Let's Connect...

Now-a-days if you want to connect with someone, you just don’t obtain that person’s telephone number or email address, you ask if they have a Facebook or Twitter account. Social networking has become one of the largest, most effective ways to communicate or get information from these days, but is it really a good way to connect with someone?

Whether you’re looking to promote your business, a product/brand or even yourself – you can do that via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube but is it really that affective? Society believes that if you have x amount of “likes” on Facebook or “followers” on Twitter, that is all that you need in order to become or feel successful. If you look at this recent study, Twitter is Not a Very Social Network, of how effective connecting on Twitter really is, you will see Twitter is all very one sided. Out of over 41 million profiles and 1.47 billion follower/following relationships, the researchers concluded that only 22% of all connections on Twitter are reciprocal. The only way connections on Twitter are effective is when both parties follow each other.

Coming from a marketing perspective, we marketers know that if you really want awareness, you need to reach the right people, in the right way. If you are a company trying to promote your business to bring brand awareness to the social media world, you need to connect with the appropriate people that can help accomplish your goal effectively. Perfect example; the company I currently work for has just launched their new Facebook page, and being that I work in the marketing department and who is considered to be a part of the Gen Y generation, they saw me as the perfect candidate to help promote and suggest people to “like” our page. Although it is without any effort that I can select my entire net generation group of Facebook friends and suggest that they should like this page, what is that really going to do for the company? If you ask me, it would do absolutely nothing - not unless one of my fellow youthful friends would be interested in building some high-end resort and/or residential property…any takers?

If you really think about it, I mean how easy is it for someone to just press “accept”. Although, they have accepted you, does that honestly mean there is a loyal connection/commitment between the two? Frankly, when someone has to recommend something that they think you should like, that’s not connecting – that’s just allowing them to show up on your news feed. It is when you target the right person and a relationship forms – is when a real connection has transpired.

So remember my fellow social networking peeps, it shouldn’t matter how large your group of friends are, but more importantly how connected your group is, whether it be big or small.  

Let's Connect,

Natasha 

Study: Twitter Is Not a Very Social Network

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_twitter_isnt_very_social.php

Starbucks' New Smartphone App

For all you techies and coffee lovers out there, today is your lucky day. Starbucks has just announced that they are now accepting payment plans via Starbucks mobile app. This works just like a regular Starbucks gift card that has been transferred to your phone, would work. You have a choice of either setting up the account via credit card or PayPal. When it comes time to pay, you take your Smartphone and hold the app-generated picture of a barcode to the scanner at the register.

According to Starbucks, this new method of payment is the fastest, and most convenient yet, allowing customers to be in and out - which is always when a plus when your in a hurry and in desperate need of a caffeine rush.  Starbucks has fully leveraged its role in mobile app all across the country – over 6800 stores in the U.S to be exact. They strongly believe that this strategy is extremely beneficial to them. When a customer has an app dedicated to a single coffee shop, they are more prone to going back there when they need a cup of coffee. Not only is this a brilliant approach to gain customer loyalty, but this will also reduce credit card transaction costs for the company. Less credit card transactions means less fees the company has to pay.

If this new method of payment turns out to be a success for the company, they will definitely have to deal with other competitors launching this payment strategy as well. This revolutionizing concept is great for all you tech savvy, cant live, cant breathe without your phone - people out there, but for those who are not, its probably about time you jump on the bandwagon. Sooner than later, we are going to no longer need to carry around credit cards, money, or any other method of payment out there. All we will need is a palm-size, electronic device that will do just about everything for us. 

Sources:


http://singularityhub.com/2011/01/27/paying-for-starbucks-with-your-iphone-or-blackberry-now-in-6800-locations/