Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Guest post by Dan Zarrella, author of Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness

The key to applying science to marketing is being prescriptive. Calculating and analyzing data that is interesting is fun, but information becomes useful when it tells you how to achieve a specific goal. Throughout my career, one of the goals I’ve focused on is the engineering contagious ideas. I’ve worked for years, using science and data to understand how to craft content that spreads like wildfire.

Humans have been spreading ideas for thousands of years, telling each other where to find the best hunting ground, what dish detergent to use and what god to worship. The web provides unprecedented access to these conversations, allowing researchers to analyze millions of ideas to reverse engineer what it is about them that makes them spread.

Generally, when you ask someone why certain ideas go viral, the best answer you’ll get is “because they’re good.” That video I sent you last week was so funny, I had to share it. Any more than a few moments of thought reveals this to be entirely untrue. There are plenty of good ideas that go nowhere and lots of bad ideas that spread like crazy. Clearly there are some other factors that determine how contagious ideas are. And it is exactly those factors I’ve devoted my work to studying.

If you’ve been to enough social media conferences, or read enough books or blogs about modern marketing, you’ve undoubtedly heard a ton of what I call unicorns-and-rainbows advice. Feel-good stuff like “engage in the conversation,” “hug your followers,” and “have a personality.” It’s hard to disagree with this kind of stuff, because I’m not going to get on stage and tell you to punch your customers in the face, but it’s generally not based on anything more substantial than what sounds right, or makes the listener feel good.

Unicorns-and-rainbows advice is kind of like the snake oil and magical cures peddled before the rise of real, scientific health care. No real doctor would treat his patients with a certain procedure simply because it “sounded right.” It’s time for social media marketing to move beyond the dark ages and embrace the deluge of data now available to us.

One of the biggest problems with the superstitious approach to social media is that success is considered luck. Under the hegemony of unicorns-and-rainbows it’s black magic to make a piece of content “go viral.” The only things those myth-based marketers use to guide their efforts is gut feelings and anecdotal (and often misleading) “experience.”

I for one, don’t like to base business decisions on luck or gut feeling. I prefer to use science and data to create reproducible and reliable results. To accomplish this, I crafted a model for understanding how ideas spread and I’ve studied how marketers can optimize for success at each step of the process. I call this model Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness. It’s what my latest book is all about.

While the name is reminiscent of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the actual model draws on two other concepts: AIDA and OODA. AIDA is a sales methodology that describes the steps in the selling (or buying process): awareness, interest, decision, and action. Each of those steps must occur if someone is going to buy something. OODA comes from military strategy and describes the decision making process in a confrontation: observe, orient, decide, and act.

My framework describes the 3 steps that must happen if someone is going to spread your idea for you:

1. The person must be exposed to your idea. They have to be following you on Twitter, subscribed to your email list or “like” your page on Facebook.

2. They must actually become aware of your idea. I follow 8,000 people on Twitter, so I don’t see every tweet. Your target must actually read your Tweet, open your email or see your wall post in their feed.

3. Something in that content has to actually motivate them to spread your idea. Once I’ve read your tweet, it has to make me want to retweet it. Your email has to make me want to forward it.

At each step of this process, marketers can optimize for success. My book goes into detail about each of these steps and provides data on how to do the best, but here’s a run down:

1. To increase the number of people potentially exposed to your ideas, you must increase your reach. Get more followers, email subscribers or Facebook likes.

2. You have to learn to be heard over the noise of social media. By being more attention grabbing or using contra-competitive timing.

3. Your content must include motivation-raising features. Combined relevance, calls-to-action and us vs them are examples of contagious “hooks.”

For more social media science like this, pickup Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness on Amazon.

The new, new Twitter is upon us and while some of you already have access to it, others will have to wait up to three weeks. I’m not one to write about new features or products as they’re released. But I would like to take some time to review why this version of Twitter is important to you and your business.

