Grown Up Thinking

A lot has happened this year and teens have taken notice. World events, economic pressures, personal milestones, friends, education and brands all play big roles in influencing the lives of teens. Teens are evolving and maturing as fast as the technologies and platforms we build around them.

We caught up with 300, 13-19-year-old teens in an online discussion to talk to them about the technologies, platforms and brands they used over the course of the year, with their responses offering fresh insights into who they are. The following narrative represents insights gleaned from more than 4,500 individual responses:

2011: A Year Of Personal Sacrifices

No longer insulated by parents doling out discretionary funds, teens are not only reacting to the pressures felt by their cashed-strapped parents, but are helping to take on the responsibility through part time jobs and making their own sacrifices on personal spending. Billed as “The Lost Generation,” the unemployment rate of a teen is double that of an adult (20% by some measures; NPR, 2011), which leads to teens adopting many of the cost-saving measures they glean from their parents.

“My parents have been more honest with me in terms of our budget this year and I’m constantly stressed that we might not be able to afford groceries the next month. It’s not something I’ve been able to deal with because there isn’t anywhere near me hiring 16 year olds.”  - Female, 16, CA

Like Their Parents, Teens Are Savvy Mobile Users

Much of the coupon-redeeming, price-comparing and loyalty-point-aggregating activity marketers have witnessed among adults around Black Friday/Cyber Monday is actually taking place among teens, as well. Roughly 30% of teens wielded smart phones during 2011, with estimates that 2012 will bring 50% adoption levels (Consumer Reports, 2011). The top shopping apps mentioned among teens in our discussion forum included Amazon mobile for scanning, Foursquare for check-in discounts, Old Navy’s Snap Appy, Seventeen, Red Laser and ShopKick. A surprising number of teens expressed interest in using apps to learn about local deals at restaurants, as well as redeeming offers from Groupon and LivingSocial.

“I use QR code technology to scan for details while in-store, and my barcode scanner to check prices in-store.” – Male, 16, FL

We asked our teens to define a “dream” mobile app that currently does not exist. Yes, we received a lot of ridiculous answers (e.g., one that prints out million dollar bills), however, a central theme began to unfold: teens are looking for hyper-personalized utility. It is not enough to simply help them pick out a new outfit to wear–our teens mentioned needing help deciding among items in their own closets. More than just friend recommendations, they asked for apps that offered suggested products based upon the likes/interests found in their own social profiles.

Also, the opportunity for a brand to step up as an ally of all things education is huge. Across dozens of posts, we found that teens are seeking a mobile solution for keeping track of their homework assignments, grades, high school sporting events and to-do lists. In 2012, there’s a viable opportunity for marketers to uncover what the next level of customization means for this generation, and find ways to add utility to their high school experiences.

“My app would be for school. It would record everything my teachers say, save it in sections and organize everything.” – Male, 15, IL

Teens Are Native Users Of Virtual Currency

Gamification continues to grow among teens, as it provides them with a way of earning points and virtual currency in an entertaining format. 43% of teens have spent real dollars on in-game virtual items or virtual currency. With the total US market for virtual goods at just over $2 billion in 2011 (Inside Virtual Goods, 2011), it is no wonder that brands are finding ways to leverage this currency as an incentive. Teens flock to games such as Cityville (Over 55 million active users, #1 game on Facebook in December; Games, 2011), Sorority Life and numerous others to earn points that can be redeemed for real items. Many teens in our forum described earning virtual points in order to save money on holiday gift purchases this year.

“Yes, I earn points from sites like Swagbucks, Superpoints and others, and redeem them for gift cards. I typically make around $40 a month, although because I knew Christmas was coming up I managed to earn around $100 so far.” – Female, 19, AZ

Top virtual points/currencies among our panel: MyYearBook’s “Lunch Money,” Facebook “Credits,” Coca-Cola’s “MyCokeRewards,” Sorority Life’s “Brownie Points” and SwagBucks.

Watching Content Is A Social Experience

Social media turns watching content into a shared experience among teens, and with research citing improved ad recall when ads are published across multiple platforms (Up 150%, compared to just TV; Mashable, 2011), the circumstances are ripe for brands to create an integrated approach to content. When tuning-in to their favorite TV shows (Glee, by a two-to-one margin; Mr Youth, Nationwide Poll, 2011) 53% are posting comments about the show to their Facebook pages, 45% are texting their friends show-related updates, a staggering 39% will visit the show’s Facebook page, and 18% will Tweet directly at the show. By contrast, only 11% report using a show’s specific mobile app (Mr Youth, Nationwide Poll, 2011).

