Marketers Say Email is Delivering Better than Social Networking

The “Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Fact Book” shows that by and large most marketing professionals say that email is outperforming social media two to one. I say of course it is because social networking should be driving people to your email lists. See the results and read more below!

 

Key findings:

 

• Search marketing delivers the best results (33%); search and email still constitute the core of a solid online media plan.
• Nearly everyone uses email, and this medium is repeatedly ranked as one of the most cost-effective (and effective) forms of marketing. Elsewhere in the Factbook, almost 50% of 623 email marketers report that sending emails at midday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is the best time of day to do so. The start of the business day (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) is considered second best at 31.5
• Mobile marketing is barely on the radar; it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years with mobile.

About the data: The MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Factbook, designed to be a comprehensive source of data and research for online marketers, includes chapters on email, search, and social media—with 144 pages of findings, including 110 charts and graphs from 60+ sources.

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OK so lets review the data, of course Email and Search are still huge! but does that mean social media is less important? That’s a big fat NO and here is why.

Social Media has the capacity to drive new contacts in realtime into your email lists. that’s it. end of discussion. social media is for relationship and trust building of course you will see higher direct revenue from email. but if you look list building via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media is far faster than any other format. (of course that’s only if you contribute content that is worth something but that’s a secondary issue.

look at the bottom line if you can drive growth for free—I repeat drive GROWTH for FREE and quickly via social media then it needs to be a key part of your strategy. Email and search are of course critical and have driven the Internet for years. you must do all of the above. Remember the process your goal in marketing is to move people into the seat of loyal customers and fans.

Social media connects you to new people who can be added to your email list and therefore the results will actually show as an email result in most cases. but I can without spending a dime gain roughly 50 to 100 new followers everyday on twitter. Then I can get about 30% of those followers to join my mailing lists via quality squeeze pages. You need to be doing the same! The results will be more sales from your email list. The social networks lead to bigger email lists. So remember to work the mix don’t depend on social media as the silver bullet strategy. Do remember that utilizing Social Networks and Social media for rapid list growth is cheap, easy, and worth pursuing!

 

Filed under: Internet Marketing, SEM, Social Media Marketing, Twitter , email marketing, facebook, facebook for business, facebook marketing, how to market on facebook, Internet Marketing, marketing tips, marketing with social networks, Social Media Marketing, social network marketing, Social Networking

Definitive Guide: How To Use Twitter Lists

Awesome article from the guys at mashable walks you through how to use twitter lists in order to better organize your twitter use and make the massive volume of content easier to digest.

http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Uncategorized , Internet Marketing, marketing with twitter, Twitter, twitter lists

Exclusive: Guess Who Else Is Coming to Dinner? Twitter-Microsoft Bing Deal Confirmed, but so Is Facebook-Bing.

Twitter – Bing  deal and Twitter – Facebook deal puts bingon path to offer unique advantage over Google in searching realtime conversations on the web.

Major potential SEO impact of links in Twitter feeds and facebook status updates.

read the whole article: Exclusive: Guess Who Else Is Coming to Dinner? Twitter-Microsoft Bing Deal Confirmed, but so Is Facebook-Bing.

My key takeaway here, if Bing begins to index Twitter and Facebook status updates it will make the value of micro blogging even higher in developing link relevancy and inbound link volume for search marketers.

Look for the near future to include leveraging twitter and Facebook conversation streams as part of your overall search strategy.

Filed under: Facebook Marketing Tips, Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

How and Why these 40 Big Brands Use Twitter

Thanks to the Guys at http://www.Mashable.com twitter: @mashable for tracking down the head honchos of twitter action from 40 different companies and getting the word out on how they use Twitter.

Not terribly surprising Major companies are using twitter largely for customer service. this is one of the only locations you can respond to a disgruntled customer directly and quickly without them actually complaining directly to you.

Also they are using twitter only short term specials like 3 day on-line sales (@americanapparel) and flavor alerts (@tastidlite

read through the full list here:   http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/

You should find some good inspiration for how to start tweeting your way to deeper customer relationships and more fans!

Filed under: Customer Love, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter , american apparel, Customer Love, Customer Service, Internet Marketing, Marketing on Twitter, Mashable, Tastidlite, Twitter, Twitter for Business

RE: On radio this morn. Twitter mght b contributing 2 a narcissistic society – did they evr consider individualistic v. collectivistic cultures?

response to Twitter  posting by Sarah Lee

Ok here’s my two cents:

Social Media like Twitter, Face Book, MySpace, et all do allow for self indulgent commenting and posting that is of zero value as individual posts. As well they foster often annoying and obnoxious self promotion.