Twitter has undergone nothing short of a complete redesign…again. The new experience offers a much needed simplification. After all, almost six years following its debut, one of the most common searches for “how do you use…” on Google, is still…Twitter. With over 200 million Tweets soaring across Twitter everyday, the service is now aspiring to become something your father or mother or even your “sister” can easily understand and use.

Unveiled through a tagline of “let’s fly,” the new, new Twitter centers around five distinct tabs, Home, Connect, Discover, Me, and Tweet. Each tab presents a dedicated page that presents a snapshot of important features tied to particular actions or interests.

Home: One of the most notable improvements is in the intuitiveness of the design. The format is also now consistent. What you see on Twitter.com for example is the same as the Twitter app on smartphones and Tablets.I should also mention that TweetDeck be viewed as a TwitterPro version and is also now available on the Web.

Now, you have access to what you need in a simple and functional layout.On the “Home” page, you will find your social stream of course in addition to trends, recommended people, DMs, etc.

@Connect: The Connect tab is where you can see who’s talking about you as well as who’s interacting with you or your Tweets. The tab offers two views, “Interactions” and “Mentions.” Under Interactions, you can view conversations and Retweets, who’s now following you, who favorited your Tweets, who added you to a list, and other activities related to you. Mentions is just that…Tweets mentioning your @ name.

#Discover: As Twitter so appropriately states, the Discover tab is where simplicity meets serendipity. I love that…it’s very true and also it is serendipity that makes the egosystem so personal, exciting and valuable at once. In the egosystem, everything literally revolves around you. Your experience on Twitter is defined by who you follow, who they follow, trends based on relationships, and the interactions you have as a result. These interactions are unique to you and that is true for each of us. What you see is not what I see and that keeps things exciting. The new Twitter framework ensures that discovery and also serendipity remains personal.

Get Embed with Twitter

Before we move on, I’d like to call attention to one additional update to the Twitter experience. With the new Twitter framework, certain elements become portable to websites, blogs and other web platforms. To begin, Twitter is now making Tweets officially embeddable. As you know, there’s more to any Tweet than 140 or less characters. There are experiences, conversations, and expressions behind each. Not only will visitors see the Tweet wherever it may be embedded, Tweets become living pieces of interactive media wherever they’re placed.

Yes, embedded Tweets are portable and fully functional. Visitors can Reply, Retweet, Favorite or Follow without leaving your page, simply by clicking the respective trigger on the Tweet itself.

Twitter also improved its Tweet and Follow buttons. The new #hashtag button tells visitors that there is a relevant conversation taking place on Twitter and allows them to follow or join in with just one click. The @mention button gives people a shortcut to easily Tweet you and any desired account.

Go here to design your custom Twitter buttons.

Brand Pages

If you’ve ever clicked on a Promoted Tweet, you were either sent to a custom landing page, a traditional website, or perhaps a Facebook brand page. With Twitter’s new brand pages, it hopes businesses will design Twitter experiences that keep you in Twitter. It also hopes to increase the value of its Promoted products overall by giving brands more control in how they market themselves to consumers.

Twitter’s Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain recently shared that in his meetings with CMOs over the past year, the most recurring requests focused specifically on brandable pages. Like its bigger social siblings Google+ and Facebook, Twitter’s brand pages have officially taken flight. Enhanced profile pages as Twitter refers to them, give marketers the ability to shape the impressions of visitors while adhering to the brand style guide. Previously, businesses were confined to creative backgrounds and bios as well as their Tweets to define the brand experience. Now Twitter gives brands more control in how consumers view the company in Twitter…free of charge. And, Twitter removes outside advertising from each brand page.

For examples and perhaps to glean insights into best practices, Twitter launched with 21 advertising partners. You can view their enhanced profile pages by clicking each brand: @AmericanExpress, @BestBuy, @bing, @chevrolet, @CocaCola, @Dell, @DisneyPixar, @generalelectric, @Heineken, @HP, @intel, @JetBlue, @Kia, @McDonalds, @nikebasketball, @NYSE_Euronext, Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – @GhostProtocol, @pepsi, @Staples, @subwayfreshbuzz, and @VerizonWireless.

