Chapter 4
Safko, The Social Media Bible
RatePoint CEO Neal Creighton asserts on page 82 that e-mail will continue to an important part of people’s internet experience for some time to come. Maybe … but when I watch my 20-year-old son and his friends, I wonder how much longer e-mail will be an effective way to reach people, especially younger people. Will they migrate to media such as Twitter and chat on social media sites to keep in touch with others?
Blogger George F. Snell III, (High Talk: Conversations about Media, PR and the Social Web), lists five reasons why email will become obsolete: workers change jobs and thus email addresses more often; spam filters are losing the battle; Facebook and LinkedIn offer closed systems that offer multiple ways to communicate; mobile phones are easier to use; and cloud computer offers new and better ways to communicate with coworkers. Read the article here.
Blogger George F. Snell III, (High Talk: Conversations about Media, PR and the Social Web), lists five reasons why email will become obsolete: workers change jobs and thus email addresses more often; spam filters are losing the battle; Facebook and LinkedIn offer closed systems that offer multiple ways to communicate; mobile phones are easier to use; and cloud computer offers new and better ways to communicate with coworkers. Read the article here.
Such concerns aside, the Return on Investment (ROI) for e-mail marketing is hard to beat. E-mail is cheap, so the risk of using e-mail is low, even if some users migrate to other locations on the internet. If you do plan to use e-mail as part of a marketing plan, the best practices (Commandments, page 83) would be particularly important, in my opinion.
“Thou shalt not spam” is a given, but Commandment 2 (Thou shalt provide a significant WIIFM) and Commandment 3 (Thou shalt remember the 1.54-second and 5.0- second rules) are key to success. Crafting messages that meet these two criteria would take a lot more time and effort than many people realize.
And the other commandments, regarding segmenting and day parting, may not be as vital but still can contribute significantly to success. There’s a lot to be said for this methodical approach, especially if results are tracked.
“Thou shalt not spam” is a given, but Commandment 2 (Thou shalt provide a significant WIIFM) and Commandment 3 (Thou shalt remember the 1.54-second and 5.0- second rules) are key to success. Crafting messages that meet these two criteria would take a lot more time and effort than many people realize.
And the other commandments, regarding segmenting and day parting, may not be as vital but still can contribute significantly to success. There’s a lot to be said for this methodical approach, especially if results are tracked.
Other reactions to this chapter:
- Safko says on page 72 that enticing people is not a one-time event, but a process. Agreed! Just getting people's attention is the first step. Actually communicating information is another step, and getting your audience to retain that information another. And you're still not to getting them to act.
- Will spam ruin this as a marketing tool?
- Customers do not like it when they cannot get an e-mail marketer to unsubscribe them from a mail list. I'm already overwhelmed by commercial e-mails, and it causes me anxiety when the unsubscribe doesn't work.
- Content is king – right!
Yes! The WIIFM point is very important in this chapter. I'm hearing from my students that they don't read their email - so I'm with you, perhaps it is on its way out. Yessir, content is king. Do you do any targeted email communication to your core audiences?
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