Twitter and Facebook both continue to lure online users into becoming members. Will the trend continue? Here is a piece of data highlighting a potential slowdown ahead – Facebook’s growth in the US almost completely halting, primary demographic actually starts leaving.

The data doesn't lie, but how are we to interpret it? Twitter's numbers are skyrocketing while the other social media networks are also gaining ground.

The growth of social media sites over the past several years can only be described as mind-boggling. A passing trend or a new form of online interaction, social media is making waves, as witnessed by staggering numbers:

• 126 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse)
• 84% – Percent of social network sites with more women than men
• 27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
• 57% – Percentage of Twitter’s user base located in the United States
• 5.25 million – People following @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher, Twitter’s most followed user, Jul 2010)
• 400 million – People on Facebook (May 2010)
• 50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day
• 700,000 – The number of active Facebook applications

The number of social media users has skyrocketed in recent years. The following chart from aggregation site Technorati sheds light into the amazing trend and mushrooming number of blogs in recent years:

The number of blogs is doubling every 6 months. Can the trend be sustained?

Facebook recently surpassed the 400 million users mark and it seems to be holding onto its growth projections. Here is a chart of Facebook’s monthly unique visitors in the US.

US users continue to flock to Facebook. If this trend hold, Facebook will soon constitute for half of the internet traffic.

Finally, here is a chart detailing Twitter’s recent growth:

Fueled by a mass media frenzy, Twitter grows exponentially in the years after its inception.

All this brings the question, “How can the guerrilla marketer tap into this growing pool of consumers?”

As it turns out there is no one right answer. Veteran marketers such as Jay Conrad Levinson may conclude that social media is just another medium and that old true and tried marketing principles, with some modifications, will continue to work.

Savvy entrepreneurs will probably come up with their secret sauce of what networks to use and in what ways. The most savvy among them will try a method, measure, adapt and retry.

The key is to keep social branding simple and fully integrated into the overall branding strategy. Since coordination and planning will be keys to success, social branding tools such as Socialada can help guerrilla marketers achieve consistency and ability to plan for the unexpected.

“Testing strategies makes sense. Testing creative solutions — with friends, friends of friends, kids, co-workers you stop in the hallway, focus groups, etc. — can lead to a watered down final product. When you do seek outside opinions, be sure to share objectives, strategy, target audience and key messages. Otherwise, the feedback can be extremely subjective.”

In online marketing, much like traditional marketing, testing is key to success. Give it a shot a see for yourself. Try Google Website Optimizer and see how your landing pages are performing.

Free Wine Tasting Event

I am happy to announce that Veramar Vineyard and 64clicks are co-hosting a free wine tasting event for wine bloggers in Virginia. The event will take place on March 27′th bet. 1-4 PM in Veramar Vineayrd’s tasting room in Berryville, VA. All wine bloggers are invited.

Here is an excerpt from the joint press release:

Northern Virginia Winery Uses Social Media to Thrive in a Tough Economy
Join with wine producers and taste great wines from Veramar’s local wine collection, notably the award-winning Cabernet Franc, Estate Club Merlot and Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Taking social media marketing a notch further, Veramar Vineyard of Berryville, VA in association with digital marketing firm 64clicks (www.64clicks.com), extended today an open invitation to wine bloggers for a free wine-tasting event on March 27′th, 2010. The occasion aims to “to put a face to the blogger” by introducing local Virginia wine to local wine bloggers and reach out to wine enthusiasts nationally and internationally. Bloggers attending the event will have a chance step onto the backstage of winemaking and learn from a family of third-generation winegrowers who carried on a tradition they inherited from the Alps. Join with wine producers and taste great wines from Veramar’s local wine collection, notably the award-winning Cabernet Franc, Estate Club Merlot and Estate Club Cabernet Sauvignon.

To book your seat at this limited free wine-tasting event on March 27′th, 2010 at Veramar Vineyard, please tweet “Count me in for Blogger Wine Tasting @veramarvineyard” or send an email to info@64clicks.com

Here is the full press release.

Mobile advertising will see growth of 38% in 2010. FirstPartner has forecast that UK mobile advertising will be worth £61 million in 2010, having grown from £44 million in 2009.

A survey conducted by the Society of Digital Agencies, the 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook revealed that social media will be top priority for digital marketers. The results were derived from 1,000 executives from major global brands, traditional and digital agencies, vendor and service providers that operate in the digital space, as well as freelance and independent digital practitioners.omgzam.com, Online Media Gazette, Jan 2010

You should read the whole article; it has detailed numers and charts.

Ask yourself a few important questions.Is traffic volume the most important factor? How can you select form the wide range of keyword options? How can you select keywords for optimal profit?

I suggest you implement the 4 cardinal rules of keyword research:

• Find markets with a minimum of 70 searches per day
• Make sure that the competition is less than 100,000
• Identify specific key phrases with a high visitor value
• Use a good keyword research tool

Use this process to select your top 10 keywords.

A useful search engine optimisation tip is to use Google Adwords to verify traffic volume and conversion rates and then mark each keyword as “ready for seo implementation”.

Read the full article here: Search Engine Optimization Tips: 11 Ways To Avoid The Most Common SEO Mistakes

Particularly in an economic environment where travel has taken a back seat to more “essential” spending, hotels are finding it harder and more expensive to recruit customers or win repeat business.