What does this mean for businesses specifically?

1. Businesses can host a branded experience for consumers in Twitter without forcing them outside of their preferred network

2. Brands can adhere to brand style guides to present a uniform color, typeface, presence, etc.

3. Guide the consumer experience with intentionally presented Tweets, media, and information.

4. Chart a new click path that starts with a Promoted Tweet and/or media to lead consumers on a more meaningful journey that can start and end in Twitter or continue outside of the information network. Much in the same way Facebook offers landing tabs, Twitter can offer a similar experience that changes based on the priorities of the brand.

5. Allow brands to present a more engageable profile where people follow companies because of the thoughtfulness that is invested in presentation and a meaningful Tweet stream. Brands are now measured not only by their actions, but also their words and content.

It’s now your turn. Are you ready to take flight on the new, new Twitter?

Click herefor your favorite infographics…now in 22 x 28 poster format!

Twitter continues to impress its supporters and critics alike. With 100 million active users, one billion Tweets published every day, and a fresh round of funding, Twitter’s monetization strategy continues to mature. In addition to licensing deals for its coveted fire hose and a future revenue stream tied to analytics, Twitter’s blue bird truly flies with the help of its expanding portfolio of Promoted products. The company is now releasing its latest offering, and it’s the most controversial product yet. New Promoted ads currently in a limited round of tests, hit streams even if users do not already follow the brand but are “like” those who do. Notoriously conservative in pushing ads to its fiercely loyal audience, this move represents a Mad Men moment for Twitter as it ventures into bold new territory.

The new form of in stream ads are an extension of its existing Promoted Tweets product where ads are placed at the top of the stream if the user already followed the company. Additionally, brands can used Promoted Tweets tied to search to plug directly into the interest graph. The first ad produce released by Twitter helps brands reach people who search for relevant keywords by serving up a promoted Tweet related to the search. Twitter is expected to also introduce self-service products for smaller businesses later in 2011.

Twitter’s other advertising products help brands reach consumers by attracting attention in the active panel that frames the Tweet stream. Through Promoted Accounts, brands can buy an opportunity to increase the number of followers. And, with Promoted Trends, brands tempt users with intriguing words or hashtags to entice click-throughs.

Companies such as Starbucks, Virgin America and Coca-Cola have actively invested in a variety of Twitter’s Promoted products since the beginning and each claim that Twitter’s ads consistently deliver worthwhile performance. Brands continue to line up to be among the first to experiment with these new media buys.

In a marketing world where media is neatly divided into paid, earned, and owned (P.O.E.M.), Twitter forces marketers to think beyond the traditional banner mindset. I spent the last couple of years studying the new opportunities for brands in the new media world and vehicles, channels, and mindsets required to use them effectively. The new take on media was released recently with the help of JESS3 as The Brandsphere. It introduced Promoted and Shared as two new channels to round out paid, earned, and owned. For example with Twitter’s new Promoted product, brands are encouraged to look beyond flashy graphical elements or using images or names of friends as bait. Twitter is carefully monetizing its popular service by requiring brands to lure consumers through clever word play, linked by interests that drive noteworthy experiences. Brands now need to rethink the click-through experience to take consumers on an extraordinary journey to not only perform well, but also reinforce the value of Promoted products as they introduce potential disruption to the precious Tweet stream.

Will Twitter’s new product pay off? Advertisers are certainly willing to give it a try. In a recent study conducted by Pivot, 60% and 32% of brands that experimented with social advertising, including Twitter’s Promoted products, found the new form of advertising very useful and useful respectively. Of those we polled, 93% had deployed social ads on Facebook and 78% on Twitter.

When it comes to consumers and how they feel about Promoted ads in Twitter, Lab42 found that only 10.9% say that they “are annoying and take away from the Twitter experience.” For this moment in time, consumers are open to Twitter’s cautious expansion of new advertising products. In the same study, 24.8% had already reported seeing Promoted ads related to relevant brands. Another 21.6% have received discounts offered through Promoted Tweets, 21.2% found new brands, and 14% have retweeted Promoted Tweets.

