Develop original contentMake sure you show value to your customers by providing original, useful, or at least fun and entertaining content via your feed(s).  Sales announcements, store openings, new items, causes supported, service outings and restorations - all of these... More

Develop original content
Make sure you show value to your customers by providing original, useful, or at least fun and entertaining content via your feed(s).  Sales announcements, store openings, new items, causes supported, service outings and restorations - all of these are great, proactive ways to communicate with your followers.  Remember to be brief (obey the 140 character limit!) but not too brief.  Leave the "gr8" abbreviations for SMS whenever possible.
 
Include links to relevant content
140 characters isn't much space to work with, but you can and should include relevant links to website content in your Tweets. To save space you can shorten URLS and track clicks for free using services like bit.ly
 
Track response
Twitter response tracking is limited, but you do have some important success metrics you can monitor.
 
Yesmail Enterprise will help you track:

• What you tweeted
• When you tweeted
• How many were following you when you tweeted

Additionally, you can track:

• Follower trends - are the number of followers increasing with your marketing efforts? Increases and decreases in follower trends can also be tied to engagement and relevancy of your content.
• Clicks - how many clicks are you getting on the links in your Tweets? How many clicks do you get on email content promoting Twitter?
• Conversion - if you have revenue tracking codes as part of your URLs you can track website visits and revenue generated by your Tweets.

With patience, perseverance, and an open mind, you can make Twitter a core component of your marketing strategy and improve the results of your email initiatives as well.

Catch up on Part 1 to learn more about how Yesmail Enterprise allows you to centralize the management of a single marketing campaign across many channels. Less

This week we announced our new Twitter Campaign Management feature available in Yesmail Enterprise. This is exciting news for marketers, because now you can save time by centralizing the management, coordination, and analysis of a single marketing campaign across many... More

This week we announced our new Twitter Campaign Management feature available in Yesmail Enterprise. This is exciting news for marketers, because now you can save time by centralizing the management, coordination, and analysis of a single marketing campaign across many channels (email + social + mobile) within one tool.

It only takes three simple steps to execute your Twitter campaigns in Enterprise:

1. You set up your account
2. Create your content (up to 140 characters)
3. Schedule and send

Not sure where to get started? Twitter crosses many of the boundaries of social, email, and SMS and requires its own approach to be truly successful.  Here are some best practices to keep in mind as you develop your Twitter marketing strategy.

Promote Twitter in your emails and on your website
Make sure your customers know how to find you and what benefits they will get from following you on Twitter. Will you send special discounts or give them early notice of new products or sales? Will you keep your followers updated on the latest events?

Dick's Sporting Goods sent their email subscribers an invitation to follow them on Twitter with a nice Free Shipping incentive.  The message did a good job creating visibility and outlining the benefits for followers.

Integrate Twitter with your email program
Twitter can be used to announce special sales and promotions, or to create viral buzz for new marketing campaigns. With Twitter Campaign Management you can schedule tweets as teasers or chasers for email campaigns, or send out special "twitter only" deals. Your  Twitter strategy should complement your other marketing channels, not be a stand alone.

Buy.com's Tweet 'n Seek campaign is a great example of a multi-channel strategy.  They promoted a "social scavenger hunt' via email and website banners. Clues were tweeted to followers, and then the community posted their answers on Buy.com's Facebook page.

One Twitter feed may not be enough
If you have a large company, several customer-facing departments, or varied products or services, you may need more than one Twitter feed.  Don't try to cram several disparate message streams into one account if you don't have to; create individual feeds for specific topics or customers to drive more value to the end user. For example, you could set up one Twitter feed for Customer Service, and a second Twitter feed for Marketing.

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 and learn about developing original content, including relevant links, and using Yesmail Enterprise to track responses.
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Our partner, ShareThis released a survey recently about how content is shared in different channels.  Email remains the tool of choice for sharing content; accounting for 46% of content-sharing activity compared to 33% for Facebook, 14.5% via other channels and... More

Our partner, ShareThis released a survey recently about how content is shared in different channels.  Email remains the tool of choice for sharing content; accounting for 46% of content-sharing activity compared to 33% for Facebook, 14.5% via other channels and just 6% for Twitter. According to new research from Share This, Twitter and Facebook may be all the rage, but ordinary email is still king when it comes to sharing content online.

People who receive links through ShareThis also tend to spend time with the content, at an average 2.95 page views per click, followed by Facebook (2.76), with Twitter trailing at 1.66. This information definitely supports the notion that information being sent to you by friends is more highly regarded and trusted over the vast amount of content pushed directly to online audiences by businesses and organizations.

The company's "ShareThis" button has become ubiquitous at the end of articles and blog posts, linking to a widget that lets users share material via email, instant messenger and social networking tools including Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Yahoo Buzz. With user data from 200 million monthly visitors across 130,000 sites, the service has amassed a wealth of data about how people share and engage with content.

