But there are so many:

Social Media channels have become such a force in the way we communicate with each other, that the number of different channels available is extensive. I thought that I would provide a list of Social Media Resources. This list was obtained from the book of Dave Evans, Social Media Marketing. I tested each one to determine if they are still available. Things change so quickly that several of the links provided in his book are no longer up.

Industry Blogs:
AdRants - http://www.adrants.com
BoingBoing - http://boingboing.net
Chruch of the Customer - http://www.churchofthecustomer.com
Customer eXperience Crossroads - http://customercrossroads.com
Social Media Today - http://www.socialmediatoday.com

Social Media Platforms
Bazaarvoice - http://www.bazaarvoice.com
BzzAgent - http://www.bzzagent.com
Jive - http://www.jivesoftware.com
Lithium - http://lithium.com
Mikons - http://mikons.com
Ning.com - http://www.ning.com
Pluck - http://www.pluck.com
ProductPulse - http://www.friend2friend.com
RockYou - http://www.rockyou.com
Salesforce.com - http://salesforce.com
Slide - http://www.slide.com

Social Networks and Services
AdGabber - http://www.adgabber.com
Bebo - http://www.bebo.com
Brightkite - http://www.brightkite.com
Del.icio.us - http://www.del.icio.us.com
Digg - http://www.digg.com
Dodgeball - http://www.dodgeball.com
Flickr - http://flickr.com
Eventful - http://eventful.com
Facebook - http://facebook.com
FriendFeed - http://friendfeed.com
Friendster - http://friendster.com
Identi.ca - http://www.identi.ca
Kyte TV - http://www.kyle.tv
Last.fm - http://www.last.fm
LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com
Livejournal - http://www.livejournal.com
Ma.gnolia.com - http://www.ma.gnolia.com
Metacafe - http://www.metacafe.com
Minggl - http://www.minggl.com
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com
Orkut - http://www.orkut.com
Personal Life Media - http://www.personallifemedia.com
Photobucket - http://www.photobucket.com
Ping.fm - http://www.ping.fm
Plaxo - http://www.plaxo.com
Plurk - http://www.plurk.com
Pownce - http://www.pownce.com
Seesmic - http://www.seesmic.com
SocialThing - http://www.socialthing.com
Sonico - http://www.sonico.com
Stickam - http://www.stickam.com
Stumble Upon - http://www.stumbleupon.com
Tumblr - http://www.tumblr.com
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com
Upcoming - http://www.upcoming.com
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com

Social Media as Business Networks

With respect to Social Media as business networking, the following are the major social media business networking sites:

AdGabber (http://www.adgabber.com)
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
Plaxo (http://www.plaxo.com)
Spock (http://www.spock.com)
Jigsaw (http://www.jigsaw.com)

Unlike MySpace, Facebook, and other personal Social Media sites, the above sites are set up to be business-oriented. It should be noted that one can use Facebook for business solutions. Visit http://www.insidefacebook.com to learn how to incorporate Facebook into your marketing program.

The following are some examples on using Social Media for business applications:

• Develop focused target list by using search capabilities of LinkedIn
• Use contact tools in Jigsaw
• Use Facebook to build a group around a new product or service you want to launch. This is a good way of beta testing and getting feedback.

So how do I start:

• Select a professional network
• Create a presence on that network
• Invite a few colleagues to join
• Ask colleagues what networks they belong to and join them.

Always remember, when it comes to Social Media, active participation is a requirement.

As you become more active in Social Media networks always remember that they are a means to an end not an end in themselves. You should always be guided by the following:

• Developing a presence to extend your brand
• Reaching out to potential employees
• Gathering feed back about your products and services
• Building a sales prospect profile

Please share with us other Social Media business networks that you use and how you use them.

When it comes to Social Media it is personal

Many of the Social Media vehicles were developed for personal relationship building. This must constantly be remembered when using Social Media. Unlike other media such as TV, for Social Media the other participants and not some producer or programmer determine actions. Thus there are several considerations that must be taken into account when using Social Media for business concerns.

• Social Media vehicles are often advertiser unfriendly. For Social Media we want to share our information with others and visa versa. There is really no motivation for one to share advertising with others.
• Your conduct is very important while using a Social Media channel. The guests make the rules not you. We have a business acquaintance that is “gung-ho” about Social Media. The problem is that this person uses any and every Social Media channel to communicate some business event or offering. After getting 6 – 7 invites from the various channels about the same topic, it starts having the same affect and effect as spam and I stop even opening up the corresponding emails from this person.
• Social Media is just one part of an integrated marketing approach. So do not become too concerned when you cannot strongly suggest or forcefully persuade. Use your other media channels to accomplish this.
• Social Media, since it is a personal network, is a very good channel to recruit new employees
• Act as if you are a guest – one that would like to be invited back.