If you look at the doors that Twitter’s promoted products open, you start to get an idea of just how far this can go.
Promoted products can reach people based on interest, device, geolocation, behavior, and demographic. Indeed, Twitter’s Madmen moment has arrived. The company must now look at innovating not just how to sell media opportunities, but also work with brands to consistently deliver value and unique experiences that consumers appreciate rather than disregard or revolt against. Here, Twitter’s competition is itself as this is an opportunity that’s theirs and only theirs to win or lose. Even though Facebook is for all intents and purposes a competing network, budgets will continue to fund experiments in both and many other social platforms as brands experiment with reaching consumers where their attention is focused, their social streams.

Why is Twitter so interested in acquiring TweetDeck? To answer that question, one has to dig deeper into Twitter’s complicated relationship with “frenemy” UberMedia.

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal published a story claiming that Twitter is in talks to acquire TweetDeck, the most popular third-party client on Twitter’s platform, for around $50 million. This wouldn’t normally surprise us; however, TweetDeck was reportedly acquired for $30 million by Bill Gross’s UberMedia in February.

There’s a lot of backstory between Twitter and UberMedia. UberMedia, founded just a few months ago as an Idealab company, is the owner of UberSocial, Twidroyd, Echofon and UberCurrent, a combination that accounts for more than 11% of all tweets sent. It was founded by serial entrepreneur and Idealab creator Bill Gross. Idealab is the Pasedena-based incubator behind a wide range of companies including Picasa, Compete, Citysearch, eToys.com, Answers.com and Netzero.

There has been recent friction between Twitter and UberMedia. In February, Twitter banned UberSocial and Twidroyd for API violations. This was just weeks after the rumors about the TweetDeck acquisition first hit the wires.

According to two sources close to the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, UberMedia and TweetDeck were indeed talking about an acquisition. But either the deal never closed or it closed and then fell apart shortly afterward.

Then, last week, CNN first reported that UberMedia was building a Twitter competitor, one that could possibly remove the 140-character limit restriction on messages. From what our sources tell us, CNN’s report is accurate: UberMedia has been working on a direct competitor to Twitter. (As expected, Bill Gross wouldn’t say anything about the rumors surrounding UberMedia when I visited Idealab last week).

We don’t know very much about the UberMedia competitor, but we don’t believe Bill Gross’s goal is to destroy Twitter. Instead, it’s more likely UberMedia’s Twitter competitor is a backup plan in case its apps get banned from Twitter’s platform for some reason. Our belief is that Bill Gross would much rather work with Twitter than compete with it.

That brings us to today’s rumors about Twitter’s interest in TweetDeck. Recently, Twitter’s Ryan Sarver advised developers not to create Twitter clients that reproduce “the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience,” so it’s natural to think that Twitter is simply trying to consolidate its fragmented ecosystem by acquiring TweetDeck.

However, this acquisition is more likely a defensive move by the microblogging platform to keep TweetDeck out of UberMedia’s hands. Twitter simply doesn’t want one company controlling more than 20% of the ecosystem; that acquisition would give UberMedia way too much leverage and influence over Twitter’s platform. That’s why Twitter is willing to dish out $20 million more than UberMedia’s initial offer to TweetDeck.

Now for the big question: How will this piece of Twitter theater end?

The answer to that question lies with TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth, who will ultimately decide whether he wants to sell. He hasn’t confirmed or denied any rumors yet, but we’ve reached out to him via email and will update you if and when he responds.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of expression from government interference. While it is within our right to say what we think without fear of prosecution from our Government, freedom of expression in social networks however, is something altogether different. In the court of public opinion, your words can and will be used against you. But what works against us, also works for us.