Read more from MediaPost News Less

As we return to the office after a long holiday weekend and begin to dig out our inboxes, it is impossible not to notice the huge increase in email volume last week tied to Black Friday. Black Friday has been... More

As we return to the office after a long holiday weekend and begin to dig out our inboxes, it is impossible not to notice the huge increase in email volume last week tied to Black Friday. Black Friday has been a key sales day for retailers for years and typically sets the tone for the holiday season, but it is also clear that email marketers have embraced this event and used it to drive significant revenue growth.
 
According to ShopperTrak, retail sales rose .5% for Black Friday compared to 2008, but Online sales surged. According to an NRF survey, one-fourth of Americans shopping over the weekend (28.5%) were shopping online. Comscore reported that consumers spent $595 billion online, or 11% more than they spent in 2008.

Notable trends:

• Increased message frequency - experienced email marketers know they need to contact their customers more frequently during the holiday season to stay well positioned in the inbox and to keep hot deals top of mind. On average I received 3-5 emails from my favorite brands last week.
• Sales started early - many Black Friday sales started as early as Tuesday, and "doorbusters" were available online in the early evening on Thursday
• Free shipping isn't enough - most email marketers combined free shipping with 10-25% discounts
• Coupons are important - visits to coupon sites grew 17 percent versus a year ago to 3.3 million visitors
• Consumers still like their circulars - A study conducted by Deloitte before Thanksgiving found that 40% of consumers were still going to turn to print to get their deal info, and many etailers like Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, and ToysRUs acknowledged this preference by including links to the circulars in their email messages
• Mobile is making an impact - PayPal is reporting that mobile online payments surged nearly 650% compared to last year, and TheFind reported a 120% year over year surge in search queries on Black Friday.
• More marketers used social media to reach out to consumers with Facebook and Twitter promotions heading the list, and more consumers used their social networks to arm themselves with research prior to making in-store and online purchases

Brace yourself! Today is Cyber Monday and your inbox is bound to get another serious workout.
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In September,  I worked with our sister company, ORC to conduct a  consumer survey on their use of social media in planning for the upcoming holiday season. Not surprisingly, we found a flurry of social activities - checking Facebook pages... More

In September,  I worked with our sister company, ORC to conduct a  consumer survey on their use of social media in planning for the upcoming holiday season. Not surprisingly, we found a flurry of social activities - checking Facebook pages for gift ideas, checking out Twitter deals, and finding ratings and reviews will all be part of Holiday planning for 2009. Here's some of our research highlights on consumer behavior

Consumers are finding gift ideas from Facebook and other social networks. Let's face it - it sort of ruins the surprise if you ask "So what do you want for the holidays?' Instead our survey found that 27% of online shoppers who used social networks also planned to check out friends and family profile pages to get ideas for what to give this holiday season. By checking Facebook profiles and fan pages - there's a little less guesswork without ruining the surprise.  

Consumers are increasingly researching gift ideas online. Nearly one-half (45%) of the group surveyed will use social networks to research items, compare prices and look for offers. Additionally, 20% of those surveyed will look to blogs for gift ideas. While consumers may go direct, an increasing number will also look elsewhere for ideas and research products before purchasing - all without leaving their home.

Consumers look to Social Networks for deals. About one-fifth of online holiday buyers are specifically looking to social networks for exclusive deals or free shipping. This means the message might not just be PPC buys, online ads, and website promotions. Instead offers should include messaging through social networks.

What it all means - Consumers increasingly are deciding when where and how they would like to engage with a brand. That means to marketers ensuring a consistent message at different consumer touch points, and having relevant offers in multiple channels. If you haven't done so already, create a Facebook page, so that consumers can associate themselves with you. Integrate rating and reviews on your website, and in email campaigns, so that consumers can research their purchasing decision without leaving your site. Finally, make sure to extend offers to relevant social media channels - like Twitter or Facebook.Together, these tactics can ensure your brand stays top of mind as consumers plan for last minute holiday purchases.

But hey, don't just read it here - check out eMarketers' take. Less

Our parent company, infoGROUP, in Omaha, Nebraska recently started a campaign aimed at generating stimulus for local small businesses.  Created by infoGroup's Executive VP, Stormy Dean, the Storm Dawg Marketing blog offers suggestions to small business owners, as well as... More

Our parent company, infoGROUP, in Omaha, Nebraska recently started a campaign aimed at generating stimulus for local small businesses.  Created by infoGroup's Executive VP, Stormy Dean, the Storm Dawg Marketing blog offers suggestions to small business owners, as well as an opportunity to receive some custom advice.  Business owners submit their stories to the blog, then once a month Dean selects one business to receive a tailored marketing plan and a starting budget.  The company's progress is documented on the blog for others to read and learn from.