Among teens who feel compelled to stay focused on (only) the show, many teens will opt for texting or sending a message via Facebook chat during commercial breaks. This provides an opportunity for brands to extend show engagement through social activities during the “commercial break” that ties back to the content, and socialize the experience among a viewer’s friends.

“I watch mtv.com and I will always be on Facebook on another tab and if friends are chatting with me, which they most likely are, I chat back during commercials.” – Female, 19, MN

Teens Yearn For More Customization On Facebook

Earlier this year, we surveyed teens across the country on their reactions to the Facebook changes unveiled at F8 in September. Two and a half months later, we decided to reach back out to teens for their insights. Among 250 responses from our online discussion, teens expressed their overwhelming desire to keep things simple and unchanged. Negative sentiment (among our responses) to Facebook’s ticker remains persistently highly, as teens think it provides too much information about their social activities. On the other hand, Facebook mobile (and “places” in particular) is very well received. Teens look forward to the day when they can customize their pages further, choosing their own color schemes, much like the old MySpace. As brands find creative ways to personalize and brand their own timeline pages, they should also be thinking of ways to help teens modify and individualize their own pages.

“The only thing that I think would help make Facebook better is if they let you customize you profile background and colors. This will help express your personality at a higher level.” – Female, 19 OH

Teens Use Google+ To Meet Up Online

Teens are using Google+ to have more intimate conversations among subsets of friends, carving out circles, which fit their own definitions of social groups. Teens have fun defining these: “cool kids, weird people, fat people, hot girls (and guys) and Moustache Mafia,” are among the more interesting circles. Teens also create circles for high school classes and after-school clubs/hobbies to facilitate study sessions. Hangouts are another way in which teens can connect with their classmates online to socialize their late-night cramming. Brands should support this activity, helping to bring together teens around unique circles and interests.

“I actually love Google + and wish more people would use it. My circles are: Posse (main group of friends), Mom Friends (so I won’t annoy my friends with gross updates about parenting), College Friends, and High School Friends.” – Female, 19, CA

Teens View Twitter As Their News Source

For teens, Twitter is their news source. They follow musicians, sports teams, celebrities, authors and deals from brands. As other platforms are better at conversations among peers, Twitter is (predominantly) a broadcast medium with this generation for up-to-the-minute facts.  A few sources they follow most closely: The Onion, NPR, Local News, TMZ and MacNews.

“I do use Twitter! I follow Old Navy, Banana Republic, Airbus, US Airways, Southwest, BBC, CNN, and my local news.” – Male, 18, AZ

Spotify And TurnTable Turn Teens On To Music

This generation prefers free, on-demand music from streaming services as opposed to content ownership. With the ability for teens to follow what their friends are listening to on Facebook, teens now have Spotify and Turntable to thank for expanding their own musical tastes. In a recent poll among teens, we found that 70% of teens are “highly likely” to listen-in to music tracks that they notice their friends listening to in the activity feed on Facebook (Mr Youth Nationwide Poll, 2011). Undoubtedly, this social integration has led to the successful rise of Spotify, Turntable and other services keen on taking advantage of Facebook apps, as a way to grow awareness of their services. Top music services with teens in 2011 included Pandora, YouTube and Spotify, as well as lesser-known sources Grooveshark, iheartradio.com, Playlist.com, SoundCloud, last.fm and Tumblr.

“I use Spotify because I love showing my friends what I’m listening to.” – Male, 16, NY

Teens Want Ads That Entertain And Offer Authentic Messages

Teen’s tune-in to brands that offer distinct value exchanges. They want to be entertained, while also learning how products will benefit them. Allstate’s Mayhem accomplished this, providing a source of entertainment, while also conveying a straightforward product benefit. Other top ads with teens this year include Target’s recent two-day sale Black Friday ads, Kenny Power’s K-Swiss ads and Old Navy’s “Funnavations” campaign. A few lesser-known examples also surfaced, including Derma Blend’s “Go Beyond The Cover” ads (Derma Blend, Go Beyond The Cover; Derma Blend, 2011), which reached more than 7 million views on YouTube in just two months.

“I look for humor, results, and excitement in my commercials.” – Male, 15, MI

Ads that missed the mark? Ads that “tried too hard to be cool” or appeared to alienate or exclude others. Exclusivity, or “us vs. them” marketing that might have worked with older generations, is seen as offensive among this generation. One example of what did not connect with them was Dr. Pepper’s latest campaign, which focused solely on men. Teen girls in our panel felt left out, with a vocal minority vowing never again to drink the soda. Among teen guys, they saw the ad as playing on traditional stereotypes (Dr. Pepper TEN; Dr. Pepper, 2011).

