Do You Tweet Like a Woman?

AOL and Nielsen recently released a report with some interesting numbers regarding gender and communications styles in social media.

The report is concerned about how gender should be best addressed in social media marketing.

They use the word “targeted” but I don’t like that. Your ideal client is more than a target. Targets are shot at, not helped. You can’t build a relationship with a target.

Anyway…

Check this out:

Which gender should brands be targeting to help spread their message? While women outnumber men online — 53% vs. 47% — males are more likely to share digital media content — 51% vs. 49%

Interesting! Women outnumber men online. I already knew that, and my own audience breakdown reflects the same. Here’s the thing: knowing this, I adjust my social media game accordingly. This study bears out what I had intuited:

Men are also more likely — by a clear margin of 41% to 32% — to share information they deem “important” and feel will be helpful to others, from how-to tutorials to traffic reports.

“Men will share content that positions themselves as experts,” explained Kristin Kovner, senior marketing director at AOL.

Conversely, women are slightly more likely — 33% vs. 31% — to share information pertaining to a common interest like politics, arts and parenting. In other words, said Kovner, “women share to build community.”

Women “start businesses at 1.5 times the national rate” and the “…number of women-owned firms grew by 50%, well above the 34% increase in the total number of small businesses” according to the latest U.S. Census information.

What’s not addressed at all in the MediaPost article is…

What should we do with this information?

Well, maybe nothing, because the differences are slight.

But it’s different for all of us. For myself and this business, the difference is more than just slight.

And it’s all based on the same question: who is your ideal client or customer (or as Jenny B says, your Perfect People)?

Most of my clients are women. This could be due to several factors, first and foremost of which is my dashing good looks (ahem). I believe it’s because of two factors, really:

The statistics cited above on the overall numbers of women vs men-owned businesses and online presence.
I’m pretty good at not turning off women to my content and marketing.

I don’t claim to have any special prowess with women (insert joke here) because I never set out to market to them over men. In other words, I never concentrated on either gender at first, this is just the hand which fate has dealt me (and it’s such a terrible punishment, I know…).

When I now envision my idea client, she’s a she.

So… I tweet like a woman and I’m perfectly okay with that

I’m not being a phony. I’m not pretending to be a woman by using aliased or pseudonym social media accounts. What I am doing is remaining aware of the differences cited above in how men and women share content in social media.

If you take a look at my Twitter and Facebook streams you will see a mix of manly how-to practicality and just plain ol’ socializing and fun. Sometimes even slightly flirtatious fun, too. And I do mean slightly. Fun is good, creepy is not.

My main point here being that I kinda tweet like a woman, and while it doesn’t make me phony or manipulative, neither is it an accident or done unconsciously.

My masculinity is saved by my epic beard, which instantly out-beards all other beards in any room I enter and shrivels them in emasculated shame.

What do you need to be doing?

And the answer to that may be: nothing. Maybe gender and how it affects sharing and communications on social media doesn’t matter to you. If you’re a guy with other guys for clients, you probably don’t have to think too hard about it. If you’re a woman working with women, same thing. It’s all perfectly natural.

But… you may be the exception to the rule and not realize it. And you wondered why your social media marketing hasn’t gotten the traction you’d hoped for. You may want to attract the opposite sex as a client, but have felt like you had a cold reception or that people were just unresponsive.

In that case, maybe you do need to tweet like a woman… or a man.

Image by Mike-wise

http://twitter.com/RealtyAustinTX Kathleen Bucher

I blog, tweet and friend like a woman because I don't have any other option. The funny thing is that we do social media work for men and have to be aware of the fact that they HAVE to have some butch stuff in there or the creepy factor blossoms! I think the most telling thing is that men are not afraid to brag on themselves and women are less likely to. In the social media realm, this non-chest thumping approach works to their advantage as noone goes on Facebook to be sold to!!! Sharing your post with my peeps!!!
- http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
  
  Great points, Kathleen. You said you don't have an option, but I believe you
  
  really do. You can consciously remember: “okay, I'm doing this for a mostly
  
  male audience, that means it should be a 'how-to' or a 'why you should' or
  
  some other such instructional thing,” instead of asking them how they feel
  
  or sharing something humorous but distracting.
  
