In the midst of the 23rd Annual Card Forum last week, I received a tweet that pointedly asked “Everyone is Tweeting, But is Anyone Listening?”

It came from my friend Jill McBride, who is well versed in the loyalty marketing business, and runs a well respected public relations firm based in Cincinnati. We had both noticed that the Twitter channel is increasingly a one-way broadcast medium which was essentially my response to her tweet.

My observation is that Twitter is like standing by a fast moving stream and watching the debris float past you. You tend to ignore most of it, but occasionally can reach out and grab something of value. If you’re excited about what you found, you can share it with friends by Re-Tweeting.  For those things you’re not so sure about, you can mark them as favorites and decide what to do about them later.

People constantly ask me if investing time in Twitter is “worth it”. I have to frame my answer in a description of how I use Twitter. For me, it’s a business tool and I am satisfied to use it both as a broadcast channel for my own content and other content that I find of interest from those I follow.

Another view of Twitter is to see it as a highlight reel of mashed up RSS feeds from your business contacts. If you follow “X” people in your area of business interest, you’ll probably see articles, news and insights that are shared to make the Tweeter look as if they are in the know. No one I know Tweets irrelevant stuff, at least not intentionally. Most everyone is doing their best to share relevant content and insights that are intended to be accretive to your knowledge base.

Then there is the listening issue. During Card Forum, there were about 200 tweets posted by a handful of Tweeple over 3 days. About 60-70% of the flow originated from 4 accounts (I combined accounts of different names that were clearly part of one organization).  One of these accounts, ironically the second most prolific, had no profile and appeared to be activated just to participate in the conference.

Affinion, Colloquy (et als), Citi, MasterCard were all present and the conference organizers, PaymentsSource jumped in on Day 2 to share some good quotes from the day’s sessions. I was there too, but logistics limited me to less sharing than I had planned.

Looking at the flow of messaging during the conference, it did seem to be mostly about broadcast. Inclusive of some re-tweeting that went on, few conversations were sparked. I shared a description of social media tools in the context of baseball some time ago and pegged Twitter as the “groupie” channel. I’m not so sure now since I would think groupies would be chattering away, comparing notes and making more noise.

Does this change my opinion about Twitter or tempt me to back away? Nope. It does highlight that Twitter deserves just so much investment of time and money, because if few people listen, then it is just a new form of broadcast media that was supposed to becoming obsolete as Consumer 2.0 becomes more influential.

The one caveat to this opinion is that Twitter does mirror real life in one way. There is a small group of people among my Twitter world who continually engage and encourage conversations around posts. This demonstrates they are not only posting, but reading, listening and interested to contribute towards a greater goal.

The Pareto rule interpreted by Twitter usage probably means that 5% of users spark 95% of the conversations. That in itself makes Twitter worthwhile for business people seeking a slight edge in a fast moving world.

What are your thoughts?

Conferences and events seem to come in bunches and there are several taking place over the next few weeks where we will be in attendance.

Consider this your invitation to reach out in advance of the events you will be attending and let’s make an effort to connect face to face.

Face to face? I know it’s a quaint, old school notion, but it still can’t be beat.

23rd Card Forum & Expo / April 27 – 29, 2011  / Miami Beach, Florida

3rd Customer Experience Summit / May 23-25, 2011 / Miami Beach, Florida

Customer Relationship Management Conference / June 8-10, 2011 / Chicago, Illinois

Look for conference reports published after each event in The Wise Marketer.

Hope to see you soon!

The 21st Annual Card Forum took place last week in Marco Island, Florida. The conference synopsis which follows was originally published at www.TheWiseMarketer.com as filed by Bill Hanifin, North American Contributing Editor.

Register here for a free subscription to the Wise Marketer

The 21st Annual Card Forum and Expo has recently been held in Florida and, while the banking and card markets in the US might be reeling, the quality of presentations and attendees was superb.

Bill Hanifin, Managing Director of Hanifin Loyalty, reports that according to Bruce Kerr of Loyalty One USA and Laurence Booth of Amex Bank of Canada, the loyalty market in Canada is “holistically engaged”, with some nine in ten Canadian households actively engaged in a loyalty programme (the US figure is one in three). In order to break through the clutter, Amex has worked with Air Miles Canada to revamp and relaunch its Platinum Credit Card in 2008, breaking through the traditional co-brand model, with gratifying results.

According to Jim McCarthy, Head of North American Financial Institution Sales, Visa, payment cards are making inroads into cash and cheque payments which, in the US, have seen their share of annual Personal Consumption Expenditure fall from 61% to 47% over a few years. Consumers increasingly shop on value, are in control of their commercial relationships, and are tending toward more judicious use of credit cards.

