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Econsultancy Study: Email’s Not Dead Yet, Captures Consumer Attention More Effectively Than Social Media

Social media is everyone’s new favorite shiny object, so much so that people like Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, are ready to start throwing handfuls of dirt on top of email’s coffin. But wait…a new study from Econsultancy shows that not only is email not dead, it’s actually more effective at grabbing customers’ attention than social media.

In a post on Search Engine Watch that summed up the study’s findings, Stefan Tornquist, Econsultancy’s US Research Director, made the following comments:

“Despite the current hype surrounding social media, social network adoption and its influence on e-commerce is far from maturity. More than a third of consumers (37%) do not use a social networking site, while those who have recently become a ‘fan’ or ‘friend’ of a company or brand online are still in the minority. Although a variety of media are competing for consumer attention, email continues to be the desired channel for many types of commercial communication.”

The study stresses that emails need to be relevant and timely, but as long as marketers don’t make pests of themselves, it seems that most customers are more than happy to invite them into their inboxes.

But that doesn’t mean that marketers can afford to ignore social media, either. Even if 37% of consumers don’t use social networking sites, that means that 63% of consumers DO use these sites, and more are joining all the time. Plus, social media offers an unparalleled opportunity to foster word-of-mouth, as status updates, posts and videos can quickly go viral.

As they try to grab a piece of the thought leadership pie, some marketers and social media professionals are ignoring the fact that email and social media are not necessarily mortal enemies. They can play nice. You don’t have to choose one or the other. For example, why not let your customers share the offers you send them via social media? Or use social media’s viral nature to help build a killer email list?

Fortunately, most marketers understand this. In fact, a recent study by e-Marketer showed that two-thirds of marketers have begun integrating social media with their email marketing efforts.

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Social Media ROI Round-Up: 5 Resources to Help You Develop a Measurement Strategy

2010 was supposed to be the year that we learned how to calculate the ROI of social media. However, as we learned last week, most marketers still aren’t sure what, if anything, they should be measuring. It’s almost August. Tick-tock, y’all. Now, when it comes to measuring the impact of social media on the ROI of an integrated direct marketing campaign, Dukky rocks. No false modesty here-our analytics can show you how many of your responses came from each social networking site and even which customers have the most influence and bring you the most business.

We’re all about bringing the social media revolution to direct marketing, but at the same time, what we do is only part of a comprehensive social media strategy. There are lots of other ways to use social media to market your business, everything from providing customer service through social media channels to setting up a company Twitter account and tweeting clever quips and helpful information. But how do you measure the ROI of all of that engagement? Hopefully this list of social media ROI resources from industry experts will provide some insight:

Brian Solis: ROI: How to Measure Return on Investment in Social Media

Written at the beginning of the year and still timely, this post from Brian Solis is a lengthy but worthwhile read for marketers struggling to quantify the value of their social media efforts.

Augie Ray/Forrester Research: The ROI of Social Media Marketing: More than Dollars and Cents

In this post, Augie Ray of Forrester Research outlines how to measure the value of social media from 4 different perspectives for a more complete picture.

Garry Przyklenk, Search Engine Watch: SMART Social Media ROI: Show me the Money!

Garry Przyklenk offers a simple, step-by-step guide to calculating social media ROI.

Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics

View more documents from Jeremiah Owyang.

Social Media ROI by Erik Qualman

Almost everyone in the social media sphere loves Erik Qualman, and this video is one of the reasons why. The sequel to the hugely popular “Social Media Revolution,” “Social Media ROI” is packed with statistics showing how companies that have used social media successfully are measuring its impact on their bottom lines.

Feel free to share your thoughts and any additional resources in the comments!

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New Study Shows Marketers (Still) Confused When it Comes to Measuring Social Media ROI

According to a new study by eROI, a digital agency based in Portland, Oregon, many marketers using social media are struggling in two very important areas: integrating social media with other marketing strategies and measuring the ROI of their social media efforts. (h/t ClickZ)

I can almost hear you thinking “Wait a minute…this is news?” These problems are not new, of course. Ever since companies began to incorporate social media into their marketing mix there has been a debate about whether it was even possible to measure the ROI of social media and if so, how one would go about it. However, there is a pretty clear consensus about which metrics NOT to use: numbers of friends and followers mean almost nothing. One follower who is willing to engage with your company and spread the word about you to his or her own followers is worth a thousand followers who never tweet or post about your brand. When it comes to marketing, engaged followers are the only followers that count.

