Category: Social Media

Transition into Multi-Faceted Online Communication With Social Media

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For years there were essentially two forms of online communication.

  • Website –  A one-to-many media passive media
  • Email – A one-to many or one-to-one proactive media

The two have the potential to work seamlessly together.  Websites are always available and easily accessed by any interested party.  It casts a wide net.  Email could proactively promote specific initiatives or be targeted to ideal.  Furthermore email could drive traffic to the website for targeted conversions.

Of course there were subsets of online communication like ads and link sharing but technically those fall in the website category.

There is now a third major platform developing:

  • Social Media – A one-to-many, one-to-one, or many-to-many media

Social media is opening up a new kind of communication and it’s quickly becoming one that isn’t optional.  On the surface it appears to be a clone of email, a one-to-one or one-to-many scenario.  However, as it develops social media is becoming a many-to-many communication device.

Of course social media started out as a one person communication platform.  Basically it emulated email.  You could do blast communications or personal messages.  However, as “like it” and “retweet” features become more prevalent we find that groups of people are serving a role of spreading your message.

Websites and email is not going away any time soon but neither is social media.  If you are running online campaigns and have not ventured into social media, it’s time to start.  Not only are users expecting to have an option of receiving communications through popular social media systems, but the systems are opening up a new many-to-many media that can be leveraged for viral communication.

Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media , , , , , , , ,

Twitter – A Marketing Social Networking Central Communication Hub

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Social networking from a business perspective does not change what is said.  It changes how it is said.  Unfortunately without a social networking strategy it also means how many times is it said.  The biggest drain on time and resources in social networking is repetitive effort.  Twitter is starting to integrate itself with other social networks leveraging itself as a potential social network hub.

Several months ago LinkedIn set up Twitter integration.  This was a valuable extension of the blog linking that was first featured.  Facebook is also integrating with Twitter to allow tweets as status updates.  As more and more social networks interact, it provides a strategy of a single update populating all the social networks that a marketer participates in.  This is a powerful tool in social networking to make one update visible across multiple networks.

Of course the reverse is possible making status updates tweets but the simplicity of Twitter makes it an ideal engine to power social network updates.  It forces marketers to make quick points and move interested parties to a different site.  This link is likely an organizations web page which offers more information as well as conversion opportunities.

Read up on Twitter integration.  It’s an outstanding way to keep all your social networks up to date, without spending inordinate amounts of time doing it.

Social Media

Email Marketing Tactic #4: Opt-In

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It is critical to attain a solid opt-in list.  This is often a major signifier on whether a email campaign is successful or not.  Many organizations cheat by trying to buy, beg, or steal a list from someone else.  Why do people not use opt-in lists when it is clearly the most successful audience they can attain?  Simple, because it’s not easy.  Make an effort to get an opted-in email marketing list of people who want to receive your communication.

An opt-in list is the only fool proof way of delivering your marketing message to an audience that is interested in getting it.  Typically organizations have opt-in lists, it’s just not organized in a way that is simple for them to compile.  Here are some things to check on to create or add to your email marketing list:

  • Existing customer or prospect database – These people have interacted with you in the past.  A message to them about joining your email marketing campaign is often fruitful, resulting in a high percentage of opt-ins.
  • Company events or trade shows – If someone is interested enough to engage with your organization at an event, they are usually inclined to opt-in to your email campaign.
  • Website Conversion – Get a sign up form on the website.  Visitors to your website are showing an interest.  Let them take another step by receiving your emails if they’d like.
  • Social Media Conversion – If people already are connected to you, they are more likely to opt-in for email communications.

As a reference here are two common activities ensuring the list is not opted in and will likely experience poor returns.

  • Purchasing names from outside contacts
  • “Scraping” – Software that automatically scans websites and generates email lists.

This is just a sampling of common avenues but almost every organization can gather an opt-in list if they put the effort into gathering the names and contact information.

Email Marketing, Social Media

Internet and Social Media Marketing: If You’re Not Using It, Get Rid of It

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Internet and social media should have spring cleaning seasons.  If something hasn’t been used in years, it’s probably not going to be, and it needs to be tossed.  There are a lot of internet and social media pack rats.  They horde as many communication channels as they can find.  The problem is that they never use them.

Be honest with yourself.  Without a dedicated staff, no one can keep up with every single communication channel available on the web.  Focus on the social media sites or online marketing efforts that are being used consistently and producing results.  Trash everything else. 

Unused profiles and vacant internet marketing campaigns are just a vacuum that can be potentially damaging.  Our ideal targets might find a blank page with our name on it.  The message delivered is that there is absolutely nothing we would like to say to you about ourselves and we have little interest in hearing from you.  Wrong message when the point is to communicate.

My challenge to everyone that uses internet or social media marketing is to ditch what you aren’t going to use.  Do you have a social media account profile you never check? Discontinue the account.  Do you have an email newsletter sign up form but never published a newsletter and have no immediate plans to start?  Remove the form.  Is your website still featuring the “sweet” animated logo from 1998 because no updates have been made in 11 years?  At least take the logo down, maybe take the site down if it’s that unimportant. 

These are just things hanging over our heads that will never produce any results.  Relieve yourself of the guilt of not using it and remove a possible blemish on you or your company’s image.

Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media
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