While the egosystem is seemingly rife with unintelligible chatter, it is, in and of itself, revealing a new direction for our culture and society.  In this brave new world of altruism and self actualization, the lines that divide offline and online personae and experiences blur into one real-time, real world lifeway. Indeed, the impact of social and mobile technology is profound. As a result, human behavior has diverted towards a very public genre of expression, discovery, and extroversion, and packaged in brevity and frequency.

We are beguiled by this new found freedom of speech, sharing a communal desire to find our voice, protected by a false sense of security. The statusphere and blogsphere are rich with perpetual observations and declarations, but we lose something in translation. While content was once king, in social media, where character and word count is precious, context ascends to the top of the ranks. In short form, context is elusive and in order to convey intent and desired outcomes, one must master the art and science of storytelling and influence. We must realize that what we think we’re saying might not convey as desired. There’s a difference between what we say and what is heard. And now with social media, intention is often eclipsed by abbreviation.

#IAmSpartacus

27-year old accountant Paul Chambers learned about context and character the hard way recently when he tested his Freedom of Tweet. In January 2010, Chambers Tweeted, “”Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”

He was later convicted and fined. In November 2010, he lost his appeal. What was intended as a joke, in hindsight, is now vividly clear to see just how things can be taken out of context – especially on Twitter. Yes, his Tweet was in poor taste. His action was the catalyst for a national example of prudence. But, the Twitter community stood by Chambers and their Freedom of Tweet by uniting under the hashtag #IAmSpartacus upon learning his appeal was lost.  With homage to the film, Spartacus’s fellow gladiators demonstrated unanimity by declaring, “I am Spartacus.” Twitter denizens showed solidarity with Chambers by repeating his Tweet to the point of topping the Trends in Twitter for an entire day.  While many stand united on Twitter, the reality is that Chambers lost his job and still faces conviction and a significant legal bill.

Judge Jacqueline Davies said of the Tweet “It’s menacing in its content and obviously so. It could not be more clear. Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed.”

Context vs. Intention

A Rude Awakening

Inner monologue and filters usually prevent us from uttering words that could haunt us or worse, harm us. Social Media erode these filters enticing us to share in public what might be better shared with discretion. Perhaps our screens shroud us in a protective light.

Either way, there is no shortage of stories where students are dismissed as candidates based on what college admissions officers discover on social networks. Accordingly, job candidates also lose opportunities without realization as HR managers discredit them based on what they share in social media. We’ve also read many stories where employees are fired for lambasting customers or  bashing management.

Our digital shadows work for and against us. When it comes to matters of education and employment, perhaps it is not wise to test our Freedom of Tweet unless it is advantageous to do so. In a groundbreaking case however, we see that the First Amendment of Social Media may in fact, officially take shape.  An employee who criticized her employer on Facebook was recently fired for doing so. Now the National Labor Relations Board accused American Media Response of illegally firing her.

According to the National Labor Board, Social Media are essentially digital water coolers. Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon expounded, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”

This landmark case will serve as precedent for the coming flood of cases to consume courts.

While common sense is uncommon, it seems that in this case, at least employees are covered even if judgment lapses. The National Labor Relations Act gives workers a federally protected right to form unions and it prohibits the punishment of workers for discussing working conditions or unionization.

This significant move by the NLB triggered a “lawflash” by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a law firm with a large labor and employment practice representing hundreds of companies, “Employers should review their Internet and social media policies to determine whether they are susceptible to an allegation that the policy would ‘reasonably tend to chill employees’ in the exercise of their rights to discuss wages, working conditions and unionization.”

In case you glossed over the above paragraph, it essentially says that your social media policy might open up the organization to potential complaints, suits, and liabilities.

With Social Media Comes Great Responsibility

Yes, social media is the democratization of information. We’re inspired to express ourselves and are rewarded every time we share a bit of who we are and what moves us with the recognition and validation of response and connection. But with this new voice and platform, we must also embrace a more informed era of consciousness. Now more than ever, vigilance becomes a virtue. While this so-called First Amendment of Social Media is written and tested in real time, it is up to us to say and do the things that share not only who we are, but also who we want to be personally and professionally.

