Here’s some statistics about effectiveness of Facebook marketing tactics:

Looking at the numbers, we see that creating Facebook applications was the most effective tactic. Surveying fans had pretty good results too. Advertising on Facebook is the worst performer.

Usually, a good Facebook application will engage users in a fun or meaningful way. Facebook applications have the potential of engaging for long and can exploit viral channels available in Facebook. I also thought it was the most effective approach in Facebook in the long term since brands can use an application to grow a user base with time. Then, the brand has a base of operation to pitch their fan page, contests or other timely promotions. I’m glad to see that numbers are confirming what I believe.

Here are the statistics for Twitter:

For Twitter we see that try to sell was giving the worst results. The best performing tactics were those involving answering tweets about PR problems or responding to other negative tweets about the brands.

I also like the fact that in-person events are performing well with Twitter. Twitter is always proving to me that it is an amazing bridge between online social interactions and real world interactions. What’s more engaging that meeting persons face to face? Fun stuff!

It’s common sense for people in social media but it proves that really engaging with users or customers is the most effective social media marketing approach.

Basic questions that any brand would ask before they start are:

• How do I find the influencers on my market?
• Which social networks my customer base are using and at which frequency?
• How do you track all mentions of your brand?
• How many resources it will take and who should do the job?
• How do I track the effectiveness of my tweets?

You will find on Mashable, a list of Tweeter Tools for the Enterprise that can help you answer these questions. Start with the integrated Twitter search to track the mentions of your brand or a few keywords. You can saved the search requests on your Twitter account. Doing that saves you time.

I would add to Goggle what you are looking for as they are many small niche sites that gathered topic-related tweets or Tweeple. They give you a head start on who to follow.

The A/B testing tips using hashtags is a wonderful idea that is so simple to implement. Like Sudha Jamthe mentioned on Mashable, you can use it to test the effectiveness of your message, test what time and day brings you the best results or analyze the effectiveness on different audience segments.

MORE:
+ Corporate Twitter Toolbox: Twitter Tools for the Enterprise by Sudha Jamthe on Mashable

I read on Mashable yesterday their 10 Things You Must Do to Earn Your Audience’s Trust. I often made similar recommendations to people. I feel that some points needs clarification or adjustments. Here are my insights on some points.

Tell us who you are

I would add that you should say what topics you will discuss, what is your angle. If you run a blog, do not make it only about your brand. For example, Paradivision creates social media applications but our blog covers social media news and trends for business.

Don’t setup a profile on every network

I do not recommend to write the exact same message on all the network. I stay away from tools to publish the same updates on many networks; doing that only creates noise. If you wish to engage in a conversation with your customers, you must be willing to make the time.

I often spread the same stories on Twitter and Facebook. But I will use different sentences to do it. On Twitter, my followers may have never met me. There are more chances that I have at least met you once if we are Facebook friends. For that reason, I use different words to talk to each audience. In Facebook, I use the link and comment features to publish richer content.

Know that news spread more and die faster on Twitter. I find LinkedIn to be a passive social network. But some people like it. Try it to see if it is for you.

Write for the Word

Writing short posts is crucial. Aim for posts between 200 and 400 words. People do not have the time to read longer stories. If you wish to cover several angles, split the story in a series of posts. Each post must stand on its own.

Document Everything

I wish to point out that text is more SEO friendly than video. So even if you post a video, you need to include some text in your post. Use videos to complement what you are saying, to bring a topic or to document an event. It works great for quick interviews. Keep your videos under 2 minutes but aim for 1:30 minutes. It needs to be short for people to watch your video.

Web 2.0 is about sharing and engaging. Upload your videos on You Tube or Vimeo. You want to give bloggers a chance to spread the words and embedded your video into their story.

+ Photo by Jerome Paradis showing an improvised session at PodCamp Boston 4, that happened last weekend

• ComScore Media Metrix’s year-end report: Women’s community was the most visited and fastest growing Internet category, tied with politics. The number of unique visits to women’s community sites jumped 35% to almost 70 million from 52 million. This is quite an achievement considering the US Presidential race.
• InsideFacebook: Two days ago (in September 2008), a new survey shows that women outnumber men on Facebook in every age group.