  If your goal is to help people and your content does that then sharing is
  
  helping people, not bragging. To not share it in fact would be a crime, a
  
  disservice! You owe them every piece of content you've got. Having said
  
  that, your own content is only a small fraction of what's possible and
  
  helpful, so mix it up good with helpful content from other sources. The idea
  
  is you want people thinking, “Dang, Kathleen always has the best links and
  
  info, she really knows her stuff!”
http://www.petertcrowell.com petercrowell

I wonder if the the transparency of being involved in social media clicks more with the feminine aspect of an individual's personality. Women sharing interests and building community, as opposed to men staking territory as experts — this is telling.

Are women naturally better suited to getting the most out of social media?

The being-who-you-are-without-fear-and-making-a-living-at-it thing is both awesome and intimidating. And I see WAY more women doing it than men. The men I do see tend to exhibit comfort with their feminine aspect.

And that can't be muted by a beard, however epic.
- http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
  
  Great ideas you're sharing Peter. Sometimes I think the ultimate online
  
  business team is a really strong male/female partnership where each brings
  
  masculine and feminine energy and sensibilities to the game. Then community
  
  can be built but you could also have a kick-ass product launch.
  
  But if you're going it alone as a single-person business then I believe it's
  
  extremely helpful to be aware how you come across to the people you're
  
  trying to attract. And make adjustments as needed.
  
  Perhaps I'm just lucky that I can easily express feminine characteristics of
  
  my personality. It certainly isn't hurting me in my online business.
http://www.devacoaching.com Sandi Amorim

I think it's possible to use both the masculine and feminine energy (forgive the woo woo factor) when communicating online, ie: I think my writing often comes from the masculine/warrior-like energy but my actual coaching work shows up more feminine. How does this translate on social media? I'm not afraid to show love and compassion and I'll kick ass when appropriate. I let both come through in my tweets.

And for the record, “Fun is good, creepy is not.” made me snort out loud!
- http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
  
  Sandi, that's exactly right. And it's not even woo-woo because the entire
  
  universe operates on the exchange of energy between two poles. Male and
  
  female is simply one kind of expression of that. And while sex is the
  
  ultimate representation of that exchange, it also happens in many smaller
  
  ways every day between people.
  
  Glad you got a kick out of my writing. I recall a few days ago we were
  
  tweeting for a few minutes about boobs. It was fun and funny and being the
  
  only guy involved in that conversation I was very well aware of how easily
  
  the slightest misstep on my part could've ruined the whole discussion.
  
  That's always the danger with humor is that it can go over the line. A lot
  
  of men have a poor sense of where that line is.
  - http://www.devacoaching.com Sandi Amorim
    
    Haha, a lot of men don't know there IS a line!
  - http://www.petertcrowell.com petercrowell
    
    Tweetingaboutboobs.com could get some traction.
    
    But your post topic is very interesting to me because, if I may get woo-woo myself for a moment, I think the current emerging internet business paradigm is a big part of the evolution of consciousness. People basing their prosperity on their talents and personalities.
    
    We're currently pointed toward a social fabric based on creativity. This thought drives me up a wall in a very positive way. Imagine such a world!
    
    And one of the primary aspects of creativity is the mingling of the masculine and the feminine.
    - http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
      
      Peter, I agree with you. I think we're heading into something new and pretty
      
      damn cool. We see evidence of this all around us if we care to look. The
      
      traditional economy is disintegrating. There will be no “recovery,” but
      
      rather there will be a sea-change. The rise of the online creative
      
      entrepreneurial business is what's being built in the new economy as the old
      
      economy crumbles.
      
      I think we can look back at history and find all kinds of examples of highly
      
      creative people who integrate some male and female characteristics. This
      
      might seem a stretch when we're talking about business and blogging, but if
      
      you consider many of the most popular musicians in popular culture, they're
      
      androgynous. That's a much more extreme form of integration. I think that's
      
      interesting to note, but coming back down to earth, in practical terms, what
      
      I need to remember is that if I'm a man trying to reach women online, I need
      
      to adjust my content-sharing approach. If you're a woman trying to reach
      
      men, you may need to adjust your content-sharing approach.
      - http://www.petertcrowell.com petercrowell
        
        I'd be very interested in seeing one concrete example each of the two approaches to content sharing you mention.
        
