Social Media and Marketing Automation

Social media or social networks means the gathering of people within a community (whether that's an actual online community or simply a section on a Web site dedicated to giving consumers a voice to actively participate in the creation of new and/or the management of existing content). Users have the ability to post their own photos or videos, rate and review products, create tags for content, write or respond to blogs, or change existing content (like wikis), and more.

Social media has allowed consumers to take charge of their Web experiences and marketing automation programs can take advantage of this new tool to increase sales and build a relationship with consumers.

Here a couple of ideas on how to integrate social media into your email marketing or marketing automation efforts...

• Reviews -- The key with reviews is participation -- the more coverage your products have, the more effective the reviews will be.
• Ratings -- Ratings include stars, thumbs up and down, "paws," and a myriad of other forms. Consumers register their level of approval, and the product's rating becomes based on some form of average of responses. This type of consumer feedback is incredibly useful for optimization because it is easily rankable. Have on-site search? Why not rank results by popularity? This is a fabulous way of providing relevance through ranking.
• Digg -- Social sites provide a clearinghouse for user responses. The most well- known, Digg, allows sites to put up an icon on articles that lets the reader "Digg" the content.
  

Three Simple Ways to Humanize Your Email Marketing

I am always surprised at the number of emails I receive from companies that have clearly been written without any effort being to connect with me as an individual. This lost opportunity is most evident when I provide my email address to a company for the very first time.

Maybe I sign up for a newsletter, maybe I register for some kind of service, maybe I buy a product. Almost without exception, the automated emails I receive to confirm the action I have just taken are uniformly drab and impersonal.

When a customer first gives you his or her email address, you have a small window of opportunity. Customers are expecting a confirmation email from you. They are waiting for it. And when it arrives, almost 100% of people will open it. In other words, this is your first and best chance to make a great impression. Do you or your company take full advantage of that opportunity?

Marketing automation is one answer and here are three simple things you can do to "humanize" any email communication.

1. Communicate as a person, not as a business
People don't want to hear from a computer. They want to hear from you.So include some elements in your email that are one-to-one—from one human being to another. A photo or video of sales rep on a landing page is a powerful way to connect on a human level.

2. Add a real name at the end of each email
Many emails are signed by "The Domainname.com Team" or something like that.Well, if the head of that team is called John Frost, sign the emails with the name "John Frost."
Make it from a person. There is no power in sending an email and signing it as a corporation or a team. There is no connection there. When you do that, every opportunity to take advantage of this most personal of online media is lost.

3. Add your real address and other contact information
When I receive an email that closes with the complete mailing address of the sender, it immediately boosts my feelings of trust and confidence in that company. When "John Frost" also adds his own email address and phone number, then the connection I feel with that company rises immeasurably.