traffic, while 9% found them to be “very ineffective.”

29.8% found social media sites to be effective or very effective in driving traffic.

29% of the companies surveyed found Facebook ineffective or very ineffective in driving consumer traffic.

28% rated (Facebook) as effective or very effective.

29.7% claimed (Twitter) is ineffective or very ineffective for marketing their sites

27.7% said (Twitter) was effective or very effective.

Claiming that social networking sites are ineffective in driving traffic to companies’ Web sites is pretty bold considering that slightly more than half (roughly 2000) of the “online businesses” surveyed even used social media to attract customers in the first place. The stats they provide seem to be quite even in all categories and one has to wonder whether or not the companies that are dissatisfied are using social media properly – are they trained to maximize SEO with keywords, hyperlinks and anchor text in their tweets and press releases? Do they do it themselves or do they have a PR agency or social media guru working for them?

Well, I took the liberty of a quick Google search and found the study is indeed available for download. After perusing the results, I discovered a more interesting statistic – 56.3% of respondents classified themselves as “beginners” and only 5.8% of respondents considered themselves “advanced” regarding their current level of expertise in traffic generation. Does this mean Facebook and Twitter are ineffective traffic drivers or that these companies ought to hire people who know what they’re doing (like us)!?

http://www.thetrafficsurvey.com/The-Traffic-Survey-Report.html

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Technorati Tags: Facebook, IBD, Investor's Business Daily, Myspace, SEO, Social Media, The Traffic Survey, Traffic, Twitter

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On a conference call with a prospect the other day, I mentioned that podcasts would be a great way to reach their audience. The response was lukewarm. When pressed, the prospect said, we’ve done podcasts before, but not that many people listened to them. Turns out, they were recording the podcasts, and then posting them to their website, and that was it.

Like any tool in the marketing mix, if no one knows about it, it’s not going to work. You can write the best release, record the best podcast, have the best collateral but if you don’t link it all together you’re not getting the most out of your efforts.

For example, let’s say someone in your organization writes a white paper. Too often, it gets printed or put on the website and that’s it. At Topaz, from that white paper we would help our client:

- create an abstract and work to get an article either in print or online

- write a synopsis for their blog

- create a podcast from the white paper

- tweet about the white paper, the blog and the podcast

- create a release on the topic that mentioned the podcast, blog and white paper

From one white paper, by cross promoting the activity, we’ve created multiple opportunities to interact with your audience. In budget-constrained times, or any time for that matter, it’s a great way to get the most out of your marketing efforts.

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Technorati Tags: Blogging, Communications, Marketing, PR, public relations, Social Media, Topaz Partners, Twitter

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I was recently at the Performance Racing Industry’s 22nd Annual Show in Orlando with Evans Cooling (client). At the show, all manners of technological advances were showcased as they related to the racing industry.

At the show, Evans showcased their waterless engine coolant. This is a unique engine coolant that overcomes the drawbacks of water-based coolant. Essentially, with Evans product, a vehicle can get better performance, better gas mileage, reduced maintenance, a lifetime coolant that never needs to be replaced providing a reduced the impact on the environment.

While Evans solutions have an application in high performance (race cars, motorcycles, ATVs, etc.) engines, it is also a viable option for virtually any internal combustion engine that has a radiator.

The benefit of Evans that was most interesting to the editors we talked to at the show – with all the talk on climate, the environment and being “green” – was the fact the Evans coolant is currently in testing to be declared non-toxic. With 88% of regular coolant ending up in landfills, this is a tremendous benefit.

Evans is available worldwide, but few folks know about them. Take a minute to visit their website and check out their coolant…www.evanscooling.com. I think you’ll find it interesting.

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Technorati Tags: Events, Marketing, PR, technology, Topaz Partners

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