“Dr. Pepper is my second favorite drink, too! I haven’t had Dr. Pepper since because it made me so frustrated. It was a ridiculous commercial, it was sexist.” – Robert, 19, IL

Diverse, Customized Style Is The Trend

A tough economy has not kept this generation of teens from expressing their own sense of style. Popular among teens this year were Toms shoes, Uggs, hair feathers (yes, feathers!), animal prints, moccasins, and leather jackets. Both vintage and hipster looks appear to be alive and we’ll, among. Beyond the usual e-commerce destinations (Amazon, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Haute Look, Ruelala), it was interesting to see many on the radar that we might not know about. Up-and-coming e-commerce sites included: 6pm, nomorerack, modcloth, Free People,  Go Jane, Beyond The Rack, NectarClothing.com, UrbanOg.com, Threadsense.com, & Asos.com

“I express myself by not following the trends set by others,but by creating my own trend and if no-one agrees with it or doesn’t like it, so be it. I am a representation of myself and no-one else and that can never be taken from me or any other person who feels the same.” – Female, 16, MI

Now it’s time to close the door on 2011, and enjoy the holiday season. Keep these insights in your back pocket for 2012, and consider how the events, technologies and social platforms teens are using today will impact their decision making in the New Year!

Here at Mr Youth, we pride ourselves on being something close to campus-connoisseurs. Between our proprietary college network, RepNation, our ears-on-the-ground college ambassadors and our insight platform, Crowdtap, we’ve got our finger on the pulse of the ever-elusive college student. What do we do with this type of access? We listen and we take notes– lots and lots of notes.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to put our intel to work, serving up fresh-from-campus blog posts chock full of all the college trends you need to know to stay in the know. This week our featured trend is: Photo Sharing Apps.

From Facebook to Foursquare, today’s college student has come to age on the Internet and lives in a world where the persona they curate online often serves as a first impression for potential friends long before they ever meet in person. Reputation is no longer grounded in the offline world, but is extended and amplified by the links they share, the venues the check-in to, the photos they’re tagged in and the influencers they “follow”.

Every college student knows that if a photo didn’t capture it, then it probably didn’t happen. Students eager to supplement their online personas with digital snapshots have been quick to turn to mobile photo-sharing applications to capture, enhance and instantly share their experiences, giving friends and followers the opportunity to visually walk a mile in their shoes.

While mup-loading, or mobile-uploading, is nothing new for college students, new mobile applications such as Instagram and Hipstamatic allow students to further curate their personal brand by applying one-click “filters” to photos, elevating every day snapshots to visually intriguing pieces of art that are sure to impress their friends.

“… Creating a life stream of photos online is practically effortless. Sharing photos is also a more emotionally connective form of communication… I quickly began to notice my tendency to look for “Instagram-worthy” moments”–Tyler Patton, 22

Here at Mr Youth, we pride ourselves on being something close to campus-connoisseurs. Between our proprietary college network, RepNation, our ears-on-the-ground college ambassadors and our insight platform, Crowdtap, we’ve got our finger on the pulse of the ever-elusive college student. What do we do with this type of access? We listen and we take notes– lots and lots of notes.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to put our intel to work, serving up fresh-from-campus blog posts chock full of all the college trends you need to know to stay in the know, starting with our fashion update: Boho Chic.

For today’s co-eds, college is about much more than having a good time. Between school, resume-building extracurricular activities, networking and maintaining their g.p.a. students are feeling incredible pressure to succeed both inside and outside of the classroom. In a high-pressure environment, students think their clothing should be anything but. The skinny jeans, stick straight hair and tight cocktail dresses of last semester have been replaced by long flowing skirts, natural waves and sturdy gladiator sandals, a look that students are calling “Boho-Chic”.“

“Boho chic is…free-spirited, flowy but put together. I consider myself boho chic wit feathers, earth tones, and brown leather taking up a majority of my wardrobe.”-Emily Tracy, University of North Carolina age 20

Freedom is the name of the game and for stressed out students, Boho-Chic affords the perfect escape from their every day lives by combining style and comfort without confining them to specific brand names, looks or silhouettes.

