The top trending Twitter term, as I write this, is “meteor shower tonight.”  It’s a wonderful event to enjoy on a summer’s evening, and the timing this year is perfect for those of us on in the Eastern time zone.  A great memory from several years back was having a pre-dawn jog in an very open park during the Leonid meteor shower and being awed as meteors fell all around me.  It was truly stunning.

Thinking of space lends itself to that sense of awe.  When you get the bonus of the rare and infrequent events like a meteor shower or eclipse, it brings that mystique to you in a very close and personal way.  In a sense, we’ve tried to capture a bit of this with our latest NASA interactive browser theme.

Each week, we personally select a new background for the browser theme from NASA’s Image of Day and update the browser theme.  It’s an automatic change for you, giving you a fresh and exciting new browser experience every week.  Our goal is to deliver something beautiful and continually fresh without being too fleeting.

This coming week, while it’s not guaranteed, I would expect a stellar image of the Perseid meteor shower.  Unlike the real event, this one can’t be spoiled by clouds and you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to enjoy it.  Try it out.

Last week I was directed to a blog post about the power of having fans of your brand. Teddy Anderson, the author, and I had just met and he mentioned the post and that he’d referenced Brand Thunder in it. How could I not read it?

Some valid points are made about the difference between fans and customers, and why the power is in getting more fans. He even lists resources to help with this. In the brief post, the emphasis is on illustrating why customers are not the goal, but fans are. The point that is alluded to, but not detailed, is that the two are not mutually exclusive.

You should approach your customer development like a baseball farm system. You’ve got your prospecting and recruiting to get new players into the minor leagues, then you move them from single A up to triple A until you can land them in the majors. Not everyone is going to make the jump to the next level, but doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose at the level they attain. Think of your customer acquisition in the same light. Once you’ve made a sale or acquired a new customer, are you done? Not likely. You’re just at the next stage of a growing relationship. It started when the first connection was made with a prospect, it’s grown into a customer relationship and they may yet evolve into fans. They won’t all become fans, but at least the growth potential is there at every stage.

The tools available to companies to encourage that ongoing relationship are plentiful, and that’s the strength of the Internet. As I’ve said in this space before, communication is a key element to building that relationship. And it’s not just open communication, it’s early. You need these customers to feel they’ve got the inside track if they’re ever to move from feeling like a client to feeling like they’re valued.

Yes, Brand Thunder’s browser themes do this, and part of why we’re including the “interactive” moniker with them. This communication potential is also the compelling nature behind Facebook and Twitter, and the fans and followers of brands. Information is powerful, and to give it freely, openly and early (as in making your fans the first to know when news is happening) stands to create a powerful connection.

So, I agree that if you’re only focused on getting customers, you’re missing the boat. You need to look at the entire customer relation process to make sure the methods are in place to make sure the relationship can grow.

The ability to capture the voice of your consumer today is quite abundant and that’s a fantastic thing. Like at most businesses, Brand Thunder continuously looks at how it can improve its product. We’re thankful for the various channels available that allow our users to voice their own thoughts on where we should focus. Collectively, we build a better product faster.

It’s also not too surprising that what half the audience thinks is great, puts off the other half. I think that’s where a blend of looking at your business metrics and listening to your consumer helps paint the more complete picture of what you should be delivering. A recent example for Brand Thunder can be found in the New Tab search box we include with our interactive browser themes. To look at the performance of the tab search box shows active usage and win for our users, however, listening to complaints in our uninstall survey suggests a contingent dissatisfied with the placement. We added a simple check box to allow users to remove the feature. Win-win.

I’ve captured the placements and tools we find most useful to hear what our customers have to say. Would love to know your thoughts if there are some obvious ones we’ve missed.

Surveys

In the web applications business, you realize that when you get a lot of people trying your product, you get a lot of people leaving it. That’s a great pool of people to help you understand likes and dislikes. We tapped into it by looking through the Wordpress Plugins in search of a survey tool we could use on our Uninstall page. We felt Surveys fit our need best and the developer offered good information on his site.

Get Satisfaction

Get Satisfaction has been our support tool for a long time. The site has been growing its capability and adjusting its pricing structure to be more available to small businesses. It’s a great place to talk directly with your consumers and address their immediate needs. We’ve been able to help users find the tweak they need to a product for features that aren’t available or haven’t rolled out yet. It’s been a great community tool.

TweetAlarm

Just as much commentary is going to happen outside your channels as it will in them. I’m a big fan of TweetAlarm. It’s proven much more reliable than other Twitter alert services I’ve used. It might help that its mostly good news that its been sending.