Here are twelve tips that may help improve customer loyalty and win you repeat business. In the process, you may even surprise your visitors with your social media savvy.

Get Twitter

Start by getting a Twitter account. Use keyword- and location-based search tools such as TweetDeck, LocalTweeps and TwellowHood and start a following. Do not worry about whether any particular user may or may not be a customer or a prospect. The name of the game is generating buzz. At your front desk, ask your customers to follow you on Twitter. Pretty much everybody has one or more Twitter accounts these days. And since it is less intrusive than email, people are more likely to share it with you. Grab your followers’ attention by posting links to weekend specials or upcoming events.

Start a Facebook Fan Page

This is similar to Twitter, except you can post pictures, videos, coupons and more. Having a solid fan base on Facebook will improve your social media savvy index and help grow your relationship with customers and prospects.

Start a Blog

For many customers, businesses with official blogs instill confidence and are more likely to win their trust (read:business). Sharing what’s going on in your hotel to your readership is a brilliant opportunity for direct soft marketing. In addition, it helps spread your message, solidify your brand and gain you a loyal following. You can start a blog quickly and inexpensively with free blogging platforms such as Blogger and WordPress.

Launch a Podcast

Own a hotel in an interesting location? Or maybe in a place where weather changes quickly? Your weekly or monthly podcasts will help your visitors plan better by being prepared for the weather or road conditions. You can promote your specials, local events and attractions. Sharing your podcast on popular sites such as iTunes Store will open up the doors to reaching thousands of listeners.

Share Photos

If you are not already doing it, create a profile on photo sharing sites and start posting pictures. Pictures may be events or beautiful scenery of your location. What better way to market your hotel than posting a great sunset picture to Flickr, Photobucket, or Picasa.

Post Videos

Start your own video sharing channel. Have you considered videos as a way to attract customers? Maybe you should. Forrester says video raises click-through rates up to 200%. The best is to get your customers to talk about you or their great stay in your hotel. You can sign-up for a YouTube channel and actively participate in the online video conversation.

Social Bookmarking

You can start bookmarking your deals page to social bookmarking sites where the news travels fast. When people share their bookmarks, they invest time, so make sure your deals page contains real deals. For starters you can check these out: Delicious, StumbleUpon, Google Reader, CiteULike.

Product and service reviews

Consider participating in product reviews. This will be an opportunity to win points and influence the conversation by presenting your viewpoint. Listen to your customers and improve on their suggestions. You can start with Epinions and MouthShut.

Create a Promotional Branding Page

Use online reputation pages such as Squidoo and Brands in Public to create your public image pages (lenses) and publish carefully selected marketing information about your services or location. You should include information about your locality, weekly specials and anything that’s value to your customers.

Get Virtual

Now, here is one that the marketers are just now starting to explore. Virtual world sites are gaining popularity and present a great opportunity to recruit your next customer. Create profiles and engage your customers in virtual world sites such as Second Life. You never know – what’s virtual today, may be real tomorrow.

Social Aggregation

There are websites that serve as social platform aggregators. Consider converging your multiple social streams into sites such as MyBlogLog and Plaxo. This will help users of these services get a more complete view of your social activities.

iPhone App

Many businesses use iPhone and other mobile devices as a way to establish direct communication with their customers. You can develop the killer iPhone app that can set you apart from your competition.

Here are couple of more thoughts of why you might want to consider social networking as a great marketing tool.

The New York Times recently reported that,

“Only 36 percent of business travelers said they were brand loyal this year, compared with 42 percent two years ago, according to Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research. “And 2010 is likely to be more difficult for hotels because companies are telling their employees that every penny saved means fewer people laid off or fewer cuts in pay.”"

If you’re an independent hotel and have your own website, great! You can start marketing right away. Consider adding RSS technology so others can consume your content. More on RSS at the end of this post.

If you’re like the rest of the 85%, you are part of a larger nation-wide chain. You get most of your bookings from a central website or through travel portals such as Expedia and Orbitz. In the latter, you have some options, but before you do any social media networking, put the effort to create your own website. Even if you already have a page in your corporate website, your website will focus on marketing your franchise and your deals and give you an opportunity reach out to new customers directly. Granted, you’ll need to shell out some cash, but once built, your website will differentiate you from the competition and will establish you as a business-savvy thought leader among your peers. In addition, your profits will get a boost from the flow of new direct customers. Compare this to the high commissions you have to pay the travel portals for each booking.

You might also consider RSS technology. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is XML-based content distribution. It’s a great way for Internet users to get news, weekly specials and other timely content without having to search for it. Implement RSS as least for at least the deals page. You can offer RSS feeds with new deals and event updates on a daily basis.

Here is a quick poll.

64clicks.com customers enjoy the following benefits:

• Increased Website Traffic – because more clicks mean more revenue
• Improved Conversion Rates – a great way to boost revenue by attracting high-value traffic to the websites
• Online Reputation Management – know what customers are saying about your products and grab a seat at the table
• Social Media Networking – Social media is a great way to communicate directly to your customers. Use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace to build a network of loyal followers.

“Our customers are way ahead in the curve on new media marketing and they realize the power of the medium as a crucial ingredient to establish market leadership.” — Levent Gurses, Founder

We are excited to be part of the digital marketing revolution and we are looking forward to sharing some of our stories on this blog.