”Boho-Chic is casual, but in a ‘I just rolled out of bed and look good’ kind of way…There’s something very alluring about the grungy, messy look–seems like you’re not putting effort in but it’s a finely crafted mess, so to speak.”-Amelia Viner, Emerson College age 21

According to a new Forrester Report, only 6% of 12- 17 year olds want to be friends with a brand on Facebook. This presents a major challenge, and opportunity, for brands when trying to interact with one of the most prized demo segments. The report goes on to state that the segment doesn’t think brands should be on social media and, if they do have a presence, should serve a passive role by listening and responding to their requests as they come up.

I say phooey. Well, to be clear, I think it’s incredibly important to listen to the segment and respond to their needs in social media but, more importantly, I think there’s fertile ground in social to proactively interact with them. I remember reading that Henry Ford once said something like “if I always followed my consumer research a car would have never been invented because they would have asked for a faster horse.”

I think the same approach should be applied to the 12 – 17 year olds in regards to how they engage with brands in social media. The challenge is determining how your brand can be relevant since, as we all know, all brands are unique. Some brands have an easier job than others – I’m talking to you Skittles – because what they offer is inherently sought after by 12 – 17 year olds. I mean, who didn’t like candy as a kid?

But for others, achieving relevance is more challenging which makes it that much more rewarding when you achieve it! And I’m not talking about the relevance from a marketer’s perspective. I’m talking about relevance from the 12 – 17 year old’s perspective which can be much different than the former.

In order to be relevant, gain Facebook fans and ultimately maintain ongoing interactions with this segment, brands must answer one very simple question: Why should I care about you, Brand XYZ?

Here are five ideas for how to achieve relevancy and make them care about your brand on Facebook.

1.       If humor aligns with your brand’s personality – USE IT. One time-tested approach that’s worked over and over with this segment is that they respond well to humor. This however, needs to be tied into your brand in a way that only you can use that humor.

2.       Add to the experience. This segment is primarily on social networks to stay connected with their offline friends and I guarantee that they’ll appreciate it if you help enrich that experience.

3.       Ask yourself “why do I think they should care about me?” Once you get that answer find a way to bring that to life while adhering to all the spoken and unspoken rules of social (that’s another post for another day) and this segment.

4.       Make their friends care. Cart before the horse, right? Well, kind of. But, if you can make groups of friends care than they will influence the rest. So, create ideas that micro-target groups of 12 – 17 year olds through interests that they might share.

5.       Get some FUN all up in here! Yes, it’s true they are primarily online to connect with friends but they also want to have FUN while doing it. Create a game for them to play – if done right, that will give you the ultimate level of interaction that all brand managers dream about.

Follow through with some of these ideas and you just might be welcomed into the exclusive 6% Club. Got any other ideas for how to reach this segment? Would love to hear them!

As we are all aware of by now, peer recommendations are the strongest drivers of purchase intent among consumers. We’ve seen the numbers. It all makes sense. We trust the recommendations of our friends the most.

If we trust our peers’ recommendations the most, why are marketers so obsessed with the ‘Like’ button and not the ‘Recommend’ button? Levi’s has become famous in the social/digital work for being the first major brand to completely socialize their shopping experience. After that, everyone else followed suit and ‘Like’ buttons went up all over the place.

As marketers we understand the power of one word over the other, even if it seems minuscule to most.  If we spend so much time talking about how peer recommendations are the most powerful form of WOM and drive purchase intent, why are we not asking people to ‘Recommend’ products? Why are we only asking people to ‘Like’ them? I think there’s a place for both plug-ins in the online experience. In many instances a consumer might prefer to ‘Like’ a product over recommending it, because they may not have used that product before and liking has a lower cognitive barrier to entry (in the same way that liking has a lower barrier to entry than commenting or sharing).

Where I’d most ‘Like’ to see ‘Recommend’ plug-ins implemented:

- On review sites and message boards discussing products
- During the e-commerce experience, maybe during purchase or post-purchase
- In follow-up emails after purchase
- In email marketing to existing customers and frequent purchasers

What are your views on Like vs Recommend as a marketer and/or as a Consumer? Have you used either of them? Do you see a larger place for the ‘Recommend’ button? Share your thoughts below.

MTV’s new show, “Skins,” has been dominating my Twitter feed lately and creating what seems to be the largest social controversy since the Starbucks logo announcement (which likely indicates that most people will stop caring by the time this is published). I read the tweets, articles and comments, and after being inspired to find out more, I took to my favorite research tool, Crowdtap, to find out just what teens were thinking about and what that says about Skins “pushing the envelope.

