Social Email Marketing: Email for the Generations #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. In this session, we learned how to use social tactics to trigger responses from the Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials effectively.
I loved this presentation, not only because it was packed with useful marketing information, but also because I learned a bit about myself. I had no idea that I was Generation Y and not Generation X. I enjoyed hearing the characteristics of people in these generations and thinking about people I know who follow the characteristics to a T! The speaker was:
- Jennifer Neeley Lindsay, Host of The A-List on Blog Talk Radio (@jennifered)
Bullet Point Review!
- Characteristics of Millennials (born between 1977 and 1994):
- Real Time communication is key.
- Visually oriented.
- Need immediate gratification.
- Friends=family (they make decisions in groups).
- Share information they consider valuable easily.
- Most likely brand advocates.
- Empathetic.
- Calls to Action for Millennials:
- Prefer to share via text or Twitter.
- Impulse buyers.
- Will share deals as well as valuable content.
- Internet or mobile coupons are ideal.
- If you hit a sweet spot, they’ll create content for you.
- Characteristics of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1976):
- Time considered a precious commodity.
- Actively use Facebook, MySpace, Twitter.
- Shop and price compare online.
- Use email and text interchangeably.
- Self reliant & individualistic.
- Mistrust institutions.
- Calls to Action for Gen X:
- More than 80% text or email deals.
- Reduce their pressures of everyday life.
- Communicate ways to keep kids engaged.
- Deliver quick hit info.
- Help with their work/life balance.
- Characteristics of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964):
- They’re a squeeze generation, taking care of both their parents and their kids.
- 1/3 are actively online.
- Need to feel catered-to.
- Regular online shoppers and big spenders.
- Like spending recognition (rewards, points, etc.)
- Comfortable with email.
- Twitter is an untapped outlet.
- Calls to Action for Baby Boomers:
- Reach all of them.
- Cash back or savings programs.
- Up-sell areas of interest:
- Prescription medication
- Insurance
- Gifts for grandkids and kids
- Entertainment
- Travel
- Discount wines by the case
- Characteristics of the Greatest Generation (born before 1946):
- Value-oriented – want to discuss areas of interest.
- Spend most of their time online with email and message boards.
- Their Baby Boomer children influence their adoption of technology.
- Actually asking for more social features on their phones
- Calls to Action for the Greatest Generation:
- Emails & messages boards are good for targeted messages about senior discounts.
- Messages need to be in a large enough font size to be seen.
- Message about ways you cater to the age group.
There were some good questions after the presentation about the different email providers, such as AOL, Gmail, etc. She said that the different providers definitely cater to different generations with their levels of difficulty. Older folks tend to like the simplicity of things like AOL, wherase younger folks enjoy more optimization and personalization with Gmail. Link shorteners also matter – older generations are less likely to click a weird looking link (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc) whereas younger generations know what they are and are more likely to click.
Jennifer was kindly enough to put her awesome slideshow online, so check it out here:
Read MoreSocial Email Marketing: How to Use Rewards? #SMMSF
This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. Now that your email subject lines and user targeting have optimized your open rates, what’s next? In this session, Mani explored new ways to engage users with branded in-email polls, quizzes, social shares, and opt-ins.
I really got some good actionable tips from this session! I had never thought about some of this, though offering rewards and incentives for people to click through their emails seems like a no-brainer now. The speaker was:
Bullet Point Review!
- It’s a social world. It’s a real-time world.
- Smart email marketing engages users in their inbox.
- Remember your goals are to (1) Engage, (2) Qualify, (3) Convert.
- SMART Email Marketing
- Social
- Multi-channel
- Adaptive
- Real-time
- Template driven
- Increase user engagement with smart polls.
- Trigger social sharing with in-email smart quizzes.
- Social sharing jumped 33% when an incentive was offered.
- Keep polls and quizzes short, 3-5 questions.
Here’s Mani’s slide presentation:
Social Email Marketing: Concept of Email Social Media #SMMSF
This session was the keynote for the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. Unfortunately, I was a bit late and didn’t hear all of what Brian had to say, which is a shame. I know that he’s incredibly knowledgeable on this topic and I’ve heard him speak before and it was a treat. I did manage to take some notes for you though.
- Brian Solis, Principal, Futureworks (@BrianSolis)
Bullet Point Review!
- Content Context is King
- 1+1= Many
- Remember that ROI doesn’t mean Return on Ignorance.
- KISS = Keep it Simple Significant, Stupid & Sharable.
- You have to have a desired outcome and it has to be sharable.
