Timing Is Everything in Email Marketing

Email marketing is a viable and profitable way to create traffic to your website. The components needed in an effective email campaign include quality content, a call to action, and timing your email so that people will actually open them, read them, and then act. You may not have given much thought to timing except how many days of the week you send out your emails, but did you know the day of the week and the time of day greatly affect click through rates? The three core components of email marketing; targeting the right audience, sending the right message, and sending the email out at the right time combine to create an effective and profitable email marketing campaign.

MECLAB Research Partners conducted an experiment to test email marketing when the best time to send out emails would be. The goal was to see if the day of the week and time of day had any bearing on email marketing, and when emails were being opened and acted upon. What they found was Sunday was the best day of the week to send out emails, and the best time of the day was late afternoon/early evening. Fourteen emails were sent each day, and when they were opened was tracked. Here are the results of their experiment with email marketing:

Monday: 1 email opened in the morning, and 2 opened in the afternoon.

Tuesday: 3 emails opened in the morning, and 4 opened in the afternoon.

Wednesday: 5 emails opened in the morning, and 6 in the afternoon.

Thursday: 7 emails opened in the morning, and 8 in the afternoon.

Friday: 9 emails opened in the morning, and 10 in the afternoon.

Saturday: 11 emails opened in the morning, and 12 opened in the afternoon.

Sunday: 13 emails opened in the morning, and 14 in the afternoon.

As you can see by the data collected, emails sent later in the week and later in the day have a better chance of being opened and acted upon. Researchers thought this was because in the late afternoon people had the habit of checking and answering their emails. Weekends seemed to be best because people had more time to follow through on a call to action included in email marketing campaigns.

So what does this mean to you the business owner? Should you only send out emails late in the week and late in the day? Well no, you should still include early in the week and morning emails in your email marketing plan. But you might want to save your really juicy call to action emails for the prime time.

When implementing your email marketing campaign, use the emails early in the week and early in the day to be more informative. Draw people's interest in, and then when it is time to send out emails later in the week you can zero in on the call to action. This will help increase your click through rates and get people to take advantage of what you have to offer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7511965

Content That Will Wow Your Audience

Social media is undeniably a great way of putting a face and voice to a company or business and build solid relationships so that you can grow a loyal supportive community of followers for your brand. Social media enables you to respond directly to individuals. By communicating with your community on a regular, more personal basis, you demonstrate to them that their comments are not only being acknowledged but their feedback, whether constructive or otherwise, is being taken seriously, and most importantly, is appreciated.
Okay, I’ve got a community of people who like me, what next? What’s next is getting them to rave about you so that your brand is amplified as one voice tells many. Imagine if everyone in your community brought just two more people to your website. I’ve formulated 5 easy steps to give you that critically acclaimed continuous flow of traffic that many a social media enthusiast craves.

1.   Keeping it fresh

One of the key factors in keeping social media traffic consistent, and preferably on the increase, is to remain on trend. There is no such thing as old news! Every story has the potential to be retold in a new and exciting way. If everyone is talking about a particular topic, don’t just rehash the same old facts. Find a new angle, a way to make it more targeted for your community and wow them with your fresh insight. Content curation is another approach to keeping old topics fresh. Content curation is the latest trend in social media and involves pulling together the best of the ideas and information on a topic and providing your community with easy access to them. Remember, if you show that you are knowledgeable and have researched thoroughly about the current key trends and appear up-to-date with the latest goings on, your content will not only be considered a trustworthy source, but it gives it that ‘wow’ factor, and that uniqueness that many find so difficult to achieve.

2.   Quality over quantity

Whilst it is true that regularly updating the content on your website not only gets you valuable Google brownie points (aka SEO ranking) but also encourages your community to visit more frequently, posting poor quality articles for the sake of posting is counterproductive. The gold standard for the serious social media blogger is to post at least once a day. However, 2-3 well written articles per week is preferable to 1 good one and 4 that would score “nil point” if they were an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest! Poor quality material is a waste of everybody’s time. Your community are likely to soon tire of the inconsistence in quality and tired content. The key is, not to put yourself under too much pressure if you’re new to the blogging or social media scene, just enjoy yourself and immerse yourself in writing top quality material.

3. Controversial content

Freedom of speech is always encouraged in the world of social media (that’s not to say go around upsetting people!). I personally really admire people who are prepared to step away form the herd and go out on to the plains in full view of the stalking predator to put across their own unique/controversial views. Most people find it refreshing being exposed to different ways of viewing things and alternative viewpoints. If your aim in social media is to attract attention and stand out from the multitudes you need to be prepared to voice a controversial/different view. Being opinionated doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be offensive or show a lack of respect. However, strong convictions will generate more interest and more traffic to a webpage. The more traffic, the more likely you will gain a loyal community, who will re-visit time and time again. Your content is never going to please everyone, its personal taste at the end of the day, but you should never be afraid to speak up and put your opinion, controversial or not, forward for a discussion.