I started by tapping in to a crowd of 450 teens just to see how many of them had heard of the show (78%) had heard of it) and built my line of questioning from that subsequent group. The results, as you’ll see below, brought some interesting new insights into play while also reaffirming some existing ones.

#1) They didn’t judge brands by where they advertise. The majority of respondents did not respond negatively to brands that advertised during the show, because they only saw it as the brands trying to reach them as an audience during a teen-targeted show.

#2) What seems controversial to older audiences is not as controversial to them. One-third of teens who had seen the show agreed that MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” which has now grown into a four-season show, is more controversial than “Skins.”

#3) They weren’t as impressionable as we tend to think. The majority of respondents who’d seen the show did not think it was an accurate depiction of teens, and 93% said that watching “Skins” did not make them want to act that way.

#4) They weren’t hearing about it through social media. MTV’s in social and traditional channels, but used more traditional channels to drive reach. Only 9% of respondents had heard about “Skins” through social channels (Facebook, Twitter or YouTube), with most citing TV as their source.

I wasn’t completely surprised to see that the majority of teens did not find the show as controversial as everyone else does, which at the end of the day makes it seem like teens aren’t as quick to react or engage, and as a result are harder to access.

Remember the days before speech recognition took over Customer Service? When pressing “0” put you straight through to an operator, bypassing those endless options? I miss those days. And while I love how technology and workflow has provided new options to both brands and their consumers – there are inherent gaps created in the experience when communicating with brands. It’s important that we balance technology and “efficiency” with the ability to set expectations.

Last week, I had a quite the customer service experience after purchasing two tickets for a trip. Long story short – my credit card was charged twice. At the time, a quick phone call seemed like the reasonable approach toward a resolution. An exhausting 45 minutes later I netted out with a few consumer experience basics that brands should be adopting if they aren’t already:

- Is the experience built for the company or for the consumer? Many brands like to keep the consumer away from a call center. To do this, it takes clicks to get to a contact phone number. This speaks to the consumer by telling them the brand is there for the consumer if need be, but on the Brand’s terms.

- Does call center satisfaction make for a repeat customer? I would say YES. While this may cost more to the brand, the WOM and loyalty should be worth more in terms of long term relationships = $$$

- When does being courteous become a hindrance? While I think we all love pleasantries when communicating, at the end of the day the consumer is looking for solutions. If being nice doesn’t provide a solution, those formalities are just wasted time when the outcome will be negative overall.

- How can brands marry the online and traditional work streams? This is where UX (User Experience) can be playful and efficient. By tying the touch points together seamlessly, the consumer will see the effort. A great example is Citibank Online. I find that although the pleasantries are a bit tiring, the solution is consistent and carries back to all mediums in real-time.

In an attempt to find closure, my more patient better half took some time to reach out to the company and confirm the correction. She had a difficult time finding a phone number and by the time she did, only online support was available. Taking a chance, she reached out electronically and received a prompt reply. The response was timely, courteous and accurate. When she got home and shared the story we both laughed, and tried to dissect why our two experiences were so disconnected.

I’ve always gravitated toward the UX side of things. There is an experience in everything we do – not just in digital, but in our work routines, the mediums we interact with, and our own lives. Personally, I have always believed in the idea of creativity and personality in UX, that something created should speak to a person in ways the consumer may not have been expecting. The reaction becomes, “Wow! How did they know…?”.  But, before you can even approach personality, it’s vital for brands to cover the bare basics of a positive experience.

While the customer service reps I dealt with were pleasant, the time spent to solve the problem made for a far from efficient user experience. I need to call this company again since the credit has yet to hit my account – here’s hoping for a better experience this time around. What are some brands that have surprised you with a positive customer service experience?

As the name may imply, here at Mr Youth many of us are not that far removed from college and often find ourselves immersed in the culture as part of the job. Via our RepNation influencer platform, we spend a lot of time on college campuses working with students and studying youth trends. Whenever I find myself on campus, I can’t help but reminisce about the good ol’ days and it always surprises me to see how much social media and technology has influenced college life in the short time since I left.

The Notes:

(Then) Paper and pen. Many of my professors frowned upon students having laptops in the classroom as they felt it was a distraction. I didn’t own a laptop until my senior year of college, and even then I rarely took it to class.
(Now) Studies are being done at colleges like the University of Notre Dame that analyze the pros and cons of using modern technology in the classroom. In this study, iPads were provided to a group of students, intended to be used as an e-reader, but over the course of the semester students found the iPads to be more useful as an aggregation tool rather than a replacement for a textbook. They reported that the devices are hard to take notes on and the majority felt the $499 price tag was just too expensive for their beer and ramen noodle budgets. Still, when asked how they felt about giving up the device at the end of the study, 65% said it would be hard to relinquish the iPad.

