BrightCite

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that limits posts to 140 characters.  Each time you post or “Tweet”, your message becomes visible to your “followers” (those who subscribe to be notified when you post).

Because Tweets are so short and integrated with SMS (texting), Twitter presents an ideal way to distribute and view social web content from a cell phone.

Tweets are also discoverable by search engines.   This means people searching for keywords that appear in your Twitter content can find you, visit your Twitter page (where they can visit your website if you promote it) and become your followers.

Twitter As A Marketing & Communications Tool For Health Clubs

As more people use Twitter and the applications around it expand – it’s becoming a strategic distribution tool.  It can be used to directly and indirectly promote your fitness business while encouraging online engagement with your brand.  Or in plain speak – you can use it to allow prospects and members to better connect with your club online.

Content Distribution Ripple Effect

Twitter has a very open API that allows it to be integrated into many other online services, blogs and social networks (like FaceBook).  This compounds its distribution potential.

Say your club has a Twitter account that has 200 followers and a Facebook page that has 300 friends. You can easily integrate Twitter with FaceBook, so each time you Tweet, the message is distributed to your followers and is visible to your FaceBook friends.

If your Twitter followers pass along your Tweet content to their Twitter followers (called “retweeting”)  it will then appear on whatever social networks they have Twitter connected to as well.  It doesn’t take long to see the potential reach your club can have…

Market Research & Reputation Management For Health Clubs

You can use Twitter’s search functionality strategically to gain insight on your local market.  It’s also a nice reputation management tool as it will allow you to view conversations people are having about your club and your competitors (good, bad and indifferent).  More on that in a moment…

Show & Tell

The best way for health club marketers to understand the impact Twitter can have on their business is via example.  The image below shows results from a Twitter search for “Anytime Fitness”.  (keep in mind these results are constantly changing as new Tweets continuously refresh).

I’ve annotated the screen shot with numbers (1-4) to show you four different examples of how Twitter is helping and hurting this health club and its brand:

1. Help Generate Leads – This person tweeted the club’s name and address.  Besides having the club’s name and address bradcasted to all the person’s followers, this tweet can enhance the club’s local search engine optimization, making the club more visible online when people are searching for fitness clubs in their area.

2. Creates Testimonials – This person’s tweet acts as a testimonial for the club.  And that testimonial has been automatically distributed to everyone following him on Twitter.  (Some people have thousands of followers and don’t forget the distribution ripple effect)

3. Communicate With Staff – This person’s tweet shows how Twitter can be used to communicate company info.  This example is indirectly connected to the club.  But illustrates how the club could use Twitter to post its staffing status and broadcast out to employee’s.

4. Damaging To The Club’s Brand – This tweet is from a dissatisfied prospect or member.  It provides a public and easy to pass along complaint about the club.  (Remember his complaint is being automatically distributed to his list of followers plus the potential distribution ripple effect)

Can Using Twitter Help Your Health Club?

Twitter has been around a couple years and is now starting to pick up user momentum.  As with any new web communications platform it will take time to understand all it’s applications.  It’s still early in the game and there is not yet any one clear strategy for using Twitter effectively.

But, Twitter has proven potential to be a successful marketing tool for small and large companies.

As with any online tool there are pro’s and con’s to using it.  The best way to learn is to jump in and start using it.  You may find it to be a valuable Digital Marketing Asset for your club.

Follow me on Twitter here.

Learn more about Twitter.

What does social networking mean for your company?  It changes how people can and will talk about your brand.  It changes how you can and hopefully will create community and value around your brand.

Is this important?  Review the report below and decide for yourself…

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Why do you do what you do? Somewhere in your business is a story that connects to that reason. And somewhere within your story, perhaps dormant, is your emotion.

The emotion behind your business is powerful. It cuts through advertising hype. It bypasses people’s natural skepticism that you are trying to sell them something. It’s a story so pure that when people hear it – they get it and they want to experience it for themselves.

Your website let’s you tell your story. It’s a medium that can convey emotion, move people, connect them to the energy and benefit of your business. Each day, the web is evolving in ways that allow you to share the emotion behind your business, faster, better, cheaper. You just need to start using it. Here’s an example. It’s a very worthwhile 6 minutes:

This video provides a glimpse into how social networking, search engines, tagging, widgets, blogs, wikis, video, audio and other forms of new media will revolutionize how we communicate and do business.

Here’s an innovative marketing idea a personal fitness trainer uses to get noticed. 

His business card is actually a piece of fitness equipment. 

Not only does the texture of the card incite you to pull it apart to read it – when you do, you get a taste of the actual experience behind using the fitness trainer’s services.  Brilliant!

