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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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My good friend Dave Wieneke recently asked me to partake in a “discussion” on the ethics of ghostwriting in social media on his blog. The idea was to get a few different opinions from within the blogging and social media space, and to see where people’s opinions lay on this recently hot topic. Now, without giving anything away, the first thing that seems apparent about this topic is that people are generally either very “pro” social media ghostwriting or very “anti”.
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.”
Imagine it’s December 31, 2010…
Has your business done better than you had hoped? Worse? Held steady for the last 11 months or so? Have you achieved everything that you wanted to? Do you even have the right tools to measure your successes tangibly?
Whether you’re just getting started with an e-marketing plan in 2010, or you’re well on your way to launching the next viral marketing campaign on YouTube– well, there are still several things every business should keep sight of from Jan. 1 to Dec 31 every year! And if you “keep your eye on the prize”, measure, and follow the 10 easy steps we offer below, it’ll be quite easy to look back on Dec. 31, 2010 and be 100% Regret Free!
If you’re looking for measurable returns on your e-marketing in 2010 (and beyond!) then keep reading, as we unfold the:
Top 10 e-marketing Tips for a Regret-Free 2010
Listen: Get in the conversation with customers, prospects, and competitors, and actually incorporate their ideas.
Define your social media goals: and get moving! Or pretty soon the social media train will have left the station!
Stay on top of your Data: 27 – 30% of your list goes bad every year. It’s your most important resource so stay on top of it. If your data is bad nothing else really matters.
1) Listen: Get in the conversation with customers, prospects, and competitors, and actually incorporate their ideas.
2) Define your social media goals: and get moving! Or pretty soon the social media train will have left the station!
3) Stay on top of your Data: 27 – 30% of your list goes bad every year. It’s your most important resource so stay on top of it. If your data is bad nothing else really matters.
With 2009 about to draw to an end, we here at List Engage just wanted to take a moment to congratulate our clients, friends, and fellow businesses on growing and thriving through the unprecedented economic climate of 2009– and to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2010!
With businesses looking to expand their eMarketing and social media budgets in 2010 — on everything from email marketing design and services to developing niche followers on Twitter — List Engage has something to offer any business, big or small. Why not make one of your resolutions to join us on the cutting edge of eMarketing success in 2010!
Balancing a busy schedule isn’t anything new: for most of us, there will always be too much work, and too little day to squeeze it into. But nowadays we’re expected to run a business, pick the kids up from practice, and make sure to update our Facebook status? Social media has brought a whole new meaning to “managing your Social Calendar”.
Though there might not be a “magic bullet” to solve all your problems, we do have some tried and true solutions to save some sanity in the future. Here are our
Top 5 Ways to Tackle Your New “Social Calendar”:
1) Delegate: Debby from Marketing—you’re on Facebook Fan Pages. Carol from PR—you’re in charge of tweeting all company media coverage on Twitter. Ok, Go!
In the past the question, “Are you on Twitter” was used as a code for “Are you hip to Social Media”? Not anymore. You’ve heard of Twitter, the buzz is everywhere—the Presidential campaign, Time Magazine cover stories, the Iran elections, your Dad’s Retirement Fly-fishing Club, etc…
So maybe you’ve put your marketing hat on, created a profile and tweeted for the first time: “Just trying to figure this twitter thing out.” And the response? Not exactly staggering.
For the average incoming user, marketing on Twitter is like standing by the freeway pitching your product at the top of your lungs-and hoping to get a lead. There’s too much noise, commotion, and distraction; even if one in a million people actually hears your message, they’re not exactly going to pull over and offer you their business. So why-if it’s so hard to gain followers or attention-is Twitter worth your time? The key lies in your “Engageability”-or, how well you brand, build relationships, and monitor the Twitter universe during your stay there.
Here are three very basic examples to help illustrate the point…
You own Slushtastic Slushies and there are a two other Slushy dealers in town. Neither of them come close to the supreme taste and quality of your slushies but Ken’s Slush-o-rama is right off the highway and Nana’s Slushy Shack is two blocks away from the Elementary school. Where do you get your edge then? Well, you have something that Ken and Nana don’t: The power of Twitter…
To read the entire Twitter Strategy Article follow this link…
A new study has looked in detail at how the 100 most valuable brands in the US work with 11 different social media channels and has discovered a correlation between social media use and financial performance.
When the researchers sorted the brands into groups with similar profiles, the ’social media mavens’ (those with the most social media breadth and depth) on average grew 18% in revenues over the last year. The least engaged companies saw an average decline in revenue of 6% over the same period.
The report’s author, Charlene Li, is quick to point out that “We are not claiming a causal relationship — but there is clearly a correlation and connection. For example”, she continues, “a company mindset that allows a company to be broadly engaged with customers on the whole probably performs better because the company is more focused on customers than the competition.”
The study found that companies that scored well generally have dedicated teams, however small, active in the social media channels they utilise, and that the most successful teams evangelise social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders. These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational. This differs from the approach of traditional communications and early corporate blog experimentation, says the report, which emphasises messaging and talking points.
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(Excerpt taken from Internet Retailing. To read more: follow this link for the entire article on the link between social media use and firms’ profits)
How to get the most out of your marketing spend.“The current economy has been hard and not just for auto-makers and financial institutions – but in a way it has given all of us an opportunity to pause and re-think priorities. Like consumers, businesses, especially small businesses, are also tightening their belts – and what do you do about marketing when consumers and clients are spending less? Do you maintain or increase marketing spend to get ahead of competitors that don’t, adjust your product portfolio, support your distributors, adjust pricing…. You’ve heard these before. All of this advice is valuable, and the primary focus is on investing wisely and making sure you’re reaching customers and clients as effectively as you can, with as efficient as possible use of marketing spend.”
Topics like these were discussed at the launch of TiE Boston’s Marketing Special Interest Group. Altaf supplied insight and commentary as a Panelist at the event on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009.
To learn more about the event, click here.
Altaf Shaikh, founder and CEO of List Engage, was featured in the March 13 issue of Mass High Tech, in an article on the continuing power of e-mail marketing for business.
Click here to read the entire article.
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