Unfortunately, the study (available here) found that 65.5% of marketers surveyed were tracking an increase/decrease of friends and followers. 59.5% measured traffic coming in from social sites, while 39% tracked mentions of the company. Only 35.7% were tracking new leads, and only 28.5% were tracking sales.

The good news is that more and more marketers are recognizing the advantages of incorporating social sharing into their email campaigns, with 59.1% allowing customers to share offers with their networks.

In the report, eROI notes the importance of tracking and measuring all social media initiatives:

No matter how small they start, marketers should start tracking and measuring their social media efforts (currently one-fifth of respondents said they don’t track anything).

At Dukky, we also believe that it’s important both to incorporate social media into your marketing mix and to track its impact. That’s why we make it easy to create direct marketing campaigns that use social media to amplify your company’s message, raise awareness and help you get to know your customers a little bit better. Plus, our detailed, real-time analytics leave no room for doubt when it comes to social media’s impact on the ROI of your campaign.

How is your company measuring the ROI of its social media marketing efforts? Does social media seem to be paying off for you? Let us know in the comments!

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The Discovery Channel Puts the “Viral” in “Viral Marketing”

To promote its new reality show “The Colony,” about a group of survivors trying to get by after a deadly pandemic, the Discovery Channel is using Facebook Connect in a new campaign that’s creepy, creative and yes, “viral.” (Yes, cheesy puns about viruses, diseases and infections will abound in this post. Consider yourself warned!)

To see it in action, visit this website and give the application access to your Facebook profile, if you have one. The app will pull information about your Facebook friends, including their names, pictures and where they live, and then uses their information to populate a Facebook-style social networking page with personalized content and updates relating to the fictional “Nuclear flu” pandemic. The result is creepily realistic-so much so that Discovery includes disclaimers on each page about how the site is a fictional simulation and not based on real events.

For example, the first entry is a video post from one of the participants in the Colony TV show, describing how he and his friends were dropped off in a quarantined “safe zone” by government agents, then left to their own devices. Scrolling down, I could see a comment from my uncle about how scared he was now that emergency rooms in his hometown were closed, plus “Missing” alerts on the side of the page for some of my high school friends.

I thought the campaign was an awesome use of Facebook. It strikes just the right balance between being creepy and engaging. There is, however, one design flaw that I think is keeping it from being as infectious as it could be. The website consists of a LONG series of simulated updates that take you from the start of the outbreak through the collapse of American society as we know it. There’s no “Like” or “Share” button to allow you to share the site on Facebook or Twitter until you scroll through all of those updates.

Some diseases actually change the behavior of their hosts to make them more likely to infect others. Have you ever wondered why animals (and people) with rabies suddenly become so fearless and aggressive? It’s actually an adaptation of the rabies virus, which spreads through saliva. Likewise, the nasty little bug that causes toxoplasmosis makes infected mice lose their fear of cats, thus furthering its spread. If you have a strong stomach, see this article for more details and examples.

When you try to create a viral campaign, your goal should be the same- to influence consumer behavior to help your campaign spread further. That means it should be as easy as possible to share, and even people who don’t have 10-15 minutes to scroll through all of those updates should be able to share the campaign on Facebook and Twitter in just a couple of clicks.

I have to say that I agree with Tracy Johnson, a commenter on the Mashable post describing the campaign, who wrote:

“I wish they made the app more obviously “sharable” once you viewed it. I feel like the experience ended after I saw the fake news feed… then because I was curious I went back to see if there was a way to share the information and if you click on the “X number of friends shared this” link there is an option to post to FB or Twitter. If that call to action was a little clearer, this app would rock my world.”

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Direct Mail Still Effective, and Can Be Valuable Complement to Other Platforms

Editor’s Note: Today’s post was written by Mark Hasland and originally appeared on the Overnight Prints blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

Despite all the hype about social media, marketers seem not to be convinced of its effectiveness, and many are still relying on traditional marketing platforms such as direct mail, said a recent study.