By: Curt Conrad
President, BrightCite Inc.

Warning.  Slight rant below…

Is Your Business Web Friendly?

Is your small business prepared for the arrival of the virtual marketplace?  For years I’ve been telling all who would listen how strategic use of the web is a critical small business asset.  I’ve been met with many glazed eyes and blank stares from small business people who just don’t get it. 

Too bad – because the clock is ticking for the small business person who is web-illiterate and who still thinks about and uses a website as only an online brochure. 

It’s going to be a rough road ahead for small businesses not actively seeking to build online assets and who lack a basic understanding of how business works on the web.

On the flip side, proactive small business owners who see the Internet as an opportunity for a business building investment will be rewarded with an exceptional rate of return on time, money and resources. 

Are you actively educating, positioning and preparing yourself and business to profit from the power of the Internet?  Where do you stand?

Quick Audit
Answering yes to the questions below indicates you are positioning yourself to build online assets that will serve you and your business well in the years ahead:

1. You have a dedicated domain name for your website and e-mail (www.yourbusiness.comyourbusiness.com) skills.
2. You have a strategic plan for your website that ends with tangible results.  These results are based on visitors taking specific actions like calling, e-mailing, registering and downloading information from you.
3. You see  analytics information at least weekly, that tracks how many people visited your site, what they clicked on and how they found you.  You use this information to improve the strategic results of your website over time.
4. You understand the basics of Search Engine Optimization and have identified the keywords potential customers are likely to type into a search engine to find you.
5. You understand what a blog is and how it works for business (just as you understand the news media and PR).  You have left a comment on a blog.
6. You have a basic understanding of what RSS is and have used a feed reader before.  You know how it’s used to subscribe to and organize video, audio, blogs and other web content.
7. You have visited MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and SecondLife to familiarize yourself with social networking, Web 2.0 and network effects that govern an emerging virtual marketplace.
8. You know what a Podcast is and have listened to one.
9. You know what a widget is.
10. You have given thought to how the web is changing the rules of your business and assessed how it complements your business strengths and exploits your weaknesses.  You are actively exploring the online opportunities and threats to your business.

The more questions you answered "no" to, the less prepared you are for the rapidly approaching future.  On the other hand – there has never been a better time to start increasing your online business knowledge and skills. 

By: Curt Conrad
President, BrightCite Inc.

In my last post I discussed how adoption of feed readers are turning RSS into an up and coming online advertising channel.  The channel is relatively new and inexpensive, not to mention uncrowded.  This is a great time to get in on the ground floor and get ahead of the pack.

Here’s some info on how RSS is being integrated into online ads:

From the post: Turn Ads Into Content & They Work Better:

“In late September, several marketers — including Symantec — rolled out ad units that pulled content into ad banners straight from RSS feeds of those advertisers’ corporate blogs. I just reviewed click-through data for Symantec’s first twenty days, and the early data suggest that RSS-powered deliver better performance, both in terms of click-through rates and engagement.

Normal ads (whether they’re video ads on TV, banner ads on the web or billboards along the freeway) experience “creative fatigue” over time. Creative fatigue means, in essence, our eyes get bored with the same creative after we’ve seen it too often, and we stop noticing it altogether. If you plot the performance of a single creative execution over time, with time passing left to right along the x-axis, it’s a sad, downward slope almost every time. This is why advertisers “refresh” their creative frequently.”

Blog.memeorandum.com expalins the RSS sponsorship model being used by Techmeme (A news and blog aggregator website).

“The way it works is simple. A sponsor’s blog feed is polled every few minutes, the latest post of which appears in its assigned slot (first, second, or third).

Advantages of this approach over banner advertising are numerous. “Click-throughs” can lead to the visitor browsing, commenting on, and even subscribing to the sponsor’s blog. And a sponsor has direct control over what appears on Techmeme simply by posting.”

Here’s how they’re doing it. (Notice the sponsored posts on the right coming from the advertisers Blog Via RSS feed)

This is an exceptional ad model because it hits the intersection of Consumer and Advertiser value.  The consumer can self-select meaningful content that stays relevant because it’s constantly updated.  The advertiser’s product and services then become next in line for the consumers attention.  Even if no transaction takes place, a consumer clicking through to the advertisers blog can set off a chain reaction of back end marketing value through list building,consumer comment feedback, community development, analytic analysis, inbound links, social networking and SEO impact.

We’ll keep our eyes on this as it evolves.  But there is no doubt RSS has and will continue to develop into a powerful online marketing and advertising tool for small businesses. We’re working on integrating a similar model in our upcoming Xtenda™ release.  Stay tuned…