Social Messaging? Blogs? Facebook? Twitter!

Over the last couple of months, to the neglect of this blog, I’ve become quite addicted to Twitter. Like I originally did with blogs, I cursed Twitter because I didn’t see the point of it. Well I must admit that I regret not getting on Twitter sooner.

As I eventually learned a blog is an essential business tool and one that generates all my business, well that was until Twitter. Twitter is a social messaging/notification service that allows you to text updates on what you’re doing right now. You know that one little status section of Facebook that asks you what you’re doing right now? That’s Twitter and it’s phenomenal. Twitter only allows you to send 140 characters at a time but it’s amazing how much information you can learn from brevity. 

In my opinion Twitter has become the best tool for networking with people, connecting with information, marketing and most importantly getting people to talk about whatever topic you’re talking about. These days I have two Twitter accounts. My business is @TOKiBiz and the one I’m most amazed by is @BostonTweet.

@BostonTweet, in conjunction with BostonTweet.com, broadcasts real time Twitter updates about what’s happening right now at Boston restaurants, bars and music venues. @BostonTweet is very focused on local Boston business, which  makes people passionate about voicing their Boston restaurant recommendations. What Twitter does, that blogs and Facebook don’t do (or at least as well), is to get people to think about topics and contribute to the discussion in real time. What amazes me about BostonTweet is people are very passionate about their favorite local people, places and things – I know I am! So when you pose a question about what’s your favorite Thai Food restaurant we all immediately chime in with our vote. This puts the restaurant fresh on our mind and for me makes me want to visit that establishment ASAP. I know I’ve already visited a few new spots based on these recommendations and I’m sure (out of 550 followers) I’m not the only one  – businesses need to get in on the Tweet! I’m definitely going to J. Pace & Son in the North End very soon!!

In my opinion Twitter has become more valuable for business than blogs and Facebook. Blogs are terrific for when you want to be verbose on a topic that you’re passionate about but blogs can no longer beat the immediate influence that Twitter has. Maybe it’s that we can no longer process anything more than 140 characters or 30 seconds of video but those are the influencers and if business wants to survive then they need to embrace that. My buddy at EaT in Portland, Oregon just yesterday asked me if he should spend money on having a website for his new restaurant. I said no way! Create a blog, register with Twitter, and then send updates from your cell phone (while at the restaurant) about what’s happening RIGHT NOW at EaT. With a simple line of code you can notify your followers and update your blog & website with fresh content that will immediately be indexed on the search engines. Your typical portfolio, online brochure website is no longer effective in generating business for offline companies. Sure it’s nice to have an online menu but in most cases it’s not going to generate new business and it’s definitely not going to get people talking. Twitter can!

If you’re an offline business (restaurant, bar, cafe, shop) then you know that word of mouth is your most valuable form of marketing – recommendations from loyal customers. This is what Twitter does for your business and you need to get on board to get people talking and thinking about your business. Blogs and websites are you talking to your customers, which is of course important, but Twitter gets your customers talking. 

As for Facebook I use to think that it was good for marketing but I no longer believe that to be true. Facebook is phenomenal for connecting with former classmates and I owe Mark Zuckerberg a lot of thanks for connecting me with my former St. Martin de Porres (Poughkeepsie, NY) classmates – I don’t know how Classmates.com is still in business. However, as a marketing & networking tool Facebook isn’t as effective as Twitter. In my opinion Facebook’s revenues (or lack of) prove that. Of course Twitter is also trying to figure out their revenue model, maybe someday it will be a necessary utility like the telephone, but in the simplest terms Twitter is an advertising model in itself. Not in the form of banners but in the form of valuable information that’s not clogged with a bunch of spam and excessive text. If you don’t like what someone’s dishing then you just un-follow that person – problem solved. Wouldn’t it be nice if email was like this?

Startup Statistics from Bizak

Bizak allows entrepreneurs to categorize and search for startups according to industry, business type and revenue source.  As of September 26, 2008, Internet industry startups utilizing social networking tools with in house advertising is the most popular type of startup.  

The stickies below outline the most popular types of startups in their respective categories.  Google Adsense still remains very popular at 20% of all revenue models, even though I feel that it has become worthless.  My preference has always been a subscription model in one form or another – Bizak and infoMedMD both integrate a subscription model with corporate services.  Deciding whether to offer services for Free or Not Free are usually the deciding factors between a subscription or advertising model and whether you’re targeting consumers or corporations.  Generally speaking, consumers want your product for free whereas corporations are willing to pay for value added services and/or data. 

Top Startup Industries on Bizak:  Internet (35%), Arts & Entertainment (9%), Computers & Electronics (8%), Business (4%), Politics & Media (4%) and Retail (4%).

Top Website Types on Bizak:  Social Networking (16%), Ecommerce (14%), Consulting Services (11%), Content (9%), Blogs (9%), Video (6%), and Business Networking (6%).

Top Revenue Sources on Bizak:  In-House Advertising (22%), Google Adsense (20%), Product Sales (20%), Consulting Fees (17%), and Subscriptions (11%).  Back in May I also highlighted the top revenue sources on Bizak and it’s good to see with more data that Google Adsense has decreased significantly while product sales have increased.  Based on our statistics in May 2008 (a month after launch) Google Adsense was at 39%, Product sales at 14% and In-House Advertising was 12%.  Subscriptions and Services have remained relatively constant at 11% and still less then 1% use Microsoft Search Advertising and Yahoo Search Marketing for revenues.