This Valentine’s Day companies are taking a closer look at the relationship they have with consumers.  While most are focusing on growing a future with their customers, one company, ExactTarget, is taking a look at the dreaded break-up.  The “Social Break-Up” to be exact.  In a study published earlier this month, ExactTarget takes a look at the reasons consumers unsubscribe from email, Facebook and Twitter.

• Over 90% of consumers have unsubscribed from opt-in emails.
• 54% unsubscribed because emails were too frequent.
• 49% unsubscribed because the content was repetitive or boring.
• 47% unsubscribed because they receive too many emails and need to get rid of some.
• 55% of Facebook users have “unliked” a company they became a fan of.
• 44% “unliked” because the company posted too frequently.
• 43% “unliked” because their walls were too crowded.
• 26% opted -in for a one time offer and were no longer interested in communicating with the company.
• 41% of Twitter users have stopped “following” companies they once followed.
• 52% stopped “following” because content was repetitive or boring.
• 41% stopped “following” because their feed was too crowded.
• 39% stopped “following” because the company was sending too many “Tweets”.

Whether through e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, one thing is consistent among the reasons consumers walk out the door: communications that, in some way, leads the customer to believe the company doesn’t care.  With over 95% of online consumers using e-mail, 65% using Facebook and 9% active tweeters, understanding the reasons that consumers disengage will allow companies to grow their relationships as well as their business.

Facebook’s stock is trading at more than $16 on SecondMarket Inc., an exchange for shares of privately held companies, said a person familiar with the latest pricing data. That would put its worth at about $41 billion, more than EBay’s $39.3 billion valuation on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Facebook only trails Amazon.com Inc., worth $74.4 billion, and Google Inc., valued at $192.9 billion, among U.S. Internet companies.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-15/facebook-passes-ebay-in-value-becoming-no-3-u-s-web-company.html

How many of you can see this picture, and totally relate? Working for any company that directly works for others, you want to do the best to provide for your clients every need, want, and whim. Lets face it, sometimes things fall through the cracks. We all have those 1 or 5 clients that are known for either being very particular, very demanding, or very needy. How do you successfully handle, and appease those clients as well as maintaining your standard of quality for the rest of your clients?

What would have been the best course of action for Steve, the designer? Should he have gone to Mr. Jones and “reminded” him that it had been a week, 2 weeks, etc. and he still had given no content? Or should have Steve taken it upon himself to create something after the first week, even without the input from Mr. Jones?

As I see this illustration, I can place myself in both sets of shoes. As Mr. Jones, I am probably very busy. A friendly weekly reminder email would have been greatly appreciated. If I received 2 emails, that would tell me that it had been 2 weeks since meeting with Steve, and he was being held up by me. I could not expect Steve to stand by his initial deadline because of MY inability to deliver what I promised.

In this same scenario, myself as Steve, after I sent the 2 initial reminder emails, I would create everything I possibly could, and send Mr. Jones what I came up with. Thus (hopefully) giving Mr. Jones the visual motivation to get the content delivered. That way Mr. Jones knows that even though I have to wait for him to complete the job, I am at least pro-active enough to do what I can with the knowledge I have. This would also look better in his eyes, knowing that I care enough about him as a client to not wait for him to begin the job.

I know for a fact, I would be as pro-active as I could, in either role. As Mr. Jones, I would not expect Steve to turnover my website immediately if I had held him up. I would understand that I am not his only client, even if he makes me feel, and provides quality work as if I were. If I were Steve, I would do my best to be pro-active enough to stay on Mr. Jones and remind him that he said he would get the content. I would try to do everything to remedy the situation before it became a much bigger issue.

The two CKE Restaurant fast-food chains are launching their own loyalty mobile apps to reward customers for “checking in” at any one of their 3,000 locations around the country. The app, for iPhones and Android phones, called Happy Star Rewards, allows users to reveal their locations to CKE Restaurants in exchange for free food and prizes, as well as share it with friends through Facebook, Twitter and other networks.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=146961

I was recently searching the web, and I found an article that gave 5 recipes in 140 characters or less. Lets see if you can decipher them.

