“Choosy” Western Australians turn online for love

Findings from the RSVP Date of the Nation Western Australia Report were released today, revealing the State’s dating and relationship trends.

In Western Australia, 54 % of adult males and 48% of adult females are single and less than 7% of this group are not currently interested in dating.

The most common ways to meet a partner in Western Australia are through friends, family or work. However, the biggest challenge cited by single people in Western Australia when trying to find a serious relationship was that there are limited opportunities or events to meet other single people.

“Western Australians are recognising that online dating [is] a great avenue for meeting new people outside of their established social circle and 30% of Western Australians have used online dating, 5% higher than the national average,” said Lija Jarvis, RSVP Spokesperson. “Further, of those who have not used online dating, 42% of people are considering it – again above the national average of 38%.”

“Attitudes towards online dating have shifted significantly over the last few years, most singles now view it as simply a smart and viable way to meet new people, by no means a “last resort”. It was interesting to note that there appears to be a trend towards getting online to date quite quickly after a break up, 41% of online daters in Western Australia have been single for less than a year,” added Jarvis.

The second most cited challenge to finding a partner comes down to Western Australians being fussy about what they want in a partner.

According to the research, the top priorities when searching for a partner are (percentage of Western Australians that ranked the quality as important); personality (93%), manners (92%), sense of humour (92%), sexual chemistry (92%) values and morals (88%). The least important priorities for Western Australians were religious beliefs (25%) and ethnic background (34%).

Once Western Australians find a partner, they prove to be one of the most loyal States (only behind South Australia). Compared to the national average of 34%, only 29% of Western Australians admit to being unfaithful in a relationship.

The Western Australian online dating experience (% of Western Australian adults);

• 30% have used online dating
• 62% know someone that has used an online dating site
• 31% know someone that has married as a result of meeting online
• 57% would openly discuss using online dating services with their friends

“With so many Western Australians getting online and having successful experiences, the stigma towards online dating has all but disintegrated,” added Jarvis.

Source: AAP

It’s been a big week in social media. And there was no bigger story than the launch of the new Old Spice ads. Of course it helped that the star of the show was by all accounts hot (is there a bit of man-crush at work here?) and the ads were witty and cleverly crafted. Jonathon Crossfield argues that ‘Are you influential‘ is the big question facing online marketers. The clear answer is Old Spice has influence in spades.

Of course it helps if the star of the show has the body of Adonis and…I digress.

What got the marketing world all aflutter was the way Old Spice tapped into social media. It must have been tempting for Old Spice to produce a couple of commercials, hit the airwaves and hope some kids sent it to YouTube.

They didn’t.

Old Spice jumped on the front foot. Through their @oldspice Twitter account, Facebook page and YouTube channel they invited the public to pose questions to Isaiah Mustafa. And that’s where the fun begins. The creative team then got busy creating 185 video responses, each cleverly written and completely personalised. They cranked out one every seven minutes.

And then just as fast as it started it ended. There final tweet said simply:

Well friends, like all great things this too must end.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFDqvKtPgZo

Women the world over wept. And not a few men.

So where does Old Spice take things from here? No, that’s the wrong question. The real question is where do marketers go from here. Old Spice have set the bar so high that marketers –well this one anyway–is struggling to draw breath. And no that’s not a man crush thing.

It’s as if Old Spice are playing in an entirely different league. To pinch an Aussie Rules phrase it’s like Old Spice have brought their own footy.

Admittedly this ad and the associated social media campaign isn’t cheap. But it’s the thinking behind the campaign that can be replicated by any marketer.

Follow my thinking here.

Real estate agents meet dozens of people every week. Many ask questions others also want the answer to. Why not answer them? Directly. In a personalised way. In front of a video camera. In a way that’s light and easy and maybe even entertaining. And then put them on YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and let your customers and friends become part  of your success.

Now there’s an idea.

Could you become the next Isaiah Mustafa?

How good is the new Hootsuite?!