However lets not throw the baby out with the bath water these media are designed for free information exchange and probably more than ever have created the capacity for web based posturing and body language.

Because many tweets, status updates and blog posts are fleeting and emotionally charged they give us insight into our friends, colleagues, role-models, and associates that can otherwise only be achieved via massive hours of time spent together. That’s valuable.

If we recognize the self indulgences of others as great opportunities to see where and how we can add value to those others and take the proverbial high road and use these media to reach out and provide beneficial insight, feedback and valuable input to others then we can actually use a stream of self indulgent Tweets or status postings to find how to be better friends, business associates, and citizens.

Essentially it’s a matter of perspective. If someone is truly only posting useless fluff updates and Tweets stop following them. but before you get so judgemental take a moment and look for a thread of truth in the emotion behind the Tweets, Statuses ( is that word?) then decide can I add value to this persons situation or the impact this Tweet, Status etc will have on others.

Have a bit of social responsibility with your social media use. remember the idea is to be a conversational media if you have someone you interact with that dosen’tunderstand that utilize your responses to make their fluff Tweets conversational then everybody wins.

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter , facebook, Found on Twitter, Internet Marketing, marketing tips, marketing with social networks, myspace, narcissistic society, Shameless self promotion, Social Media and Society, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

Top 10 Twitter Tips for Beginners

Is it finally time to take the Twitter plunge? The free service that lets users micro-blog 140 characters at a time had accumulated around 1.9 million users as of December 2008, according to comScore. If you are just now jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, or are intimidated by your inexperience with Twitter etiquette and acronyms, allow us to share some Twittery tips that will make your experience easier and more enjoyable.

1. Shrink Your URLs

One of the most common uses of Twitter is sharing links. But you only have 140 characters to work with, so instead of sharing a long URL, use one of several URL-shortening services to shrink that link. Some of our favorites include tinyurl.com, is.gd, ow.ly, and bit.ly.

2. RT = Retweet

If you want to copy and paste someone else’s tweet, that’s totally accepted and appreciated, as long as you give the original tweeter credit for it. Just put “RT @name” in front of their tweet and post it yourself.

3. Direct Messaging

With Twitter’s direct-messaging (DM) function, you can send a private 140-character message to another user, kind of like abbreviated e-mail. However, you can only direct message Twitter users that are following you.

4. Use the @ Sign

To create a reply or to give someone props on Twitter, simply place an @ sign in front of their Twitter name. If it is a reply, the @ sign must be the first character of the tweet. To see replies to your own tweets, click on @Replies from your profile page.

5. Search For Your Friends

Search.twitter.com works well for finding your friends, celebrities, or organizations, or for searching for specific topics you’re interested in.

—next: Twitter Tips 6-10 >

6. Categorize Your Tweets for Added Visibility

If you’re tweeting about a popular subject (Obama, Lost, etc) putting a # in front of the subject makes it easy for others to find your tweet, and perhaps they will want to follow you. For example, when the plane crashed into the Hudson River in January, #flight1549 became a popular tag and search term.

7. Share Pictures

People love sharing their photos with the world, and some even break news with them, like Janis Krums, who used TwitPic to post one of the first up-close photos of Flight 1549 on his Twitter feed. Services like TwitPic let users easily upload their photos and post them directly to Twitter.

8. Tweet from Your Phone

Twitter allows you to update your status and receive updates via text message. Under Settings, go to the Devices tab and enter your phone number to start sending and receiving mobile tweets. If your incoming tweets/texts are overwhelming you, disable this option by going back to the same panel and following the instructions.

9. Pick a Good Desktop Client

With desktop clients such as TweetDeck, Twhirl, and TwitterFox, you can receive tweets in a much more manageable fashion, especially if you follow a lot of people, respond often, and use direct messages a lot. TweetDeck, for example, allows you to create specific groups, if you want to split your feed into individual columns.

10. Download a Mobile Client

If you have a BlackBerry, an iPhone, or another smartphone with Wi-Fi or 3G access, a mobile client might be a better option than using text messages. Mobile Twitter clients worth checking out include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets, and Twidroid.

You can even follow PCMag on Twitter! Find us at http://twitter.com/pcmag, and follow AppScout and Gearlog too!

Copyright (c) 2009Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter , Beginning on Twitter, How TO Use Twitter, Twitter