According to a report from Massachusetts-based BluePoint Venture Marketing, just 19 percent of marketers surveyed said that establishing a social media presence was an important company marketing goal in 2009.

Meanwhile, more than half of respondents – 52 percent – said that direct mail was an effective branding and awareness vehicle.

Yet even the growing popularity of social media shouldn’t be a threat to the existence – or the effectiveness – of direct mail; experts say that integrated marketing campaigns – those that promote a consistent brand and message across a variety of platforms – are typically the most effective.

Scott Buresh, founder and CEO of organic search engine optimization company Medium Blue, agrees. In an article for Promotion World, Buresh said that using a combination of online and offline marketing can provide the best results.

“Nobody can deny that the advent of various internet marketing methods has been a game-changer,” he wrote. “Some forms of traditional advertising may even be on their last legs. Trade show attendance is down. Magazines and newspapers are in decline. I can’t remember the last time a door-to-door salesperson came up to my house.”

However, he added that some channels “still can provide exceptional returns.” Even Medium Blue, which is based entirely on online marketing, uses direct mail – Buresh admits that “direct mail, done properly, still works for us.”

Integrated marketing can be so effective because each platform essentially cross-promotes itself. For example, companies can add Facebook and LinkedIn links to their email campaigns, and can promote a Facebook campaign in their postcard mailings.

At its most basic, all companies should make sure to have a link to their website on all business cards, brochures and other printed materials.

Experts add that integrated marketing campaigns are only as successful as they are consistent – campaigns that promote different messages and feature different brand voices work separately at best (thereby negating the effects of cross-promotion) and against each other at worst.

At the very least, Buresh noted, using a variety of different marketing channels ensures that companies do not “put all of their eggs in the online basket.”

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When It Comes to Social Networking, the Kids are All Right

Do you still think social media is just a passing fad? New research from Pew’s latest “Future of the Internet” study just might have proved you wrong. Social sharing is an integral part of youth culture today, and that is something that is not likely to change as Generation Y gets older. In fact, Pew’s study found that 67% of experts surveyed agreed with the following statement:

“By 2020, members of Generation Y (today’s ‘digital natives’) will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic, and political opportunities. Even as they mature, have families, and take on more significant responsibilities, their enthusiasm for widespread information sharing will carry forward.”

What does this mean for marketers? It means you need to fish where the fish are, so to speak. If you’re not involved in social media yet, now is past time to develop a strategy.

Also, as you design marketing campaigns, consider how thoroughly and completely Gen Y has integrated social media into their daily lives. Shouldn’t you also integrate it into your direct marketing campaigns? Email and direct mail are still great ways to reach out to your customers, but shouldn’t you also take advantage of the fact that they are already used to sharing information online?

At Dukky, we’ve found that incorporating social media and social sharing into direct mail and email campaigns can have an almost unbelievable impact on response rates. Gen Y’s dedication to social networking means that given the right incentives, they can become powerful advocates for your company or brand.

Social media will no doubt continue to evolve, and the ways people share information online are likely to change in the years to come. However, the underlying forces that make word-of-mouth such a powerful form of marketing and that make social media such a powerful way to encourage it seem to be here to stay. Combining direct marketing and social media is one of the easiest and most effective ways to harness those forces.

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Eight O’Clock Coffee Uses Facebook to Harness Word of Mouth

They’re not as big as Folger’s or Maxwell House, but Eight O’Clock Coffee has always had an intensely loyal following. Now, the company is using its Facebook page to encourage its fans to spread the word about its product.

According to Promo Magazine, the company has been active on Facebook for a little bit over a year, and has managed to collect over 29,000 fans on its Facebook page. (Yes, yes, I know that technically we “like” companies on Facebook now, but “likers” just doesn’t work for me.) Their latest advertising campaign, “Taste What People are Talking About,” encourages word-of-mouth from Facebook fans and others by allowing people to upload their pictures to the “bean board” on Eight O’Clock Coffee’s web site, along with a sentence or two about why they love Eight O’Clock Bean coffee. In addition to a little bit of internet fame, everyone who participates get a chance to win a free bag of coffee.

Eight O’Clock Coffee also reached out to people in real life, offering free coffee to commuters in Grand Central Station and entering them to win an iPad if they agreed to call a friend and tell them about the coffee.