4. Acknowledgement = loyalty

People like to be appreciated and replying to comments on a personal basis demonstrates that you appreciate the individual, whilst creating solid and loyal relationships. If you ask for feedback you need to be prepared to receive the negative as well as the positive. My top 3 tips for dealing with negative feedback:

1. Don’t take it personally.
2. Don’t take it personally.
3. Don’t take it personally.

If you don’t take it personally you can move your ego out of the way so that you see validity in their point. Their point is valid even if you disagree with it. Leaving a comment takes time and it is better to see this as an honour that they were prepared to invest some time in communicating with you, even if it wasn’t what you hoped for. Remember, the more you encourage social sharing, the more willing an audience will be when promoting and sharing your content with a wider and more diverse audience across their own personal social networking sites. Social sharing buttons are a quick way to endorse the sharing of your content and also promote the work of others. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask your community directly to share your content with other like-minded people who might enjoy it. Social Media is about maintaining people’s interest, and keeping your community engaged. Sharing is the cement between the bricks – it holds it all together.

5. Getting the balance right

If you use language that is a chore to read, your audience will give up. Your social media content should be engaging and written at a level that is easy to rapid read. The most successful books are those written in grade 8 English, i.e. at a level that a 13-year-old could understand. This is because we are all short of time and if you use complex, difficult language, the majority of your readers will quickly give up.
To summarise, spending time building and working on relationships is imperative and arguably the most important factor when utilising social media, because once you have established that trust, you will start seeing results

Designing Buttons for Your Website

Placing social buttons on your website provides companies both large and small the opportunity to have their content shared. However, it is not as simple as just adding a button to your existing pages; in order for your social buttons to be effective they should be included on your website pages proper manner. This will help ensure that the readers can easily locate them and that they work correctly. We are going to offer you some helpful tips on how to successfully incorporate social buttons into your website.

• Placement Matters - The easier your buttons are to locate, the more likely they are to be used. People will not typically take the time to scroll over your page looking for social buttons; this is why you should place them in the most obvious location. Once you have placed the social buttons on your pages you should consult with co-workers and friends to ensure that they have been placed in an easy to see area.


• Use Recognizable Buttons - If a visitor to your website can easily recognize which site your buttons will post to, they are more likely to use them. You should also avoid trying to incorporate the button image with your design. This may end up making the button unrecognizable and it will likely not get used as much as you would like.


• Include Text - Two little words such as, "follow us" can encourage visitors to your website to do exactly that. This is not a required step when adding social buttons to your website, but it certainly can help. Many people will hesitate to share something, but these two little words may give them the little push they need.


• Size Matters - Choosing the proper sized buttons for your website is very important. They should seem as if they are part of the original design and not be so large that they are overpowering. You also don't want to make them too small, if a visitor has trouble locating them because they are too small or get lost in the design they may not get used at all. Apple suggests that web designers use buttons that are 44px x 44px.


• Keep It Simple - Almost everyone can easily recognize the most popular social media buttons. Because of this it is important that you do not redesign the logos. You may think that adding a friendly not to the Twitter bird will be entertaining for your visitors; it may have the opposite effect and change the logo so much that it becomes unrecognizable. Stick with the most familiar and widely used buttons that are easily recognized by your readers.

Social buttons are a great way to compel readers of your content to share it among their friends. The more visibility that your content receives, the more traffic that you may see coming to your website. It is even possible for your content to go viral if it shared among enough readers and their friends. There are a lot of benefits to including social buttons on your website, the tips we have provided should make the process easier to do and understand.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7500728

Facebook Being Sued Over Like Button

You can bet Facebook doesn’t like this.

The social network is currently being sued for its use of the Like button, a feature which was patented by Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer in 1998, five years before Facebook’s launch.

The patents were granted as part of the functionality of Surfbook, a social diary created by Van Der Meer that allowed users to “like” each other’s content.

Van Der Meer has passed away. However, the patent holder –- Rembrandt Social Media, LP — has chosen to seek legal action against Facebook, as well as the company AddThis, for using the patents without permission.

"We believe Rembrandt's patents represent an important foundation of social media as we know it, and we expect a judge and jury to reach the same conclusion based on the evidence," attorney Tom Melsheimer, counsel for Rembrandt, said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed in Virginia on Feb. 5.

Do you think the Like button is something that can and should be patented? Tell us your thoughts on the suit in the comments.

