In 2011, Flynn Wright’s MarketWatch omnibus asked a few questions to help discover the use of social media among Des Moines metro residents. The first question we asked helped us determine the percentage of Des Moines metro residents who consider themselves regular Facebook or Twitter users. The second question asked those regular Facebook and Twitter users if they had "liked" or "followed" a local Iowa business in the past six months.

Do you regularly use social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter?


In the past six months have you liked, become a fan of, or followed a local business in Iowa on one of these social media sites?

Approximately 35% or 197,017* of Des Moines metro area residents reported regularly using Facebook. In addition, 10% or 56,290* reported regularly using Twitter. Among these Facebook and Twitter users, approximately two out of every five or roughly 109,000* have started a social relationship with a local Iowa business in the past six months.
*Numbers are based of the 2010 Census Bureau statistics for the Des Moines Metropolitan area.

Facebook, Twitter and Your Business
Understanding the Des Moines metro social media usage statistics, we ask local Iowa business', what are you doing to grow your social audience? I often see commercials that encourage viewers to like a company's Facebook page. Other companies use print ads, outdoor and radio spots that ask their audiences to become a fan of their business in exchange for a chance to win concert tickets or have their kitchen remodeled. Has your business run any similar promotions? And if so, which type of call to action has worked the best for you in the past; contests, challenges, giveaways, sweepstakes?

What is our MarketWatch omnibus study?
This research tool employs an established sample size and demographic model which allows results of Flynn Wright’s MarketWatch study to be reliably projected on the market as a whole.

Since 2001, Flynn Wright’s MarketWatch omnibus study has provided evaluation of brand awareness and ratings for the business-to-consumer market within the Greater Des Moines area. Gender, age and income breakouts for the second quarter reflect the most recent available U.S. census data. A sample of approximately 300 individuals has been surveyed throughout Polk County and the immediately surrounding ZIP codes. Surveys were conducted through computer-aided phone interviews (CATI) during June of 2011.

This post, in some respect, is going to be the most egotistical post ever. But it's a blog and in its very nature carries some ego, right? Be honest. But for the record, I am only trying to exploit my ego to prove a point. And in order to do that I need to wade through it.

So here it goes.

Google me. Seriously, Google my name "Derek Pine." The second link below my Twitter account is a link to Flynn Wright. Which means, you already are! Googling me, that is. While recently looking through some site statistics for the last quarter, we discovered that my name is the 7th most Googled phrase that leads to the site flynnwright.com.

Head begins growing… I'm thinking, that's freaking awesome! People are visiting us online purely on the basis of my name. And they are spending a significant amount of time on the site -- visiting a pretty significant amount of pages.

Head still growing… I should feel downright proud, eh?! And I am.

Epiphany… Holy crap, I am representing a company and creating a significant amount of buzz. 

Head shrinking… What the buzz am I saying?

Back to normal sized cranium… Here's the point. Do you create buzz? Do you realize the effects of your buzz? It's no mistake that I have purposely done things to position my "Google face." But I also know that it comes with a price. To some extent, I represent myself and my employer with everything I do. And as a result I am purposely aware of what I say and do online. I work to create buzz that is of value regardless of the ridiculous bio on my Flynn Wright culture page that my Googled name links too.

How about you and/or your business? Are you creating buzz? Are you aware of it? Do you like it? Are you shaping it? Take some time to Google your name or business name. If you don't like what you see, start taking steps to shape it. If you need help shaping it… you know who to call.

I came across an article recently that said the average cell phone subscriber now sends/receives an average of 357 text messages per month compared to 204 phone calls. As an avid texter, this is not a surprising statistic. With my friends, texting is the most common form of communication. Frankly, I have almost forgotten what my ringtone even sounds like.

So what does this mean for the future of advertising? And what companies are already having success with text message marketing?

According to Nielsen, approximately 200 million of the 250 million wireless subscribers have text messaging capabilities on their cell phones. For those of us in the industry, that means we now have a much more personal and interactive way to communicate with our target customers. Everything from TV shows, cars, soda and deodorant are being promoted through text message. Nielsen found that 16 percent of texters in the U.S. see some form of text message advertising each month. Of those, 45 percent say they have actually responded in some way.

Coca-Cola has been using text message marketing for its “My Coke Rewards” program with great success. The mobile portion of their campaign allows consumers to enter their codes/points via text message.

Ashley Furniture is another example of a company having success with text message marketing. They sent 6,000 text messages to existing customers and 29,000 emails to the general public promoting a four-day “secret sale” at their local store. The text messages outperformed the email with almost 63 percent of the revenue generated from the sale being attributed to the text message coupon.

What’s your company doing to take advantage of this mobile marketing trend?

Who Is Texting?


Plus:

• 21.1% of texters have a household income between $75,000 and $100,000
• 33% of 25- to 34-year-olds and 26% of 35- to 44-year-olds have opted to receive text messages from a company
• 60.2% of 25- to 34-year-olds and 46.2% of 35- to 44-year-olds have received some form of marketing message via text message

A social initiative, 30 Days of Creativity encourages people to create stuff, anything, every day for 30 days. This is your excuse to buy that tub of Play Doh, bust open your Erector Set or dust off your Holga. It could be as simple as taking a picture, or as involved as a writing a song or making a movie.



Our Contribution
For the next 30 days, we're attempting to post one item a day of something created by an individual from our art and writing departments. It may be related to work or it may not be. But it's definitely going to be something... creative.

Day 1 creation
Creator: Derek
"I put my skills to work creating a poster for my living room. I use the terms "skills" loosely here because it was pretty simple. I was inspired by a poster I saw at Urban Outfitters."

Eight months ago we introduced MailStorm (Flynn Wright’s email marketing software) to our clients. In that time a group of clients has implemented it, and we've sent out more than 200,000 html emails through the system. Those that have used it, LOVE it. It's easy to use and it provides great reporting that’s second to none. In December I wrote a post entitled The Email Marketing Comeback of 2010 to explain this software and how we utilize it.

But that’s besides the point of this post. What I want to explore is how the iPad and iPhone are changing the future of email marketing.

I was surprised when the iPhone grew to more than 5% of the email client market within a year of its release. If the iPad experiences similar growth we'll likely see 15-20% of emails we send through MailStorm being opened by a handheld Apple product. That's not to mention Apple's computer software Mail, which could raise that number to roughly 30%. That's amazing!

Here's a little data we experienced
First off, email client usage on a particular email is going to be determined primarily by the composition of its list. We sent out emails for a client recently whose list is made up of young adults (ages 15-18). In this campaign, 26.2% of the email clients used were Apple products, with 15.4% of those being handhelds.



So why is this amazing?
I’m not trying to pimp Apple here (though I’m an avid user), but compared to every other web and desktop email client on the market, the iPad, iPod and Apple Mail interfaces are noticeably free of distractions. It's all about the content of the email. And when it's about the content of the email, your email gets noticed. When your email gets noticed, the result is higher click-through rates and more interactions with those users. Now that's amazing, isn't it?!



Flynn Wright's MailStorm is a slick system that makes creating beautiful emails simple and takes the hassle out of managing your lists while providing up-to-the-minute reporting on your campaign deliveries. Humbly speaking...it rocks! Contact us or send a message to @flynnwright on Twitter if you want more info.