There’s been a lot of debate recently about the future of email: is it pushing forward stronger than ever or on the verge of extinction, about to be overrun by all-inclusive social networks?

As an e-marketing specialist, I find it hard to imagine the internet without email. No matter what you use email for, I believe that we, as online content consumers, will always need our inboxes to aggregate, create, organize, and search the hundreds of online data points we create daily as we navigate the web. Email is the only private online location where users can store and create content with very few limitations or restrictions. Where else can you manage your social networks, businesses, bills, family, friends, banks, job searches, and more in one location?

At ListEngage, we help our clients with email and social media marketing daily, so we see the benefits and drawbacks of each: email is a great relationship building tool but not a great prospect acquisition channel, while social media, if used intelligently, is ideal for prospect acquisition and qualification but lacks the “direct contact” that opt-in email does.

I’ve been really impressed with a company called Groupon lately, that seems to be using email and social media as a dynamic 1-2 punch for spreading their daily deals and messages. Click here to read more about the union of email and social media, and how Groupon is delivering a winning e-marketing TKO.

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The “Email Marketing and Social Media Integration Report,” which examined about 500 million e-mail messages sent by 19,149 customers in March, April and May, Twitter was the most popular social-sharing option, included in 67.2% of all social e-mails, with Facebook a close second at 62.7%.

E-mails shared on Twitter returned click-through rates of 10.2%, more than 40% higher than messages not linked to any social media, the study reported.

The further we venture into the 21st century, the more we’ll see not only just how important email marketing and online presence will become – but we’ll also begin to see how essential it is to get your message across in the right language as well. We live in a global economy – and it’s hard to sell a product when users can’t understand the language that you’re speaking to them in.

A client of ours, Parametric Technology Corporation, or PTC, is one shining example of how to cater to multiple audiences the right way, by using email marketing. Several years ago, PTC approached ListEngage with a problem: they wanted to send a monthly newsletter to customers around the world, but they didn’t necessarily have a language of choice database for each subscriber. Here’s where we came in: ListEngage helped PTC to design a process that allowed the creation of one newsletter in 10 different languages that would be emailed to subscribers by country. People in Italy would receive the Italian version and their audience in China would receive the Chinese version .

But what if a reader in China received the email in Chinese and wanted to view its content in English? ListEngage helped PTC streamline this problem by creating a “language bar” at the very  top of each email which links  a specific language to a web page version of the newsletter that is posted as a HTML document  in that particular language. So, if a reader in Italy wants to read the newsletter in Spanish, all they have to do is click on “Español” and their  newsletter will pop up for reading right there. The multi-language emails are great for readers and even better for PTC who can connect with more prospects and possible customers with just one click of a button.

PTC “Maintenance Minute” readers can currently enjoy their emails in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Russian.  And though ListEngage doesn’t have the talent to read and translate in 10 different languages, our platform and employees certainly have the expertise to coordinate the “heavy lifting” of getting emails like these out the door in a timely fashion.

James Winokur, Director, Business Development Global Maintenance Support had this to say about the email creation process and ListEngage’s efforts: “[ListEngage] now helps us with all aspects of the 10 language versions of the Maintenance Minute that we send out world-wide on a monthly basis. ListEngage has had a huge impact in our monthly production of this newsletter endeavor and has made this… a success for us.”

Over the past few weeks, all of the buzz online and in the air has been about Mother’s Day – and it seems that if it hadn’t quite “gone viral” through social outlets last year, it’s going pandemic this year this year instead.

Marketers of every shape, size, and variety are going to be trying to sell you what your Mom, Grandma, or that special lady in your life “needs” (or so they say) – but we think that the companies that are going to get ahead this Mother’s Day season are going to offer Mom’s gifts a little differently – in places where friends and family can chime in.

A prime example of this “sharing power” comes from a company called YouFloral.com (they were recently featured on the Today Show, video below). YouFloral has a novel idea – customize a vase for Mom (or anyone else for that matter) with a photograph, quote, or message – but they take it one step further by enabling their users to create and share these flowers on Facebook and through other social media sites without even having to purchase a bouquet of flowers. So, you can send Mom (or a wife, coworker, or friend throughout the entire year) virtual flowers with just the click of your button – and your social communities can look at them too. Users who send and receive these virtual flowers also have the option of ordering the real deal off of YouFloral too! The Facebook Application even reminds you of upcoming friends birthdays who you may want to send an arrangement to!

Here at ListEngage, we’ve tried out YouFloral to send to family and friends—and have had great success. We were able to design, choose flowers for, and receive our flowers in no time! And they were beautiful too! Although we certainly support sending and sharing “virtual flowers” for Mother’s Day – we think the real ones will get an even better reaction.

Check out YouFloral on the Today Show!

Have any other great innovative Mother’s Day ideas that embrace social media and sharing tools? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below!

Can your business really stay on the sidelines of the social media revolution?

Smart businesses are starting to realize that there is opportunity to be had in building an engaged fan base by interacting with clients, prospects, and passerbys on Facebook Fan Pages.