I Tweet, therefore I am…protected?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The business of Twitter has grown more in this last year than it has in its brief four-year history. It’s a light year versus calendar years and now Twitter is flying high with almost 200 million users releasing 100 million Tweets per day.

Recently we were introduced to the “New Twitter.” Today, we’re introduced to the official presentation of Twitter with the release of “New Twitter, New Look”

Twitter released a unified Twitter style guide to align users and field reporters behind the fortification of the Twitter brand rather than the social anarchy that was threatening to dilute it. Truth is, that every brand should have a social styleguide…not only how a brand should be presented, but also define its voice and persona.

Yes, you can tweet freely, but when we refer to Tweet as a noun, we must now follow the guidelines set forth by Twitter. Last year, Twitter attempted to trademark Tweet and now we’re introduced to well-documented guidelines that help us follow the “new” rules.

We’re also now presented with official resources for Follow buttons, Tweet buttons, Widgets, and logos and icons.

Please Tweet, but ensure the proper usage when you do tweet…

Of all the social networks competing for our online persona and social graph, Twitter is special. The culture and self-governing rules of engagement shaped by the “me” in social media, create a personalized  experience that looks and feels less like a “social” network and instead, creates an empowering information exchange.

Twitter is at the heart of the Web’s evolving egosystem and its archetype is powerful and quite understated.  For better or worse, Twitter introduces the notion of notion of popularity, whereby the numbers of followers and also the friend to follower ratio we possess indicate ones stature within Twitterverse. As I’ve said over the years, popularity does not beget influence, but the egosystem and all who define it, do in fact reward and nurture it. The true promise of Twitter is revealed not in the size of our social graph, but instead how we influence digital culture shaped by tweets, responses, retweets, trending topics, and the evolving patterns of connectivity we explore as both individuals and as denizens of a global community. Eventually, what happens on Twitter will influence behavior offline as well.

The Illusion of Control and Influence

In business, the illusion of influence is often measured by the quantity of followers and as such, the success of social campaigns is routinely defined by the volume of responses and retweets we trigger and the overall share of voice we earn through participation. As numbers factor into metrics, programs must include strategies for expanding visibility and reach. Brands then look to those individuals with remarkable social graphs to represent products and services much in the same way celebrities endorse products in traditional media today.  As a result, businesses are targeting individuals with substantial connections and rewarding them with incentives and also compensation for introducing a series of paid or sponsored tweets, updates, and posts to their audiences.

While social media presents a wonderful opportunity for individuals to define their “15 minutes” and ultimately their online legacy, brands and individuals must take responsibility for their streams and their valued networks. We are now venturing into domains where “eyeballs” and “audiences” transform into relationships and each are curated and cultivated to mean something deeply personal. Here, people are the masters of their experiences and they are defined by those to whom they’re connected.

Action…

Actions speak louder than words and as such, we earn and retain the relationships we deserve.

Influence is the ability to inspire and measure action. Awareness counts, but if social activity can cause action or change or impact sentiment or perception, we begin to understand the transformative and powerful attributes of true influence.

For example, if we align a group of undeniably popular Twitter users who are recognized for their celebrity and not necessarily recurring topics, passion, and interests, broad reach is certainly an inherent benefit of the alliance. But does reach equate to influence? I don’t believe so. Followers don’t equal influence.

If anything, reach contributes to awareness and buzz.

Twitter is unique in that its most active users, to some extent, are developing their own dedicated audiences. And just because they follow a popular person on Twitter, these campaigns don’t necessarily translate into desired actions or outcomes. They do, however, succeed in spreading the word and most commonly done so via retweets as followers of notable personalities also have followers of their own, which are as important to them and therefore require constant feeding of valuable and interesting information and content. Essentially, followers aren’t really followers at all. They’re collections of “interest graphs” where individuals are not bound by social relationships as much as they’re tied through context, common interests and goals, and shared experiences.