According to McCarthy, the debit card will be the key product going forward for most issuers. He reaffirmed that rewards and loyalty programmes are here to stay and that providing value and control while encouraging responsible choices will contribute to overall card loyalty. McCarthy quoted a Wells Fargo study among university students which revealed that, as the result of a financial literacy campaign, late fees in the test group dropped 42%, overdraft charges were down 40%, and past due accounts declined 55%, while card volume spend increased by 22%. The results clearly indicate that banks offering solid financial guidance can separate themselves from the competition.

A panel of ‘Retail Loyalty Leaders’ including Best Buy, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, moderated by Colloquy’s Rick Ferguson, focused on the importance of loyal customers in a downturn, Aubyn Thomas of Macy’s said that loyal customers continued to shop during the downturn and fellow panelists agreed that it was their most loyal clients who saved the day when the economy worsened. As a result, none of the retailers were willing to reduce investment in their frequent shopping programmes. Instead, they recommended that better use of transactional and customer data would drive efficiency in communications and reduce programme operating costs. Saks has encouraged associates to work harder at building relationships with clients and to use the CRM tools already deployed.

At the best of times, there are challenges in predicting customer behaviour in any market, but the stakes are raised to do so accurately in a down market. According to Lightspeed Research’s Joel Stanton, to successfully understand and predict customer behaviour, a robust, holistic view of the customer is required and that simply focusing on one relationship or one product is not enough.

This article is copyright 2009 TheWiseMarketer.com

The 21st Annual Card Forum took place last week in Marco Island, Florida. The conference synopsis which follows was originally published at www.TheWiseMarketer.com as filed by Bill Hanifin, North American Contributing Editor.

Register here for a free subscription to the Wise Marketer

The 21st Annual Card Forum and Expo has recently been held in Florida and, while the banking and card markets in the US might be reeling, the quality of presentations and attendees was superb.

Bill Hanifin, Managing Director of Hanifin Loyalty, reports that according to Bruce Kerr of Loyalty One USA and Laurence Booth of Amex Bank of Canada, the loyalty market in Canada is “holistically engaged”, with some nine in ten Canadian households actively engaged in a loyalty programme (the US figure is one in three). In order to break through the clutter, Amex has worked with Air Miles Canada to revamp and relaunch its Platinum Credit Card in 2008, breaking through the traditional co-brand model, with gratifying results.

According to Jim McCarthy, Head of North American Financial Institution Sales, Visa, payment cards are making inroads into cash and cheque payments which, in the US, have seen their share of annual Personal Consumption Expenditure fall from 61% to 47% over a few years. Consumers increasingly shop on value, are in control of their commercial relationships, and are tending toward more judicious use of credit cards.

According to McCarthy, the debit card will be the key product going forward for most issuers. He reaffirmed that rewards and loyalty programmes are here to stay and that providing value and control while encouraging responsible choices will contribute to overall card loyalty. McCarthy quoted a Wells Fargo study among university students which revealed that, as the result of a financial literacy campaign, late fees in the test group dropped 42%, overdraft charges were down 40%, and past due accounts declined 55%, while card volume spend increased by 22%. The results clearly indicate that banks offering solid financial guidance can separate themselves from the competition.

A panel of ‘Retail Loyalty Leaders’ including Best Buy, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, moderated by Colloquy’s Rick Ferguson, focused on the importance of loyal customers in a downturn, Aubyn Thomas of Macy’s said that loyal customers continued to shop during the downturn and fellow panelists agreed that it was their most loyal clients who saved the day when the economy worsened. As a result, none of the retailers were willing to reduce investment in their frequent shopping programmes. Instead, they recommended that better use of transactional and customer data would drive efficiency in communications and reduce programme operating costs. Saks has encouraged associates to work harder at building relationships with clients and to use the CRM tools already deployed.

At the best of times, there are challenges in predicting customer behaviour in any market, but the stakes are raised to do so accurately in a down market. According to Lightspeed Research’s Joel Stanton, to successfully understand and predict customer behaviour, a robust, holistic view of the customer is required and that simply focusing on one relationship or one product is not enough.

This article is copyright 2009 TheWiseMarketer.com

The hazards of business travel aside, it’s good to see and be seen.  You can find Bill Hanifin at one of several events in the next few weeks. If you are attending either Card Forum or the Loyalty Expo, I hope you will say hello. Here’s where I can be found in the near future:

April 20 – 22, 2009
21st Annual Card Forum and Expo
Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort
Marco Island, FL

May 14th 2:30pm ET
Creating Loyalty Among Generation Y
Webinar sponsored by OnSite Conferences

May 31 – June 2, 2009
2009 Loyalty, Incentive and Reward Expo
Westin Diplomat
Hollywood, Florida