I recently returned from the second annual Email Evolution Conference (EEC), where presentations, panel discussions and personal conversations showed that marketers are beginning to understand how email and social networking can work together to better engage with customers and prospects.

Many sessions touched on the growing importance of social media—going where your customers are—and integrating email into a company's social marketing efforts. To underscore this, many attendees were posting live Tweets (updates on Twitter) under their employers’ Twitter brands.

Social media is clearly exploding like nothing the marketing world has seen in years, probably since the Internet explosion itself. Email will not disappear anytime soon, but the growth in social media adoption does provide both challenges and opportunities for email marketers.

Are Your Emails 'Shareworthy'?

So, what does it all mean for you? To start with, you should look at the emails you send in a new light: Are they "shareworthy”?

In other words, does your email content encourage your subscribers to share your emails with their tribes (friends, family or peers) on their social networks?

Ever since Silverpop went live in 2008 with its "Share-to-Social" function, which lets email subscribers post email content on their social networks, I've been thinking about what actually motivates someone to share content.

My latest Email Insider column, "Are Your Emails 'Shareworthy'?" outlines six reasons that people share:

• They want to contribute to the conversation.
• Sharing serves their self-interest.
• They want to help others.
• Sharing validates their self-worth.
• Sharing with likeminded people makes them feel part of a community.
• Sharing prurient or shocking material makes them feel less guilt at gawking.

Once you understand why people share, you can tailor your content around the attributes you think would prompt people to post your emails to their networks.

Factors That Contribute to 'Shareworthiness'

However, you can't just count on appealing to your subscribers' altruistic or ego-feeding natures to have your emails shared. Your emails must also address these key factors:

• Trustworthiness that makes a subscriber willing to attach his or her personal brand to your content
• Tribal interests, e.g. what "tribes," or interest groups, comprise your list and what motivates them
• Simplicity of message
• Ease of sharing
• Social adoption and acumen of your subscribers
• Obvious value for the sharer and shares
• Rewards or incentives that tap into reasons why people share
• Well-written, timely and relevant content

I go into more detail in my current Email Insider column, "Are Your Emails 'Shareworthy'?" Watch for a follow-up post with advice on creating emails that your subscribers will want to forward, post and tweet. In the meantime, feel free to post your comments below or mention emails that had truly "shareworthy" content.

Posted by Loren McDonald at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As customers become increasingly inundated with more and more messages from more and more communications channels, marketers will have to tighten up their messages to ensure they connect with recipients.

As discussed in my recent blog on value proposition, focusing on the three "p's" can help ensure that you engage your customers. Conveying a distinctive personality via copy, images and design is one way to differentiate your messages. Also, your emails should clearly articulate your value proposition (the specific value provided to subscribers) and your positioning (how your emails are positioned relative to your competitors). Otherwise, you risk developing unfocused content that can frustrate readers.

Positioning

Once you know your value proposition, you have to make sure your newsletter expresses it through positioning, which helps you distinguish your email program from your competition.

All the elements you use in your email program will support your position: email name, promotion efforts, design and content, even frequency.

Suppose your email promotes one great travel deal a day from across the Internet. Do the email name, design, length and copy reinforce that positioning?

A bland "Travel News" says nothing, but "Your Daily Getaway Deal" tells readers how often the emails comes (daily), your market (travel) and your value prop (bargain hunting). Even "Your" makes the email slightly more personal if you don't personalize your emails.

Other elements that promote positioning:

• Value proposition: As discussed above, the core value proposition of your email program should drive how it's positioned uniquely from competing offerings.
• Email design: A short daily newsletter should package key content on one screen. A comprehensive or in-depth newsletter with a mix of editorial content should include navigation to various points in the message, including destinations "below the fold" or in the bottom half of the message.

  Ideally, this all flows from your Web design, because you don't want readers to see a big disconnect between your Web site's look and feel and that of your email.

• Frequency: Are your competitors sending out a detailed and monthly newsletter? Perhaps there's an opportunity for your company to stand apart with a short, easier-to-read weekly approach?
• Personality and voice: Your emails, including ecommerce and promotional emails, should have a distinctive voice, attitude or a point of view to help you stand out. (See earlier post on Personality.)

Posted by Loren McDonald at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)