Do not let the above sway you from using Social Media as part of your marketing program. Often times us baby-boomer will say that w e do not like to use Social Media channels since they are for kids. Remember those “kids” probably are in their 20s or 30s – large buying community.

Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, LinkedIn? What a busy social life

An important part of New Media Marketing is the integration of the various Social Media vehicles. For many Social Media is a new type of building friends and relationships. This is also true for businesses where we are concerned with customer relationships and sales. In this case we refer to it as Social Media Marketing.

One of the first couple of blogs in this New Media Marketing series dealt with the arrival of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 users took for personalization and collaboration. This is also one of the major discriminators of Social Media. Social Media differs from traditional media of newspapers, broadcast, books, etc. in that with Social Media the audience can participate in social media by adding comments and stories themselves.

Social media has the following characteristics:

• It is involved with a number of different social media channels.
• Social Media changes over time. Actually the more participants the faster the amount of change
• You cannot have social media without assuming and encouraging the audience to be part of your sales or creative process.

A question often asked: “Is social media accurate?” Yes and no. Statements may be made about your products/services that may not be true. However, if your customers reject them, you better fix them ASAP if you want to be successful. Guidelines when it comes to this:

• Social Media uses the collective, the wisdom of the crowd – they cannot be entirely wrong
• Social Media is effective when used for participation and influence not command and control.

Marketing classically deals with awareness -> consideration -> purchase. Social media feedback is user generated: use -. form opinion -> talk. This talk must be captured and made part of the marketing consideration. Social media is word-of-mouth. It is based on actual post-purchase experience. This is critical to help maintain the perceived quality aspect of your brand.

In terms of psychobabble, Social media follows Reed’s Law. David Reed’s work at MIT developed the Law of the Pack. This holds that the value of a network grows more powerful as the network grows. Thus a network of 100 customers is much more powerful than a network of 10 customers.

The simplest and effective way to jump into the Social Media Marketing is to use the New Media Marketing vehicle of the blog.

But to at least starting looking at all the various vehicles out there, here are just a few:

Microblog Services:
Twitter (http://twitter.com)
Tumblr (http://tumblr.com)
Plurk (http://plurk.com)
Seesmic (http://seesmic.com)

Multimedia Sites
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)
Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com)
Seesmic (http://seesmic.com)
Metacafe (http://www.metacafe.com)

Taggin Services:
Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us)
Stumble Upon (http://www.stumbleupon.com)

Social Sites
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com)

Business sites
AdGabber (http://www.adgabber.com)
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
Plaxo Pulse (http://www.plaxo.com)

Please share with us any others that you may be using.

All dressed up and no where to go:

The past few blogs, we discussed some guidelines and recommendations to help create an effective email. Now that is done – but it is a waste of time (except for practice) if you do not have a list to send the email to.

Jut a reminder as we continue this discussion – remember you cannot spam – it is the law!
So how do I build up my email list to send this perfect email to? There is actually two parts to this question. The first is to get legitimate emails and the second is to keep them on your list (not opting out).

The second part is straight-forward: target the right people and keep your emails relevant and engaging:

• Keep it relevant – tell your audience about things they are interested in.
• Tailor to your audience – consider different emails to different sub-targets
• Attract attention with your subject line
• Get straight to the point – people do not like you to waste their time
• Use simple language – create text that is simple to understand and very clear on benefits and call to action
• Offer exclusive benefits – offer special benefits that will appeal to your audience
• Correct frequency – send on a regular basis but only when you have something relevant to talk about.

So how do I begin building my email database? Before we address this question – make sure you have some procedure/process to capture and maintain your email list. You do not need to capture extensive amounts of data BUT capture enough so that you can select sub-lists. This will help you sent out emails based on message relevance. Now on to collecting and building your email list.
Collect information on-line: Place sing-up (opt-in) requests on your web site and other similar locations.

• On every page of your web site
• E-mail signature
• On your blog
• On banner ads and online advertising
• Online directories

Collect information in person: Always ask for permission when you collect information in-person.

• Swap business cards
• Guest book on counter or in office
• Business card bowl at trade shows and events
• Train employees to capture customer information

Collect information through print:

• Send a postcard offering an incentive to return card with email information
• Position sign-up request to add value to the mailing piece
• Add sign-up incentive
• Always add your domain name to ALL print media

If you have any other suggestions, please share them with us.

If you're going to send an e-mail, design it right!

