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Social media has changed email marketing, says Gail Goodman, columnist for Entreprenuer.
Persuading readers to share your emails has become critical.
You can prompt readers to share your emails by providing content that signals you understand their priorities; entertains them; and asks for feedback and participation.
Four additional things you can do to create a “social e-mail experience:”- Include a social icon in every email. The "Forward to a Friend" feature lets readers share your content with another person. But by adding social icons to your email, the same reader can now share it with her entire Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn networks.
- Include links to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages in your emails. Be sure to give reasons why readers should join you on social media destinations.
- Entice readers with a link to a conversation you want to continue on Twitter or to an exclusive contest or survey you're featuring on Facebook.
- Always post your email content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep conversations alive by reposting snippets on different social media destinations.
In a recent post on his blog, venture capitalist Mark Suster shares what he's learned about PR.
His advice is meant for startups, but it's good advice all round.
PR is a process, not an event. Patience and perseverence are essential. It takes months, if not years, to build relationships with journalists.
PR can't be delegated. You need help to research journalists, arrange meetings, pitch stories and write copy. But you cannot delegate media interviews. "If you want PR coverage, you’re going to have to dedicate a non-trivial amount of time to it."
If your budget's limited, don't hire a big PR firm. You won’t get the senior team’s focus; instead, 22-year olds will do all your work (and won't have enough billable hours to do it justice). If you need outside help, go to a small firm or an individual; or hire a part-time PR intern.
Be authentic. Don't conduct interviews as if you were running for office. "Talk like a human. Give real answers. Show a sense of humor and humility."
Have a viewpoint. Too many executives avoid controversy. That’s fine for the executives at Apple; they'll get coverage anyway. But you need to go out on a limb and present informed opinions.
Don’t cry wolf. "Make sure you’re not spewing out meaningless reams of press releases." And don’t spam people. The good stuff will get lost.
Get media training. Media training will help you keep interviews on track and focused on the story you want to tell.
According to MediaPost News, a new study from Razorfish reveals that customers don't consider Twitter and Facebook important ways to engage with a company, despite the pronouncments of social-media experts.
Most customers still prefer traditional marketing channels, such as email and word-of-mouth.
Why? Customers believe "feeling valued" is the most important aspect of brand engagement. They don't feel especially valued, just because a company Tweets or posts a status update on Facebook.
The study also found the experts' "consumer in control" mantra is hokum.
Customers were asked to rank six attributes of engagement: feeling valued, trust, efficiency, consistency, relevance and control.
They ranked control the least significant.
According to Robert Jones, contributing editor to SmartBrief on Entrepreneurs,
"entrepreneurs dread social media."
He cites a recent poll of SmartBrief readers that found entrepreneurs would rather farm out social media marketing than any other business function.
Jones asked four social-media experts to explain why entrepreneurs would do so. They said:
- Large corporations are commercializing social media so rapidly, they're crowding out small businesses. Small-business owners aren't sure they can have a share of voice.
- Small-business owners mistakenly believe that, to be effective, they have to use every social media platform.
- Social media is time-intensive. Small-business owners don't see the ROI in it.
- Small-business owners lack the skills needed, so they're frightened by social media marketing.
My own opinion?
Small-business owners are stymied by social media marketing because it's content marketing.
And content doesn't just fall off trees.
You have to ferret it out, organize it, and present it in a digestible fashion.
And that takes persistence. Just ask any journalist.
Social media marketing perplexes event producers, according to a survey by Sam Lippman, president of ISM and producer of the Attendee Acquisition Roundtable.
As reported in BtoB, 61% of producers polled said the strategic use of social media marketing is among their top challenges, when it comes to driving attendance to events.
“Event producers haven't found the key to social media marketing,” said Lippman. “Many best practices have been established, but they change daily—along with the underlying technologies.”
A second leading challenge is the effective use of market research to drive attendance, cited by 55% of producers.
Disclosure: ISM is one of my clients.