Google Alerts

For all the printed word of the web, you’ll need to tap into Google Alerts. It’s a great tool for tracking articles, commentary or re-posting of stories about your company.

Real-time Search

If you’re in a category that’s hot, or something is breaking in your industry the real-time search tools that are available are a huge help, and your options are growing. You can use a comprehensive discovery tool like Bing which has integrated Twitter search, has Foursquare up and coming for its maps and a host of other features. You can also use specialty search engines like Collecta which does an amazing job of scouring blogs, comments, photos and other content as it gets posted.

These are some of the tools we like and depend on. If you have some we shouldn’t miss, please share.

If you’re like us, you like to keep up with companies, news and opinions across the web. And, we’re probably like you in that we offer different ways of communicating what’s going on and what we deem as relevant. To help you sift through the delivery vehicles, I’m providing an overview of each one. Then you can choose one or two that fit your needs best, or simply follow the links and sign up for all of them.

Twitter:

Follow: brandthunder http://twitter.com/brandthunder It’s company insight and more. Patrick must be the speed-reader in the company. He gets through more blogs, articles and newsfeeds in a morning than I can all week. If you want a grasp of the best of Internet business news, his take on current company activity and the occasional compelling gadget – following us on Twitter is a great way to go.

Newsletter:

Another easy method to keep up with company news and activity is to sign up for our email newsletter at http://brandthunder.com/stormreport. What I appreciate and respect about the newsletter is that it’s news, when it happens, and not on a schedule. We’re not going to put something in your mailbox until there’s something worthwhile to put there. No clutter, just the goods.

Blog:

Our blog continues its evolution. We’re on a publishing pace of once or twice a week. What you get is a range of news and information about the company, insights into our industry (which I view as interactive marketing, but am open to feedback and requests for information) and some insights into the life of a company in the midst of its early growth stage. You can always read it on our site, and visit our Gallery while you’re here to see the latest browser Boom!, or get the blog in your favorite reader with this URL: http://brandthunder.com/feed/.

Facebook:

Another easy way to get the new news bits… become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/brandthunder. It makes us happy and it’s guaranteed to impress your friends – or something equally good (I need to check my legal disclaimers). :-)

I hope this helps, and we hope to see you in more places.

Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It is a commentary over at MediaPost. Guy Maser gives some simple and straightforward ideas to help you better serve your existing customer. The fundamentals often aren’t that complex. His suggestions are geared for a certain type of business, but his premise is applicable anywhere – do something for the benefit of your current customers.

I’d take it a step or two farther. What can you do for your customer today? How much of your time was spent working on tasks focused on revenue for you as opposed to experience for them? When was the last time you focused on figuring out what would “wow” your customer? Do you have a daily “to-do” task that focuses specifically on the customer?

Questions like these drive a set of behaviors that can benefit your customer and ultimately your business. Just picking up the phone and calling a customer can have a very positive impact as well as offering a chance to get first hand feedback. Reviewing message boards and comments, on your sites and sites related to your product can be very insightful, but also give you an opportunity to respond and learn. I found a comment in Mozilla’s Add-ons that warranted a reply, but Add-ons doesn’t offer a reply option. Fortunately, this member had an email address in his profile and I was able to reach him. I can’t vouch for this instance, but in the past, these extra steps have gone a long way.

Think of all the other touch points available through the Internet. What if some of the viral-video energy went into service videos? Pictures and text also works. I completely disassembled my laptop to fix a cracked solder joint and couldn’t believe the number of parts. I found a step-by-step guide, however, that allowed me to do it myself in about the amount of time it would have taken just to drive it to a repair shop. It was awesome.

We mention frequently the items we often include in our browser Booms! News feeds, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more. These are all easy to implement touch points with your consumer. Some of these elements get the news to your customers as effectively and more timely than any email campaign can. You don’t even have to do the bulk of the communicating at sites that offer a dialogue. Listening goes a long way, but you will have to say something, just so your customers know you’re there.

The list can go on and on. There’s no one path to earning your customer’s loyalty, but it clearly requires pursuing some path.

Hype is a wave. If you’re there and you catch it, awesome. Not every one is in position to do that. But the Internet continues to be a birthplace of cool and spawns a river of things that generate hype. Eventually, our time will come.

In pitching our branded browsers (Booms) as a great affinity product for CPG, we hear “that wouldn’t work for toilet paper.” Correct, but it would work for diapers. Both products serve the same purpose, but one has a more robust avenue for connecting with the consumer than the other. Pampers and Huggies both produce a lot of web content tailored specifically toward Moms and create affinity to the brand – that’s an ideal place for one our Booms. Have you looked at your product and that cool new web site and determined if there’s a fit? Are you sure?