In our last blog, we talked about picking the proper theme. We will now look at format and layout considerations.

One of the most important parts of any email is "from:" and "subject" lines. There are studies that show up to 65% of recipients will decide to open an email based on the from: line.

The secret is to keep the from: line familiar. Some guidelines to achieve this is to include the following:

• Your name (drjack)
• Name of your business (tCDG Studios)
• Combine your name and your business name. (drjack - tCDG Studios
• If you have many locations, include your locations - drjack - tCDG Studios, Orlando

Also create an email of what you are and what you are doing

• Newsletter@tcdgstudios.com
• Coupons@tcdgstudios.com
• Event_response@tcdgstudios.com
• Announcement@tcdgstudios.com

It is estimated that up to 31% recipients will open an email based on the subject line. Some suggestions:

• Highlight immediate benefits
• Include value words
• Work with a theme. Colors work well, eg. making your sales more green

Another important aspect of your email is its format/layout. You should consider the following when working with text.

Font - This is especially true if your email is in a html format. If you select a font that is not stored on the viewers computer, it will not display properly. Use commonly accepted fonts such as Arial, Garamond, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, or Veranda.

When considering font styles, use the following rules:

Bold: contrast or emphasize

• Headlines
• Short phrases
• Captions
• Key words or phrases

Italic: subtle emphasis

• Single word
• Subheadings
• Proper names
• References to titles

Underline: emphasize words or phrases

• Text links
• Column headings
• Headlines to separate from text

Font Color: enhance overall look and feel

• Add emphasis to headlines and subheadlines
• Links within text

Images - Make sure that the file format can be recognized by browsers. These are usually .jpg, .gif, or .png.

Images should re-enforce your text.
Photographs are most versatile in telling your story.
Examples include:

• Key staff members
• Products/Services being used
• Site location
• Event activities
• Customer testimonials

Created Art

• Logos - required for brand strengthening
• Clip Art - recommend limiting use since it can "date" your design/layout
• Animated .gif - same as clip art
• Icons
• Text images - most common is signature. Also effective for headlines

Another important consideration is how to increase the content value of your email. The following help increases the effectiveness of your email.
Include an offer

• coupons
• Give-a-ways
• Lost leaders
• Extending urgent offers

Effective Call to Action. Examples of Call to Actions are:

• Read your email
• Save your email
• Print your email
• Forward your email
• Make a purchase
• Fill out a form
• Visit your web site
• Visit a physical location
• Request information
• Register for an Event
• Make an appointment
• Phone you

So what is your theme?

There are two aspects of “what an email should look like”:

Format and Theme. There are many who do not consider both but often one will at least consider format. Format refers to the classification and configuration of an email. For a successful email campaign, you need to also consider the appropriate theme. The theme is the main idea of your entire email campaign. It is not the same as format.

Once you have decided on the objective(s) for your campaign, you then select your theme. Most objectives can be achieved using one of the four typical email themes:

• Promotional
• Information
• Procedural
• Relational

We will also address emails that have multiple themes.

Promotional Theme – Use the promotional theme when you want to persuade your audience to take a specific action or at least ask for a specific purchase decision such as making an appointment. Typical PROMOTIONAL theme include:

• Product images and descriptions
• Testimonials
• Coupons
• Headlines and links that cal for action
• Links to information that supports your main call to action
• Directions on how to make the call to action

Informational Theme – Use this theme to inform you audience so that they will form an opinion. They are different from Promotional in that they usually do not include a call to action.

• News articles
• Stories and narratives
• Opinions and viewpoints
• Announcements
• Event calendars
• FAQs

Procedural Theme - This theme is used to give instructions or explain processes. Like informational themes, they usually do not include a call to action. Examples are:

• New customer or opt-in welcome
• Notifications
• Shipping or privacy policy
• Disclosures and warranties

Relational Theme – This theme is used to build or deepen relationship(s). These are usually one-way communications and no call to action. Examples:

• Greetings
• Acknowledgements
• Personal experiences news and stories
• Customer recognition messages

At times your email campaign may require you to use Multiple themes. Try to minimize the use of multiple themes. Recommend the following when considering multiple themes:

• State your main theme very succinctly right up front
• Sub-group together with design and layout elements
• If there is that a major theme within the multiple themes, then send out separate emails
• Remember objectives -> themes -> formats -> genre.

We will discuss the concept of genre when it comes to design in a future blog. But just remember, if your email is not text only, then maximize the visual impact by doing it right. Viewers are very savvy and can quickly detect amateur design. As I covered in my blog of January 29, 2009 “Crap is Crap”.