Since their last upgrade they’ve added:

• A personalised dashboard thanks to their selection of unique themes. Options include the familiar green and blue ‘Classic’, sleek ‘Blue Steel’ – feels a bit like Facebook, or a dark ‘Magnum’ theme (my favourite).
• Hootsuite have Google Analytics “baked in”. I can now overlay tweets with web traffic. That gives me a sense of how my Twitter activity is translating to site visits. I like.
• Geo-location searches. Want to know what people are saying about a subject in your area. Just pop the term in the search box and hit the icon that looks like a cross-hair. Works a treat.
• Drag and drop image uploading. Just drag the image into the message box and it automatically loads with a shortened link.
• Share more on Facebook by including photo thumbnails plus titles, descriptions in wall posts, and view pictures and videos from friends in-stream. Prior to this improvement links sent to Facebook via Hootsuite displayed just the link. No photo, no customisation. Now you get to choose the thumbnail and description before hitting the publish button. Honest to god, it’s gold!
• Share Twitter messages with your network using Twitter’s Retweet tool. This one I don’t like so much as I prefer to add a comments in a retweet. It’s a small price to pay and I understand why they’ve done it. They do allow adding of streams to display retweets to you, by you, and by your followers.
• Display your social streams even faster — using HTML5, HootSuite caches content for immediate recall and less waiting for updates. That just means it’s fast. Time’s money. Money’s time.

Now all I want is a Hoostuite iPad app.

Our home of a decade and a half is soon to go on the market. It’s a stressful time. Choosing agents, sprucing up the gardens, patching, painting and packing. All make for challenging times.

Here in Perth, Western Australia it’s officially the start of autumn. It seems no one has told the weather though. A long, stifling heatwave would have any outsider feeling like it’s the middle of summer.

It’s not.

Soon leaves will start falling out of trees tired from a long summer of growth. The rake and leaf blower will come out of hiding to keep the yard pristine for a merry band of buyers and a host of nosy neighbours.

As much as falling leaves and leaf blowers are synonymous with autumn so is the never-ending chore of keeping friends and follower lists tidy on social networking sites. Neither job is glamorous.

Without regular maintenance gardens become messy and out of control. So do Facebook and Twitter streams.

On Twitter I regularly turn the leaf blower on spammers and folk who are only interested in pimping their eBook or affiliate programme. I clean out the gutters of my Twitter stream by unfollowing inactive accounts. With just a few minutes a day my Twitter garden is clean and tidy.

I keep my Facebook backyard in similar shape. New friends are added to lists – I have about thirty – that allow me to communicate with friends about stuff they’re interested in.

Almost all applications are blocked so my newsfeed only contains updates and news items. I don’t want leaves blowing across my front lawn and I certainly don’t want to see who’s had a psychic reading from Tara the Clairvoyant.

Occasionally I ‘hide’ a friend, a bit like I keep an old saw tucked in the back corner of my garden shed. I recently removed someone from my friends list altogether. They left a pile of spam leaves on my wall. And I take pride in keeping my wall neat and tidy.

Just like my front yard.

Best I stop writing now. I have a hedge to trim.

There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to social media marketing. There are plenty of ways to get it right; and wrong. Treat these 10 mistakes as ways to think through your social media tactics. They may even serve as useful guides for your marketing more generally.

Mistake 1 – Don’t listen

Listening is social media skill number one. If you’re not listening to the  community chatter about your company, products or industry your making a big mistake. That mistake will lead to a two-fold risk. First, you risk ignoring legitimate complaints about your service and that can really piss people off. Second, there’s the real risk of missing opportunities to create connections that could generate more business opportunities.

Mistake 2 – Don’t respond

Your Google alert has identified a blog post that’s a scathing attack about the quality of your service. Do nothing and you’ll appear ignorant at best or arrogant at worst. A better course of action is to leave a comment on the post. Optus does that regularly.