Shepards Pie
Brwn2c grndbeef. Toss w lb mixdfrozenveg/can shroomsoup/s+p; top w 3c MashedPotatoes. 25m@400°F

Unfried Chicken
Dip8pce chicken in milk, mixd c grndcornflake/T onion+garlcpdr/t oreg&pep&chili. Chill. Cvr40m@350°F; +30m uncvrd.

Marcella Hazan’s Carbonara
Slice, fry c bacon; +T garlc. Simmr+1/4c wtwine. Beat 2egg&yolk/1/2c parm. Toss+lb aldentespagheti/bacon/1/2c parm/pep.

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms
Saute1/3c zuke&onion&tom&rice/T olvoil; +T mint&lem/s+p. Stuff8blossom; +1/2c Stock/T olvoil&tompaste.
Cvr,simmr25m.

Apple Muffins
Mix c flr/1/3c brsug/t bkgpdr&SweetSpice/1/4t salt. Fold+btn 1/3c milk/egg/2T mltbuttr; +1/2cgrtdapple/1/4c walnut. Fill 6. 20m@350°F.

Did you know that you can even read the Bible on Twitter? @Biblesummary you can see bible verses condensed to 140 Characters.

There are many articles you can read that tell the best way to reach an audience only using 140 characters. The way the world is, you will never know how short and sweet a message will be!!

Here are some steps to follow to ensure that you don’t miss out:

1. Observe. No matter the size of your company, it’s fairly easy to get involved. Before you do, however, pay attention to what bigger brands are doing and make an effort to follow their lead (after all, they’re doing the major research and are investing in this space). Location-based social networks are expected to generate $3.3 billion in revenue by 2013; Foursquare—a prime example—announced on June 30 that they have raised $20 million in venture capital, raising the company’s valuation to nearly $95 million.

2. Get involved. Explore the space yourself by downloading some of the many existing applications on your smart phone (examples are Layar, Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and Brightkite). Starts using the tools as an individual, monitoring what customers are saying about your business; this will provide an understanding of what you need.

3. Create your content. Give your business a digital footprint by writing a review, defining your location on Foursquare and Brightkite, tweeting about your spot, and/or creating a Facebook fan page. Sync your website and promote your social media savvy on your business website, and then talk back.

4. Keep a close eye out and react. Listening is a major aspect of marketing that many do not utilize correctly. Monitor what is being said about your business and take the time to respond to questions, complaints and compliments. The more proactive you are, the more digitally savvy your business will appear.

5. Location-aware engagement and contests. This concept is all about incentives and driving participation: offering such things as coupons for checking in nearby gives people a reason to come by. Once they stop by, utilize your physical location with signage or targeted marketing over the networks (which will in turn drive participation).

Taking all of these steps might not show immediate returns monetarily, but the customer engagement and loyalty will ultimately help you in the long run.

Similar to services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, Places is available immediately through Facebook’s iPhone app and other advanced mobile devices. Users looking to announce their location simply tap “check in” and are able to view a list of nearby places; they then choose the place that matches where they are. They have the ability to write down what they are doing at that location (as well as what they think about it) and a story appears on friends’ new feeds as well as Recent Activity section on the page for that place.

Facebook’s overall goal with this feature is to not only inform friends of where they are, but to also learn if their friends are nearby at the same time. By writing down details of the place, others are able to view where the writer was days or even years ago. In addition to a single user checking in, the “tag” feature is available for linking others to that location as well (people can tag friends only if the taggers themselves check in to the location too).

The con side to this exciting new feature, however, is safety concerns; how is it safe to inform everyone on your friends list of your location? Facebook’s solution: check-ins will appear only to users’ Facebook friends as a default, and users have the ability to trim the recipients list to specific friends only.

And so there you have it: the innovative world of Facebook expanding yet again.