What some businesses haven’t realized yet, is that there is an even bigger chance to pull in prospects, catch someone’s attention, and deliver a precise call-to-action when you create a “Custom Fan Page” for new visitors to land on.

When you let passersby that are interested in your organization land on your Facebook Wall, it’s like letting someone new visiting you for the first time – straight into a conference call or an important meeting without educating them about your brand or company.

We’ll illustrate the point with two real life examples:

Imagine this: you’re an organization that is looking to get people on board to help Ban Asbestos in the US. You’ve got an important message to convey and know that Facebook is a great place to generate buzz and build a grass roots campaign for this good cause.

If you make the Facebook Wall the very first thing your potential supporters land on when they visit your Fan Page then this is what they’ll see…

Keep Reading…

Become a Fan of ListEngage on Facebook

ListEngage hired Stefanie Uglevich last month, who came to us from The MathWorks in Natick, Ma– loaded with all the skills to strengthen our team and better serve our clients.

Stef’s a marketing wizard, who graduated from the University of South Florida with a BS in Marketing and Management – and comes equipped with some potent CRM, social media, and marketing skillz. Not only are we happy to have her on board, but we’re psyched for you folks to start working with her too! You can say hi to Stefanie on Twitter @ListEngage or on the ListEngage Facebook Page!

Think you’ve got the skills to plunge into the cutting edge world of online marketing head first? Were you born multitasking? Do you dominate all things HTML? Do you update your Facebook status in your sleep? Can you Tweet with your hands tied behind your back? If so, we’re gonna need to hear from you!

List Engage is growing rapidly and we are looking for talent to grow with us. We need an internet savvy Account Manager to maintain and grow several different accounts in the email marketing and social media space. This person must have excellent knowledge of online media including: email marketing platforms, blogging, social media account/page development, good email marketing and social media skills.

If you think you’re up for the challenge, take a look at our Job Description

Please email your resumes to: jobs@listengage.com

Email continues to be the "Great Organizer" for users

According to a new survey published by Merkle, 71% of online consumers spent 20 minutes or more weekly exchanging email with friends and family in 2009, the same level recorded in the previous year.

With plenty of speculation that social networking sites were going to trample email out of the picture, some of the numbers in the report are truly powerful examples of how important email communication is in the average online user’s day-to-day. In fact, with the increased usage of Mobile Email and with most users linking their social networking updates to their personal emails—social networking is actually “breeding” a new brand of “Hyper Email Checkers”!

Here are some other great findings from the study:

– Nearly two-thirds (63%) of social networking consumers use the same email account for their social networking alerts and messages as they do for the majority of their permission, or opt-in email.

– Over 42% of social networking consumers are “hyper email checkers”– those who check their personal email account at least four times daily –compared with 27% of those not socially networked.

– 48% of social networking consumers spend 45+ minutes weekly with personal email, compared with 40% of those not socially networked.

and Mobile users with internet on their phone are even more likely to check their emails constantly:

– 50% of mobile email consumers are “hyper email checkers” too–compared with 32% of traditional email users.

FYI – Data was collected through Merkle’s annual “View from the Inbox” study, an online survey of 3,281 US adults age 18+ conducted during fall 2009.

Image was adapted from an original image by: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Shall I compare thee to a great email list-growth strategy?
You bet!

The two of you “art” fairly similar, I must say.
Our love and my list both started out small, like the darling buds of May.

Then over time, as our love organically grew,
So did my lists-in quality and quantity too!

Like a good little prospect, I subscribed to your love,
And just like the email capture on my website, it fit like a glove.

So on the horizon, what do I see?
Well, more chances to grow us all social-ly,
We can take dance classes, or have dinner with friends,
While my lists will use Twitter as a means to an ends.

Remember my love, thy eternal beauty doth brightly gleam.
And like my list growth strategies, the ROI on your love is Supreme.

Ok, so maybe you’d get backhanded if you actually delivered this sonnet to your True Love this Valentine’s Day– but after you read  ”Why Growing Great Lists is just like Growing Great Love” you might actually agree that the two share some pretty stark  similarities. Could it be that growing any good relationship–whether it’s two people “feeling sparks fly” for the first time or a web visitor signing up for a newsletter for the first time-always begins with a few simple steps?

Here’s what I had to say on the subject…

“As an organization, when invited to work with a client, although we may not initially feel one way or anothertowards, let’s say, the medical device industry for example—we do feel strongly about the real-life people, friends, and partners that we support with our efforts. So, when a client asks us to engage their audience because they don’t have the expertise, the resources, or “bandwidth” to execute their social media strategy, we lend a hand.

In my mind, this new “digital ghostwriting push” is actually nothing new: popular brands have been doing it for years—via customer service “response” letters, pre-recorded phone calls, emails and direct mail pieces. This is just the latest version of busy people outsourcing their surplus work to others who they have trained and who they trust.”

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Read Dave’s Article…

Read more from Dave’s Blog — Useful Arts