Atlanta leads in Facebook growth, No. 3 in registered users
It’s official. Atlanta had the highest U.S. growth rate for Facebook users in 2009.
iStrategyLabs, the digital marketing firm which has been tracking Facebook’s growth since October 2007, reported that the Atlanta area had a 267.6% increase between Jan. 4, 2009, and last Monday. We blogged in July about Atlanta’s phenomenal growth, noting that the metro area had jumped to No. 2 in registered users behind only New York. However, Los Angeles, which experienced its own 240.6% growth, surged to No. 2 over the second half of the year.
Atlanta, as of Jan. 4, had 1,967,720 registered Facebook users, compared to New York’s 2,934,580 and L.A.’s 2,166,840. Atlanta slightly edged Chicago. (See full chart here.)
One can quibble about the value of numbers, especially if accounts are inactive, but if you own a business in metro Atlanta, one point should be clear: Your customers are on Facebook. And while the demographics aren’t broken down for Atlanta, growth is strongest nationally in the 25-34, 35-54 and, especially, 55-plus markets. Sounds like your customers, right?
Facebook provides a unique opportunity for Atlanta area businesses to connect with customers and potential new ones. Don’t know where to start? Don’t have time for Facebook? There are plenty of qualified consultants or marketing firms who can help.
Strike now while it’s hot.
Not using social media for your business? Talk to your pastor
I had the pleasure this week of speaking about social media to a distinguished group — a gathering of Atlanta area church pastors and their IT administrators.
What amazed me was how many people in the group had already been using social media to communicate with their members — and non–members. One pastor at a 17,000-plus-member church found the time to actively update his personal Facebook page. Another pastor talked about his church’s effort to live stream video of services and how they used a Facebook page to promote the video.
What was equally amazing was this group not only saw the value of social media, they wanted to keep on top of the latest, cutting-edge ways to engage with their members and attract new ones. They had lots of questions about how to optimize Facebook and Twitter, streaming video, mobile texting and improving their Web sites (yes, they all had sites, and they were quite good.)
One survey in April found 32 percent of “prominent” churches were using social media. Factoring in all churches, I would suspect the number would drop to around 1 in 5 churches. Which is probably similar to the percentage of small businesses actively using social media as a marketing tool.
A recent Citigroup survey of small businesses found that 76% of respondents didn’t believe using social media had helped them attract new leads or expand their companies in the past year. The survey also found that most don’t take advantage of social media for best practices on their businesses.
The obvious questions for those reporting no successes: Did they have a plan? Set goals? Talk to anyone in advance? Were they really active in using the tools? Did they just sell and not give anything in return?
While churches and small businesses are in different “businesses,” there are similarities in goals — communicating with members/customers, sharing information, offering services, expanding reach and more.
This diverse group of religious leaders got it. They talked of social media as a tool in their outreach efforts. I suspect word of mouth will encourage more adopters in the nation’s pulpits as the good works of churches and other religious institutions are spread across the social Web.
While the media is filled daily with stories on how businesses — big and small — have used social media successfully, somehow many small-business owners aren’t getting the message. This social media “thing” can work.
Perhaps they should talk to their pastor/priest/rabbi.
How to survive a snark attack
I made a decision not to sign up for Friday’s New Media Atlanta conference at the Georgia Tech Research Institute because I didn’t think I could give up the whole day. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Friday morning that I could watch it — for free — via live streaming while getting some work done.
The workshop was mostly what I expected. There were some very good presenters — and others less so — and an excellent talk by Chris Brogan, the prominent author/blogger/tweeter who served as the main speaker of the conference. There’s no way to put on a session as large as this one and please everyone, especially when having to appeal to so many people with different levels of social media experience.
However, there were two big surprises. First, someone decided to open up a conversation about the conference on BackNoise, a site which enables people to hold a running conversation and remain anonymous (the only identity being the IP address of the moment.) BackNoise advertises itself as being in “version 2.0, now with more snark…”
Unlike Twitter, which at least provides the accountability of a name and possible photo, BackNoise encourages snarking. And a cadre of folks pushed it past the limit. Some incredibly derogatory (and personal) comments were made about some of the presenters. And the pack turned on one of its own, attacking by name one woman well-known in Atlanta social media circles for her cutting, but always clever, remarks. Then others came to her defense.
The presenters were all following this sideshow circus and I felt sorry for many of them. Then came the second surprise. Brogan, when it came time for him to speak, put up BackNoise on the screen, with live commentary following his every word. He occasionally turned to read a funny comment from a snarker. And what happened? The tone decidedly changed. The sniping sometimes turned into real discussion behind his back.
Why? Well, Brogan is everything an effective marketer should be. He’s genuine, from his blue jeans to the profanity he can use when making a point. He’s funny. He’s passionate about what he does.
More important, though, he’s open and listens to people. Even the snarkers. I doubt there are too many professional speakers with the nerve to give the snarkers a seat at the table.
I thoroughly enjoyed Brogan’s presentation, even though he didn’t cover any ground he hadn’t covered before. What I enjoyed more, though, was seeing someone in action who practices what he preaches on social media — openness, engagement, caring and, most important, listening. That’s how to survive a snark attack.
Atlanta 10: How not to use social media
I’ve just stopped following 10 prominent Atlanta area social media/PR/marketing folks on Twitter. Why? Because two to three months after following them, they still hadn’t returned the favor and followed back. Understand, this is not about me; these people aren’t following too many others, either.
One of the basic rules of Twitter: People follow you and unless they’re a spammer or posting objectionable content, you generally follow back. Author and social media superstar Chris Brogan understands this concept. He has more than 98,000 followers, yet he follows more than 93,000 of them. Despite a hectic schedule with a best-selling book and constant public appearances (including a couple this fall in the ATL), he still values relationships and engages with his followers. My guess is that the 5,000 he’s not following fall into the spam/wacko category.
Let’s look a closer look at the Atlanta 10. These are people who publicly preach the virtues of using Twitter and other social media to engage with others or to achieve business success. But what wisdom are they sharing? We learn where they’re speaking, what workshops they’re offering and get repeated tweets with the same links to the same tired tips on their Web sites. Unlike Brogan, their follower lists are much larger than their following lists. What does that tell you? That they want you to care about what they have to say (and sell) but obviously they don’t really care what you think.
No thanks.
I know plenty of people who don’t like the clutter that comes from following a lot of people on Twitter. I know people with private lists. That’s certainly their call. However, the standards should be different for social media professionals. They know — and teach — the rules of the game. The Atlanta 10 just chooses to ignore them.