In Dean's own words, "This is a great example of where capitalism meets doing good in the world." By helping small businesses, "hopefully they can create new jobs and along the way we can learn something."

Ralston's Trinity United Methodist, one of the first clients, needed to get the word out about their new community center and benefited from a fund raiser that infoGROUP helped to host.  Church members found it to be a great learning experience.  They hope others who visit the blog will benefit just as much from reading about both the positive and negative outcomes of the event. "It's exactly what we were looking for," said Trinity United's Pastor Nancy Kaye-Skinner.

This is social media in action, at its best - helping and teaching others during a tough economic period, while preparing for a promising future.  For more information on Stormy Dean's small business stimulus plan, visit www.stormdawg.com.

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Last week thousands gathered via WOM to see Dave Chappelle in my own hometown at Pioneer Square. The Chappelle 'show' was a total success - by accident - purely by the instantanous word of mouth tools like text messaging, Twitter,... More

Last week thousands gathered via WOM to see Dave Chappelle in my own hometown at Pioneer Square. The Chappelle 'show' was a total success - by accident - purely by the instantanous word of mouth tools like text messaging, Twitter, and Facebook.

While Mashable has done a great How-To Article, and there's a good Slideshare presentation on how to do this, but here's my Social Media event planning playbook on how to create and market an event using social meda.

1. Create the killer event. Let's face it - in this economy, WOM won't work if it's just...blah. Create a topic that gives immediate answers that your audience is facing RIGHT now, or a unique challenge to traditional thinking, or bring in a speaker that is real buzz worthy is critical in stretching out that event message. Who is well... your Dave Chappelle? This is the most critical step in spreading WOM. Ensure you can spread the word- it's worth going!

2. Use your existing network - or find one. Whether you own your own business or market for one, where is your network? On Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Do you have Salesforce.com? Maybe your target audience isn't in your digital or social rolodex, - can you find that subgroup in an existing social network? Are they talking on Twitter? How can you reach them? Keep in mind - you want a wide net, not just to send your message to one network, but to many.

3. Prepare your message. Get a consistent message and brand it. That means putting the event out on Upcoming, Eventful, Facebook events, messaging in your blog and creating event ads and emails to reachout with your peers to spread awareness. A consistent memorable message about your event can really aide WOM marketing. Get ready with widgets and links including hashtags for tracking - all in a one page 'play book' for your sales team and collegues to link to the event.

4. Set up incentives. You can start messaging early with hashtags and twitter by offering free event for the first volunteers, discounts for early birds and exclusives for coming through particularly popular bloggers, and more. This will help you fill the event and gauge how effective your different social channels are doing at attracting attendees.

5. Align your players. By now you have brainstormed on all the ways you can build word-of-mouth about your event. That means you+at least a dozen people who will spread the word on our behalf- in multiple social channels. Match the players with the channels they are best at spreading the word (including blogging, email, and even phone). This may likely mean, you are doing old-school networking - sitting down and selling your event- to have them get the word out for you.

6. Spread the word. Communicate what the event is, why you should go, what the offers are and how to RSVP, and communicate go-live dates for invites and reminders to your network.

7. Show the play-by-play. At the event make sure you have asked people to live tweet and blog your events - in advance. Chances are you may be too busy in the AV details and event itself - and capturing the event details are great in creating buzz around the event.

8. Capture post-event highlights. You can also ensure you've captured the buzz with pics on Flicker, and video highlights on YouTube. These help keep the energy and momentum of your event going even after the guests are out the door. Less

I'm super excited about our announcement today launching our partnership with ShareThis. This is the first of many capabilities focused on the power of social media that Yesmail will be providing our clients.We'll have much more to 'share' soon, but... More

I'm super excited about our announcement today launching our partnership with ShareThis. This is the first of many capabilities focused on the power of social media that Yesmail will be providing our clients.

We'll have much more to 'share' soon, but for now check out the press release. Less

If you haven't had the chance to visit the new Skittles.com site - now is the time.The brand has completely revamped their site in a way that fully embraces the world of Social Media. For starters, the home page now... More

If you haven't had the chance to visit the new Skittles.com site - now is the time.

The brand has completely revamped their site in a way that fully embraces the world of Social Media. For starters, the home page now has a widget like device in the upper left corner that features the standard navigation, a rotating image, and other legalese (or "gobbledygook", as they reference it).

Each navigation element is fully integrated with a different social media leader.

Products Navigation: Direct links to Wikipedia's page on each product
Media Navigation: Direct links to YouTube for video and flickr for photos
Chatter Navigation: Direct links to Twitter
Friends Navigation: Direct links to Facebook.

In fact the only page that is actually Skittles hosted content is the "Contact" navigation.

The strategy is bold. Skittles has effectively said that they will use the respective social media sites to publish content updates and to interact with their consumers. Given that they have over 585,000 Facebook friends it will be fun to watch the strategy unfold. Less