[via BBC]

Image via Flickr, Steel Wool

Four Great Tactics to Make Social Media Work for You

Social media pages form one of the foundations of inbound marketing -- they're where you can post your valuable content, using a call-to-action to drive visitors to your landing page, where they may become qualified leads.

The challenge, of course, is making your social media pages stand out in the crowd.
You can find plenty of social media tips to boost your visibility on the web, but these four give you a range of options that suit your goals and resources.

Make it easy -- then, fun. No visitor should have to search around to find your social media pages. Use naming standards for your home pages that make it immediately clear who you are.
Then, have some fun. Categorize your Twitter content -- blogs, tweets and videos -- with hashtags that engage, inform and contain relevant keywords - like these examples, which actually won "best hashtag" awards! (Note: hashtags are for Twitter or any other platform that allows for "click through." They do not work on Facebook.)

Look beyond Facebook. While there's no denying its paradigm-shifting impact on social media and personal relationships, Facebook is highly saturated -- to the point where some analysts reported decreases in overall usage and app downloads in 2012.

That doesn't mean you should shun Facebook, of course -- it's often the first choice for social searches. But you can also consider outlets that may provide a better fit for your services via a smaller, but more influential, audience.

• For example, LinkedIn is the world's largest business network for a reason -- it's highly credible, deep platform for making connections. If you are targeting B2B (business to business), some relevant connections from LinkedIn could put you in touch with influential people who may not otherwise pay attention to Facebook pages.
• If you have B2C (business to consumer) goals and a product or service that is highly image-driven, Pinterest (which recently transitioned from invitation-only to all-access) draws millions of hits daily -- particularly from women, who make up nearly 60 percent of its audience.

Find advocates. Most advocates of social media tips would agree: few marketing tactics enhance credibility like kudos from impartial third-party source. Satisfied customers, industry awards and good reviews boost your profile and are easy to link from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social sites.
You can go the extra mile by finding brand advocate -- people who promote your products or services, but who are not on your payroll. Your best customer, for example, can star in a blog interview or host a how-to on YouTube. Such tactics would not only boost your credibility, they practically guarantee that the customer will be sharing the content on his networks.

Be a mensch. Not every message on your social site needs to be tied to sales. A company that reaches out to its community or the world at large is often seen as credible and trustworthy. Use your media to publicize worthy causes; then put your money where your tweets are by donating products, services or money and encouraging others to do the same.

Want to get more personal? "Like" and share great posts from your customers' pages, or those from your community.

Social Media Tips Can Work for You to Drive Links and Traffic
Yesterday's marketing tactics have been largely eclipsed by inbound marketing, which reflects the way consumers behave today. Getting the most from social media will help you make your mark in this wide-open environment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7495113

4 Simple Ideas For Getting the Most Out Of Social Media Marketing

Everyone is talking about Social Media these days and rightly so because social media marketing can help you gain a following and hence customers for your company. A study by Manta showed that 42% of small businesses said that 25% of their new customers came from social media sites. The tips that follow will help you start your journey towards being a social media marketing professional.

1. What are your competitors doing
Keep an eye on all of your successful competitors' activities. Find them on social sites and note what specific methods and techniques that they are using. You can then either use a similar method or think of something outside the box to outperform them.

2. Localize your marketing
Remember not all your customers or locations are the same so go the extra step by localizing your marketing. Learn something about your different audiences and countries, then specifically target those markets.with relevant information, offers etc The unique aspect will make the customers feel a connection and return more than once.

3. Interaction is king
It's called social media for a reason so make sure you post regularly. More importantly than that though is that you always answer every single comment left on your Facebook page. This also includes negative feedback. If people feel like what they have to say matters to your company, then they are much more likely to buy into your products and your brand. Always get back to customers as quickly as you possibly can.
If appropriate, comment on their blogs or Facebook status i.e. make sure people feel part of a community not just a constant sales pitch.

4. Don't neglect YouTube
Often people just focus on Facebook and Twitter but there are many more sites that are beneficial e.g. Pinterest and Google plus to name but two. However whatever you do make sure that you use YouTube as it is a great way to attract visitors to your site.Watching your video content should familiarize them with your products and services, also it makes them feel like they know you. If they feel they know you then they will trust you more and people are more likely to buy off people they know and trust. Not only that but videos are well known to convert prospects to customers at a better rate than the written word.
As was already stated, your business or product can do very well when you do some marketing through social media. The tips in this article will help you increase business profits using social media as part of your marketing approach but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

As always the biggest challenge with managing your social media campaign is time. Keeping your social media accounts "living" requires time ad expertise, so lots of people outsource this activity. I would suggest you only do this once you are sure that the campaigns will actually bring business into your organisation. The chances are that if done correctly they will.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7491694