The Courses:

(Then) Looking back on my college curriculum, my major in Strategic Communications was largely focused in Public Relations – writing press releases and learning how to gain PR through traditional news outlets. I can’t help but wonder how much the curriculum has changed in these few short years since I graduated, as I naturally assume a large focus must be on non-traditional media like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and the like.
(Now) Interestingly enough, I spent a little time on my alma mater’s website and it doesn’t look like much has changed in terms of the courses required to graduate with a BA in Strategic Communications. I’m going to guess that social media is interwoven into the current curriculum, which brings up an interesting question: Can social media really be taught, or is it something you can only really learn through practice?

The Phones:

(Then) Having a brother who works for a wireless provider, owning the latest and greatest cell phone has always been an obsession of mine. I vividly remember walking into college sophomore year with a hot pink Motorola flip phone with photo, video and texting capabilities, and wondering how it could ever get better than that.
(Now) Fast Forward to 2011, a recent study revealed that 49% of all college students own smart phones and this figure has nearly doubled over the past year. I would estimate that about 90% of the students we work with though RepNation equip themselves with iPhone, Droid and Blackberry devices which result in an expectation of near-immediate response time. It makes me wonder – in another 5 years, will students no longer have the luxury of reading emails and taking time to come up with a thoughtful and strategic response, in an effort to respond as quickly as possible? And, if this begins to become the norm so early on in one’s professional career, how will this affect the way we do business in the “real world”?

At the end of the day, I find the changes all very exciting, yet slightly terrifying at the same time. With endless potential it’s going to be hard to keep up with it all, but with the possibility of lectures being held via hologram, how can you not want to try?

This article appeared as part of MediaPost’s Engage:Teens Publications. To read the original post, click here.

A teen, a Millennial and a Mom walk into a restaurant for dinner. The Mom has a coupon for 10% off that she got for “liking” the bar’s Facebook page, the Millennial checked in on Foursquare to get a free drink, and the teen has nothing and is too busy texting her friends to care.

Teens are a unique audience. They have their own needs and social drivers that are unique to their stage in life. Many marketers assume that, because teens are young, their needs are the same as Millennials and that they will interact with brands in the same way.

New research is showing that teens have their own needs and behaviors that are different from other generations. If you’re a marketer looking to reach teens, it’s vitally important that you always have your finger on the pulse of the teen audience. As technology evolves, teens are finding their own uses for it that are unique to their personal and social needs.

There are some myths about marketing to teens that every marketer can learn from.

Myth #1: All teens want smartphones
While it is true that teens want phones, smartphone adoption has only reached 31% as of 2010. If 90% of teens own a cell phone, why aren’t they buying smartphones? The answer is actually pretty simple: texting. Teens send an average of 3,339 texts per month, and typing that many messages on a touch screen is a lot more difficult than typing on even the most basic phone keyboard. That’s why BlackBerry is one of the most popular phones for teens.

Click here to read the rest of David’s teen marketing myths.

Twitter can be a valuable tool for businesses, but it’s important to know how you can get the most out of it. Whether it’s learning about what tweets are most popular or who is actually retweeting your tweets, allowing businesses to track and aggregate data pertaining to their specific hashtag or username can help them better understand ROI and help make improvements as needed.

Posting tweets with a hashtag or asking users to use a hashtag can be difficult to track, which is why we have compiled the following list of Twitter tools used to track hashtags. Enjoy!:

TwapperKeeper.com: Are you interested in archiving tweets as they are posted? What about saving your own personal tweets? Twapper Keeper is a wonderful service that allows you to search and save data by date.

Monitter.com: Monitter tracks keywords and hashtags in real-time. Type in the words you want pulled and it will automatically update the graph with the most recent tweets.

Hashtags.org: This website tracks specific hashtags and also includes a graph to outline how often the hashtag is used.

Plodt.com: This website is a user-generated trend tracker based on tagging and ranking your tweets. It requires you to follow the Plodt Twitter account to participate, but even without participating, its timelines, tags, and statistics are still useful and interesting.

RowFeeder.com: RowFeeder tracks and aggregates data on Facebook and Twitter. You can track any word, hashtag or even a username. A number of different report types are available and can be downloaded via Excel.