Promo Magazine interviewed the company’s senior brand manager, Alisa Jacoby, about the promotion and specifically about the company’s use of Facebook:

Promo: What value does Facebook bring to Eight O’Clock Coffee?
Jacoby: The value is leveraging our fans as brand ambassadors to spread the word about our brand. They are really our best advertisement. Word of mouth is a very important piece of marketing a consumer brand and social media really helps us do that. We’ve been grappling with Facebook and I think we took this further by including our fans in our advertising.

Encouraging people to talk about your product is awesome, but your promotions should encourage people to talk about your company on Facebook or Twitter as well as on your own web site. You want the great things they say about your brand to show up where their friends will see them and be influenced. Eight O’ Clock Bean used testimonials from its Facebook fans to seed the Bean Board with content, and the Bean Board has a link to the Facebook fan page, but other than that there’s no connection between the two. There’s no “like” button on the Bean Board, and nothing on the Facebook page encouraging fans to participate in the promotion, either.

Facebook’s rules for promotions may have something to do with that, though looking at the rules it seems like they could at least publicize the promotion on Facebook since it’s being hosted off-site. Using existing Facebook fans in the advertising is great, but wouldn’t it be even better to also encourage new Facebook fans to share the love?

It also seems like they’re missing an opportunity to encourage word-of-mouth by not allowing people to share the coupons on their web page via email and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Still, all of that aside, Eight O’clock Coffee’s campaign is commendable for encouraging word of mouth from its Facebook fan base. Too many companies focus almost exclusively on obtaining Facebook fans, but have no idea what to do with them once they have them.

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Prince Doesn’t Get Viral Marketing…Or Does He?

Prince’s new album 20TEN comes out Saturday, but the only place you’ll be able to get it is as a free CD included in newspapers in Europe, including London’s Daily Mirror. US fans are apparently out of luck, at least for the time being. It’s not being sold in stores at present, nor will it be available as a download. Confusingly, the Daily Mirror says that Prince “has shunned selling his eagerly anticipated CD 20TEN in the shops or releasing it online because he wants as many people as possible to hear his music.”

Umm, wouldn’t more people be able to hear it if it were released online? The real issue seems to be Prince’s disdain for all things digital. In an interview with a reporter from the Mirror, he issued a proclamation that’s been burning up interwebs ever since:

“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Prince, I’d like to introduce you to Erik Qualman. Here is a nifty video Mr. Qualman created, called Social Media Revolution. I know, I know, it’s full of those awful numbers, but bear with me here:

Doesn’t look like the Internet’s going anywhere to me. But I guess if you don’t take those darn numbers into account, I could see how you might think so. As Fast Company points out, Prince’s refusal to allow his videos on YouTube contrasts sharply with the approach of Lady Gaga, who has become quite successful by using YouTube and Facebook to market herself. And of course, there’s Justin Bieber’s Twitter army of breathless teenybopper followers. And Trent Reznor, who has distributed both Nine Inch Nails albums and the first EP from his new band, How to Destroy Angels, as free downloads.

So, as much of a musical genius as Prince is, it seems like he just doesn’t get the potential of the Internet and viral marketing the way many of his colleagues seem to. Or does he? After all, we ARE talking about him, aren’t we? Although Fast Company notes that “you are more likely to find a rainbow-farting unicorn in your cutlery drawer than a Prince music video on YouTube,” he did become a trending topic on Twitter yesterday.

Still, I don’t see how making it harder for your fans to get to your music (unless you’re in Europe and can buy one of the newspapers that has it) is going to help his career. And I don’t see how the temporary buzz his crazy-talk has created can possibly compare with the direct, long-term and in many cases permanent connections that Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have built with their fans via social networking.

And how many people actually carry around portable CD players any more? So, if you get the CD and you want to take it with you to listen to on the go, you have to go through the extra step of converting it to MP3s? I’m glad I’m not really a huge Prince fan, although he was an important part of my childhood. I would be more than a little irked if a musician I actually cared about were trying to make it harder for me to play their music even after I paid for it.

So, what do you think of Prince’s marketing and distribution strategy? Genius or fail? Let us know in the comments!