Not seeing a fit for marketing or integration into that hyped application doesn’t relieve you of your responsibility to understand it. I’ve been fortunate to work in the Internet space for a long time. That, however, has built some complacency and I’ve missed my share of opportunities because I didn’t “get it.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m still trying to “get” Twitter and continue to work at my understanding. I see the positive affect it can have for a company on several levels. I’ve extracted value, hopefully shared some, and when I meet a social media expert, I try to learn more. I believe it’s paying off for our start up as it does for many other companies. But I would have missed this if I’d left it alone without trying to first understand it.

Your product may not be right for every hyped Internet site, but with more of your customers online, some of these sites will work for you. To stay competitive, whether a start up or not, it’s in your interest to know which ones.

Maybe in space no one can hear you scream, but if you’re well connected – everyone on the Internet can. Just ask Jason Calacanis. (Sorry Jason, that made me laugh.)

We’re not as well connected as Jason, but we remain impressed by the incidental reach social media provides some of the standard marketing initiatives for our branded browsers (Booms). That’s critical for a startup that’s doesn’t have an extensive marketing budget. If you’re willing to put in the energy, effort, and play by the rules of social media – it can be rewarding.

So, if you’re not using social media for your business, we encourage you to try it and see what the ripple effect is for your business.

The following is a snapshot of just the Twittering that resulted from the announcement of Brand Thunder’s funding by Ohio TechAngels:

• The press release dropped Tues, Jan 27.
• I tweeted about it later that day
• By morning, Jan 28, CNET picked up the story
• By afternoon of Jan 28 many more tweets occurred
• International coverage occurred within a day or two
• Corresponding tweets followed.

Twitter Timeline:

Note: Twitter aggregation pulled from TweetBeep’s free email Alerts.

kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:54:37 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:56:33 · Reply · View Tweet

bigkumadog: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:46:56 · Reply · View Tweet

NewsOnTwitter: CNET NEWS – Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, wh.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:49:17 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and s… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:50:15 · Reply · View Tweet

Duma: [Web2.0] Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:56:28 · Reply · View Tweet

TechRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:03:28 · Reply · View Tweet

puleen: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:34 · Reply · View Tweet

TwitLinksRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding | Digital Media – CNET News: Brand Thunder , a company that customizes Fi.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:43 · Reply · View Tweet

junlabao: CNET: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins .. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:04 · Reply · View Tweet

Webware: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:26 · Reply · View Tweet

macatron: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brands.. http://tinyurl.com/cgd2ur
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:24:20 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Angel investors are putting money into Brand Thunder, which re-skins Firef… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:30:20 · Reply · View Tweet

TIAS: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands, inked deal with MLS: http://tinyurl.com/cranhb
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:35:55 · Reply · View Tweet

writerhunt: Web 2.0 Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Fir.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:42:18 · Reply · View Tweet

haripakorss: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:50:12 · Reply · View Tweet

brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:52:22 · Reply · View Tweet

MichaelBowers: Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:53:03 · Reply · View Tweet

PhyllisNichols: RT @MichaelBowers Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:58:37 · Reply · View Tweet

tomhaney: RT: brandthunder Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:09:01 · Reply · View Tweet

chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting some more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups!!! Way to go!!!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:18:05 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups! Way to go!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:24:00 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:25:32 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:34:08 · Reply · View Tweet

anteek: #News : Firefox-branding start-up gets funding Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with.. http://TwitPWR.com/37X/
Thursday, January 29th at 16:48:50 · Reply · View Tweet

giacomodotta: Brand Thunder: Firefox per valorizzare il brand http://ff.im/-P7uK
Friday, January 30th at 13:29:56 · Reply · View Tweet

masey: Quite a decent Canucks Firefox theme (http://twitpic.com/19b67), amongst others to be found at Brand Thunder now – http://is.gd/hRia
Friday, January 30th at 22:58:36 · Reply · View Tweet

dudtn: “Brand Thunder – FireFox 커스터마이징을 통한 수익모델” http://tinyurl.com/atwybh firefox 테마 참 이쁘네요^^ 돈받고 &
Saturday, January 31st at 13:17:10 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: Brand Thunder rocks the other side of the planet! http://poprl.com/GQ Who can read/speak Italian?
Monday, February 2nd at 13:22:06 · Reply · View Tweet