Mistake 3 – Be overly sensitive

There are other times when it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. If you see a tweet and it gets your blood boiling don’t respond. Take a day or two. And a chill pill. If you’re thinking of suing someone about a single tweet think again. Just ask Horizon Realty how their “sue first ask questions later” strategy turned out. When it comes to PR on the Internet suing is rarely a wise strategy.

Mistake 4 – Ignore people who help you

Social media thrives on reciprocity. When someone tweets your blog post or shares your content on Facebook say thanks. Or return the favour. It takes no time at all and builds a bank of goodwill. But if you want to annoy the good folk who are trying to help just ignore them. Pretty soon they’ll go away so you can play in the social media sand pit all on your own.

Mistake 5 – Be unclear about with your intentions

Facebook and Twitter are THE places to waste lots of time. And that’s what will happen if you’re not clear about what you want to achieve. To avoid this mistake connect your social media efforts directly with your business goals. Being clear about your intentions will help you avoid wasting time on networks that don’t add value to your business.

Mistake 6 – Be a fake

If you’re faking it you’re going to be found out so don’t try to be something you’re not. Some of the biggest companies in the world have found this out the hard way. Sooner or later your fake “I became a millionaire in 15 minutes a day” blog is going to be exposed as a sham. The ferocity of the community backlash will be in direct proportion to the degree people felt let down.

Mistake 7 – Don’t put social sharing buttons on your site

If you don’t want your blog posts or articles shared or bookmarked don’t put social sharing buttons on your web pages. If you do want people to share your content – and let’s face it, that’s probably the case – then get them on their pronto. And a Twiiter and Facebook logo on your home page isn’t what I’m talking about. Share buttons. Every page, Now.

Mistake 8 – Use social media as a broadcast medium

Ever walked into a party and used a megaphone to introduce  yourself? Probably not, so why do it on Facebook or Twitter? Let’s face it, advertising is an important part of any marketing budget but please, mix advertising and social media sparingly. If you want to advertise use Google Adwords or Facebook’s advertising platform. Social media works best as a conversation, not a broadcast platform.

Mistake 9 – Focus on the numbers

Anyone can have lots of Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Getting big numbers is easy. Just keep clicking the Add of Follow buttons and soon you’ll have big numbers. But so what? if people aren’t listening. What really counts in social media is relationships. If your message is concealed behind the Hide button or tucked away in a Tweetdeck group what’s the point? Relationships thrive on conversation and deep relationships make good business sense.

Mistake 10 – Be a Lurker

Lurking in social media is like people watching at a party. Sure it may be fun for a while but you’ll be going home alone. That’s no fun. It’s much better fun get known, so get out and start connecting. Say “hi” through a blog comment, the Like button, an @ reply or an email. Whatever you do, don’t lurk.

Mistake 11 – Abandon your Twitter account (or blog or Facebook Page)

Want to look super uncool? Start tweeting, tweet like there’s no tomorrow, then stop. For 6 months. It’s the fastest way to show the world your management team has the attention span of a gnat or they you’re adept at backing the wrong horse. Either way, not a good move.

There they are, the top 10 mistakes to not make in social media marketing. I’ve made several. Be ye not so foolish.

11 Social Media Mistakes That Will Turn Your Brand Into a Train Wreck was originally posted on The Real Estate Marketing Maven

This article highlights the role that social media played in the election of Barack Obama. The numbers are huge and the way that he used SMM is particularly significant.

Conversation Agent: Obama’s Social Media Campaign

The Importance of Social Media Marketing: Why You Should Learn and Master it: “Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again…”

Update to the original article How Blogs will change your business:

Social Media Will Change Your Business – BusinessWeek

Social Media Starter Moves for Real Estate | chrisbrogan.com

The Power of Relationships & Influencers- Social Endorsement- Part I | Real Estate Magazine – Real Estate Opinion Column – AgentGenius: “Popularity gives you a voice, but social capital makes your message matter- social capital is granted, not purchased, nor demanded.”