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Social Media vs. Direct Marketing: Place Your Bets Now

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: Today’s post was written by Debra Ellis and was originally published on her most excellent Multichannel Marketing blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

Welcome to the match of the decade – Social Media vs. Direct Marketing. Around the globe people are choosing sides, anticipating that one will overcome the other. Let’s take a moment to review their features:

In one corner, we have Social Media, a young, agile, and engaging contender.

He’s been taking the circuit by storm. His ability to sweep the globe with your marketing message at minimal cost is particularly appealing. Then, there is that one-to-one contact with your customers and prospects. Having Social Media on your side turns your company into the corner store. You can chat with your customers and really get to know them.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side. Social Media is fickle. He’s there helping you one minute and the next, he’s alienating customers. Social Media is very unforgiving. One faux pas can undo years of brand building.

And, he is high maintenance. He demands continuous attention. Without it, he forgets you and everything you’ve contributed to his growth. Your message is like a bolt of lightning: one flash and it’s gone.

In the other corner, we have Direct Marketing, an established, proven, and measurable contender.

He’s been around so long the new guys keep saying, “I thought he was dead.” He isn’t dead, he’s working quietly in the background filling coffers and building loyalty. And, he has that long tail that keeps orders coming in months after the first strike. Let’s not forget how measurable he is. Almost every aspect of Direct Marketing can be tested and measured so you can maximize your return.

Direct Marketing has a dark side, too. If you are into instant gratification, he is not for you. It takes time to plan and implement one of his programs. And, then more time to see the return. He is expensive, too. Upfront costs can be prohibitive for start-ups and newcomers.

Before you place your bets, consider this:

What would happen if we could get Social Media and Direct Marketing to work together? Wouldn’t they be a great tag team? Just think about how it could be:

Direct Marketing could invite your customers to join your network. When they arrive, Social Media could personally welcome them.
Social Media could create anticipation by telling customers when Direct Marketing is sending new information.
Direct Marketing and Social Media could work together to provide 5 Star customer service.

I don’t know about you, but I’m betting on the DM/SM team. Together they infinitely expand their individual potential.

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Direct Mail Has Several Advantages Over Newer Forms of Marketing

Editor’s Note: Today’s post was written by Mark Hasland and originally appeared on the Overnight Prints blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

With the internet easily accessible to more than 200 million Americans, marketing trends are increasingly shifting to digital. However, even in today’s web-dependent world, direct mail still plays an integral role in reaching new audiences.

This contrast can most clearly be seen in the political realm. While President Barack Obama used social media platforms, like YouTube and Facebook, to connect with many Americans, countless other politicians utilize direct mail to appeal to potential voters.

This is the case with many of this year’s gubernatorial campaigns for candidates in Minnesota. Members of both Democratic Farmers Labor and Independence parties are launching direct mail campaigns leading up to the August 10th primaries, reports Politics in Minnesota.

“If you’re looking at the different mediums to talk to voters, by far the most effective is direct voter contact, door to door and on the phones. Direct mail fits into that as well, because it’s a very targeted message to specific voters,” Jaime Tincher, campaign manager for DFL’s Margaret Kelliher.

Targeting largely factors into why direct mail is so popular among many candidates. Direct mail allows campaigners to target certain demographics with relevant messages, maximizing the impact a message can have among distinct groups.

In addition to that, direct mail can also target specific voters, creating personal connections that broadcast marketing often can’t generate. With direct mail, campaigners can reduce the amount of marketing dollars spent on people that are likely not to vote and more efficiently target those who will.

Because it’s such a direct platform, many candidates also use mail for fundraising initiatives. With the exception of holding an event with the candidate in attendance, direct mail is the best way of finding people that agree with a position that would make a contribution, says Tincher.

Expense is another large part of why direct mail is so popular among politicians. Direct mail is a fraction of the price of television campaigns. While a TV message could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, direct mail initiatives are often no more than a few thousand dollars.

So what can a savvy small business owner take away from these politicians? There are certain advantages that physical envelopes and brochures have over intangible digital messages. Direct mail can often be used to create personal relationships and cement a brand’s reputation among consumers. Additionally, targeting different segments of potential customers with specific messages is also an advantage that direct mail has over other channels, like TV.

At Dukky, we recognize that both direct mail and digitial marketing have unique advantages. In our view, an integrated approach is the way to go because it provides marketers with the best of both worlds.

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