In a recent study entitled “The Million Follower Fallacy,” author Adi Avnit observed, “The act of retweeting (based on my personal experience), typically indicates that the receiver reads the tweet carefully, found it interesting, and deemed it to be of sufficient interest and value to forward it further to her followers. In some sense, retweets capture the content value of the tweet.”

In relation to the number of followers one earns in Twitter, Avnit concluded, “Popular users who have a high indegree [number of followers] are not necessarily influential in terms of spawning retweets or mentions.”

As an organization, how would you test the value of these connections? What if our goal was to raise donations for a particular cause or increase pre-orders or registrations related to a soon-to-be released product? Retweets are a necessary step in spreading information, but in the end, it’s the resulting clickthrough and donation, purchase, or registration that tests influence and defines the success of the campaign.

Perhaps the answer resides in the following statement, “we are defined by our associations.”

Brands seeking reach, presence, and connectivity must look beyond popularity and focus on aligning with the influential beacons who serve as the hubs for contextual networks or nicheworks.

The Conversation Quotient

Conversions are already a key metric in other forms of sales and marketing and eventually, it will permeate social media as well. Formulas exist to measure conversion ratios and if we analyze the performance of conversations, we can then not only assess influence, but also identify how to improve or increase conversation to action ratios. If a campaign earns 100,000 tweets and retweets and elicits 600 donations, purchases or registrations, the conversation quotient represents a .6% conversation rate. In this case, it can be assumed that for every 100,000 tweets, we can potentially expect 600 actions.

In the simple example above, conversations contribute to presence, but it is conversions that measure the effects of awareness. It’s imperative that we introduce a click to action, one that evokes response and also a measurable and meaningful event. However, as attention is increasingly thinning and information competes against itself, we must be mindful that multiple factors exist that are already working against you. While popularity factors into the likelihood for visibility, the design of the tweet contributes to whether it’s read, read and retweeted, or read, retweeted, and activated.

The Growing Popularity and Prominence of Nicheworks

Users on Twitter are already forging social graphs based on context. As such, Twitter will eventually base its Promoted Tweets advertising program on frames of reference. For instance, if you tweet about coffee on a regular basis and build a small, but dedicated audience around the subject, you are building a network of influence based on an identifiable topic. While I refer to these contextual networks as nicheworks, Twitter views the relationships formed around subject matter as interest graphs. Accordingly, these interest graphs will then receive advertisements in their streams, in this case, coffee.

Starbucks is already experimenting with Promoted Tweets tied to interests. The company also recently partnered with Klout to run a test campaign whereby “influencers” identified to related keywords were given a special offer. Applying the conversation quotient would immediately measure the performance of the campaign. And if Starbucks experimented with certain variations to test conversion ratios, the company could then introduce an awareness component to the program where the influencer is then empowered to extend the offer to their audiences. The campaign then focuses on context and influence rather than popularity, which will most likely result in a significant increase in clicks to action and ultimately greater conversions.

You Get One Tweet to Make a First Impression

You only get one shot at a desired outcome and one-click to make a first impression. Plan accordingly and ensure that the series of crafted tweets are optimized to incite desired behavior. It is for this reason that we look beyond popularity towards those individuals and organizations that have established influence within relevant subject matters. Thoughtfulness, strategy, research, rewards, and context are critical ingredients of our programming recipe. The consistent introduction of value linked to interests and influence, sets the stage for the establishment and cultivation of active, dedicated, and beneficial social nicheworks.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

On Monday, I received a short and simple message from the Twitter team, “You are invited to attend a special event at Twitter HQ tomorrow afternoon, RSVP Yes or No.”

I had just finalized my travel from San Francisco to New York and thought for a moment, that it might be worth reconsidering. The message could only mean one thing, Twitter was going to announce something new and given that they don’t usually host live conferences for just any new feature, it would carry a level of importance that would see the likes of tech’s top press and industry leaders in attendance.

Indeed, what Twitter announced was historical in its short timeline of rapid evolution.