        Women trying to reach men.
        Men trying to reach women.
        
        I keep thinking of my perfect person as a woman. But I wonder if that's influenced by the number of women I see reaching for the kind of knowledge I hope to provide.
        
        It could be that men need me more, because women are already being very well served by some incredible people.
        
        It might be clear by now that although I feel it in me to teach on these lines, I have not yet identified the shape that teaching will take or the people I will attempt to serve.
        
        But your post has my wheels turning.
      - http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
        
        Peter, you said: “I wonder if that's influenced by the number of women I see
        
        reaching for the kind of knowledge I hope to provide,” to which I answer,
        
        “Probably!” Nothing wrong with that at all. I know more women than men are
        
        online and starting online businesses. In a business/marketing sense, I'm
        
        good with the ladies so it's a good fit for me.
        
        Here's a very recent (must be something in the air) article on women
        
        marketing to men:
        
        http://marketingtowomenonline….
        
        <http: 04=”" 2011=”" blog=”" marketingtowomenonline.typepad.com=”" tips-for-women-on-marketing-to-men.html=”">That
        
        whole blog is an excellent resource on marketing to women, which every man
        
        should check out for a bit of a wake up call:
        
        http://marketingtowomenonline….
        
        <http: marketingtowomenonline.typepad.com=”">A great book which includes
        
        quite the rant about women customers by Tom Peters is
        
        ReImagine!<http: b0028n72w6=”" gp=”" product=”" ref=”as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=michaelmart0b-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B0028N72W6″ http://www.amazon.com=“”></http:></http:></http:>
      - http://www.petertcrowell.com petercrowell
        
        Great stuff, thanks Michael!
      - http://groupon.comclone.com groupon clone software
        
        Good helped Micheal! thanks for the sharing with us…..
http://profiles.google.com/timbrownson Tim Brownson

I tweet like a woman too, but then again I wear pink shirts and I'm in touch with my feminine side.

I too have way more women clients, but my take is guys are too stoked up on adrenaline and testosterone to ask for help from a girly Life Coach
- http://twitter.com/alisonjgolden Alison Golden
  
  I wonder if women are more likely to ask for help generally even if they don't need it necessarily. I've seen research which shows that men assume they have expertise while women feel they need to go get external validation in the form of a qualification.
  - http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
    
    “men assume they have expertise” often to their chagrin. Any of these sound
    
    familiar? “Of course I'm not lost!” “Of course I know how to fix that!”
    
    “Pffft, I don't need the stupid instructions, how hard can it be?”
    
    LOL.
abogado_Miami

In fact women are better able to take advantage with the media, because they are decisive, and very safe, of course I also men, but there is little benefit women. indicated by the statistics so I have not inventado.ok.
http://managingempleperforrmance.com Leon Noone

G'Day Michael,

If you were as old and ugly as me you might see this differently. That high forehead makes you look very intelligent. And we bearded blokes must stick together. My beard will be 50 years old in 2013. And i've been married to the same woman for 45 years.

I dunno what any of that means and I'm too afraid to ask.

Make sure you have fun.

Best wishes

Leon
- http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine
  
  Leon, you never cease to crack me up! Thanks as always for stopping by.
http://www.talktherapybiz.com Linda

Interesting…I like to think I have the Tweeting sensitivity, insight, and nurturance of a woman, but the boundaries, corrosion-resistant balls, and directness of a man.

I love the ambivalence, here. It's very Freudian. As in Sigmund, and not Anna. But if you're fe/male, you likely got that…:).
http://courtcan.com Courtney Cantrell

I definitely tweet like a woman. And the epic beard truly does out-beard every other beard in my tweet stream. Well done. ; )

(Good article, too. You're reminding me that my blog could use some more “5 Reasons Why…” or “What To Do When…” posts. Thanks, Michael!)