The most current Facebook statistics look like this

What it interesting is that reality is still holding. It has been true month after month. Women are truly embracing social media. The only social networking site where there is more men than women is LinkedIn.

Anderson Analytics’ Social Network Sites A&U Profiler Survey

The first conclusion that is interesting for a marketing viewpoint or if you wish to have your own social network application is to look at how men and women use SNS. You can read from the press release on that particular SNS study the following:

While male and female SNS users engage in similar activities online, the survey found that males are more likely to share information about their hobbies, interesting articles or work-related topics. Female users in general are more likely to share photos, information about what they are currently doing or posts about their pets.

Social network sites vary in popularity based on ages. From that you can see that the older generations use mostly Facebook and Twitter. The Generation X and the WII generation are the most active on Twitter. Overall, Facebook is the most popular site, followed by My Space, Twitter and LinkedIn. Plus, Facebook members were the most loyal among regular users.

Anderson Analytics published the results of an interesting survey in mid-July 2009 about SNS habits and user profiles. The survey reached 5000 users in the United States. The average ages are not too far apart. The survey found that MySpace has the youngest user group (29 yrs old), while LinkedIn’s audience is the oldest (36 yrs old). Facebook users have on average 34 years old while the average age on Twitter is 33.

It came to no surprises that people in different age groups use social networking sites (SNS) for the different reasons. We see that survey after survey. After all, generation gap and different lifestyles play a role in how people uses SNS.

MORE:
+ New Social Media Study: Facebook Trumps Other Social Media as Most Valuable; Majority of Users Can’t Do Without Popular Site on Tom H. C. Anderson
+ How the Old, the Young and Everyone in Between Uses Social Networks on eMarketer

+ If you are not convinced of the popularity of social media, have a look at more than 20 mind-blowing social media statistics. The 250 million Facebook users have a high level of participation. More than 120 million Facebook users log on to Facebook at least once a day and more than 30 million users update their statuses at least once a day. 50% of all Twitter updates are published using mobile and Web-based tools. Twitter is my social media when I am on the go.

+ Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation shared how some brands use Twitter to listen, discover problems and act on it without posting a single tweet. Twitter is a wonderful tool for customer service research. Even if the high level management is not ready at your company to actively interact in social media, it does not mean that you should do nothing. Remember that just monitoring what people say about your brand is useless if you do not act on based on the information you gathered. Read How Big Business Is On Twitter Without Being “On Twitter”.

An interesting thing about unconferences like Podcamp is the relationships you make and entertain using social networks. We had a good discussion on the subject on the train back to Montreal with Sean Power which was sitting next to us.

Real life social media events are rewarding and fun because you actually meet virtual friends. It is not new for online communities to meet in the real world. Social networks are great at bridging online and real world relationships. Twitter is most powerful at that.

The number of Twitter friends we met for the first time in person at Podcamp Toronto is simply amazing!  It sometimes feels strange because some people know you, but you don’t recall them or you know them under an alias.

It made us think: Twitter is an augmented virtuality device! Wikipedia says:

Augmented virtuality (AV) (also referred to as Mixed reality) refers to the merging of real world objects into virtual worlds

With Twitter, what you do online becomes complemented by the real world. When it does, you realize Twitter’s incredible added value.

Meeting online friends in the real world enhances connections in the virtual world. Of course, you will meet new people with whom you will continue having online conversations.

Another extension of the AV concept is that when assisting presentations, comments and thoughts are exchanged through Twitter in real time (instead of whispering and disrupting the presentation) and then followed upon after the presentation in the real world.

By using hash tags and limiting conversations to the conference, the virtual and the real world are further blended when you virtually meet or discover people in the same room than you. You then look around, exchange a smile, continue the conversation in the virtual and finish the follow-up in person after the presentation.

Of course, for the same reasons, we also think Twitter is a form of augmented reality. What comes first? The chicken or the egg? The blending of the reality in the virtual or the virtual in the reality? Online or offline, one thing is sure, Twitter relationships remain real.

What do you think? Should Twitter be considered a form of augmented virtuality?