Welcome to The New Twitter – #newtwitter

Even though I was traveling, the team turned on access so that I could share with you what’s in store for your new and “enhanced” experience. What you see below is currently in the process of rolling out to everyone over the course of the next several weeks. By the time you read this, you may already find a special alert at the top of your browser inviting you to click to try the “new Twitter.”

Let’s start with why.

Twitter states that its over 145 million registered users tweet and retweet. According to Evan Williams, 78 percent of active users have used Twitter.com in the last 30 days. What’s more, Twitter.com and m.twitter.com account for 92% of all access and communication. A change to Twitter.com was imminent to grow the footprint of social media’s favorite little giant.

Whether or not you agree with the total number of registered users vs. users actually using the service, what’s tenable is that Tweets are on the rise. Twitter reports over 90 million Tweets per day.

What’s worth noting from the onset is that Twitter is switching to a two-column dashboard. For users of Twitter’s app on the iPad, the New Twitter may already look familiar. This is a significant change as it completely expands your existing Twitter.com perspective.

As Co-Founder Evan Williams explains…

Twitter has always been about getting a lot in a little. The constraint of 140 characters drives conciseness and lets you quickly discover and share what’s happening. Yet, we’ve learned something since starting Twitter—life doesn’t always fit into 140 characters or less.

Today, we’re introducing a new, re-engineered Twitter.com that provides an easier, faster, and richer experience.

The New Twitter starts with a shift in design principles designed to keep your eyes on the stream without straying to far from the flow. Everything now starts on the left, but also expands to the right in a new panel that expands your view.

For example, when visiting the new home page, you’re immediately greeted with the new format.

Integration and elegance are at the forefront of New Twitter. Looking at the stream, you’ll notice various icons on the right side of the Tweet where applicable. These keys allow you to view the various rich media elements on the right panel without leaving the page. Essentially, you can now view embedded photos, videos, and location directly on Twitter.

This expands the view to the right column

View images and video in the new panel

See the location of where the Tweet originated

Open up the dialogue between people to “finally” view discussions as a single thread (see below)

Direct messages are also threaded now…

As I was sharing screenshots of #newtwitter last evening, Alyssa Milano asked a interesting question about panels that led to an important discovery. She asked whether or not the right pane could be closed to re-center the stream. The answer was no. Closing the pane simply brings us back to the home view.

For those without larger screens, something interesting comes to light.

Alyssa discovered that the landscape for customer wallpaper in New Twitter is no longer as gracious as it once was with a singular column view.

For the time being, personal branding is affected. Your bio and your words will speak for you now more than ever.

Points of Interest

Clicking on Tweets reveals additional information related to the author or subject in the details panel. The content of the Tweet determined the expanded options, which can include replies, other Tweets, a map of where the geotagged Tweet was sent, and more.

Usernames also unlock a mini profile without navigating from the stream. It offers a quick overview of account information, including bio and recent Tweets.

While in Twitter, hitting the “?” key surfaces a window panel of helpful shortcuts.

The New Twitter is not The New Coke

If you remember the controversial move from Coke to New Coke, Twitter’s move is not intended to convince you that this new version tastes better than it really should. Twitter execs, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Dick Costolo, have long stated that Twitter is not a social network; it is instead intended to be experienced as “consumption environment.” Either way, it is a stream of collective consciousness that fundamentally changes the way we learn, discover and share.

In Williams’ words: “We’re trying to get people to understand that they don’t have to Tweet if they want to get value out of Twitter.”

Twitter’s new design also means business. The radical elaboration of the Twitter panes suggests that rich media isn’t the only thing we’ll see in these free spaces. As Co-Founder Biz Stone shared with MediaBistro, The new Twitter lends itself o “new revenue-generating opportunities.” He also elaborated on the subject, “The fact that you can click on any tweet that interests you and see even more information lends itself to advertising and revenue opportunities of promoted tweets and and so forth.”

Let me know what you think of #newtwitter and let’s learn how to improve the presentation, collaboration and productivity for the “new” Twitterverse.

By Brian Solis: www.briansolis.com