- The new messaging value system:
- Connection
- Empathy
- Conversation
- Engagement
- Listening
- Adaptation
Overall, I wish I had more! But I have much more from the other speakers of that day. Stay tuned! Here’s Brian’s slide presentation:
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 38: Interviewing Niel Robertson of Trada
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A couple of hyper-caffeinated affiliate marketers (Mike Buechele) and (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more! We like this interview thing, so we’re continuing with it! This time, we’re talking to Niel Robertson, the CEO of Trada. Mike takes most of the lead, considering he’s actually using Trada and is really into PPC marketing lately. In in this episode we discuss:
- How Niel got started in internet marketing.
- What Trada does and how PPC affiliate marketers can make money there.
- All users must use their real name – so we discuss anonymity.
- Trada celebrated their second birthday last week.
Want to catch up with us & ask questions for the next show? Find us on Twitter: @AMF_Podcast, @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn. Like us on Facebook! You can also ask Trisha questions through FormSpring.me. Or leave us a comment!
Check out this video on how Trada works:
Read MoreWhatever Happened To Class?
I’m going to rant on about something that happened at Affiliate Summit East, and I know I’m not the first and probably not the last. Credit where credit is due… I owe the rants of Karen Garcia (I’m sorry…why are you here?) and Jen Goode (Professional events and sexual harassment, when did that become ok?) to remind me why this kind of thing isn’t right. And make me feel the need to write something about it.
So, if you weren’t there, heres the gist – a network decided to hire two girls in very small bikinis to promote a new network that’s starting soon. It’s actually appropriate consider that the concept of the network, apparently, is that they only hire female affiliate managers who look good in bikinis and will be talking to affiliates while wearing said bikinis. And this genius idea has been dubbed – wait for it = Bikini Babes Network. SIGH. At least, that’s all these “representatives” could tell people since the CEO didn’t make it to the show because of some travel/customs issues.
First of all, it’s insulting. It’s insulting to every woman working in our industry. Whether or not you look good in a bikini, it’s degrading to know that someone gave you business just because of your body and not because you’re good at what you do. It devalues them as a person. I hate to speak ill of fellow women that I don’t even know and pass judgment, but I’d assume that the women agreeing to work for this network are in dire straights in terms of needing the job. I’d personally sooner work at a retail register than be hired based on my appearance alone. Or, they’re not bright enough to realize what a joke this is, which means they probably won’t be taking home Affiliate Manager of the Year trophies any time soon.
As I walked around one day during the conference, the bikini babes in question were loitering near a booth featuring a Ducati motorcycle in their booth area. I say loitering, because these women knew nothing of affiliate marketing or the rest of the conference, and didn’t actually have a booth of their own to post in, so they were wandering around distracting others. I was not surprised to walk by and witness no less than 5 men attempting to talk the girls into sitting on the Ducati so they could get a picture. They scrambled to get a camera, and finally ended up with some dude’s iPhone. Was this picture for their website? Probably not. Did it have anything to do with business? Absolutely not. I was distinctly witnessing a male adolescent fantasy in action. And if felt dirty.
Besides being insulting, it’s inappropriate. While Affiliate Summit does not enforce a dress code, they do suggest business casual as the way to go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting this on Affiliate Summit in any way considering they had no way of knowing in advance the company’s marketing tactic. However, It’s my opinion that people need to remember that their companies are sending them to this conference to drive business, not to gawk at bikini babes. If everyone else remained professional and ignored these women, companies would stop using them and we could all go back to civilized working conferences. What affiliate would take this kind of network seriously and decide to work with them? I can only imagine anyone working with them might try the network out of sheer morbid curiosity. Otherwise, they’re not an affiliate I necessarily care to work with if the lure of bikini clad affiliate managers honestly drew them in.
There have been issues with “booth babes” at the conferences in the past. The first show I went to, Affiliate Summit East 2007, some legitimate employees from one merchant company dressed as naughty, goth school girls – highly inappropriate considering their product was a reading learning system for children! And almost every conference in Las Vegas features some kind of showgirl on loan or naughty nurses asking people to enter to win a Hummer (the car, not… the other thing). A lot of people defend these kinds of attention-getting antics as “par for the course” or claim these babes can sell anything (as probably proven by beer commercials around the world). But should they?
It seems there’s always a backlash afterward, and many affiliates elect not to partner with such companies that attempt fleshy stunts to gain attention. Reputable affiliates, the ones that are most likely to make a company money, chose ethics over babes and go with the merchants, networks, and other vendors that take their businesses seriously and don’t jump to sell using sex. Case in point – I haven’t seen the company whose employees dressed as goth school girls exhibit at an Affiliate Summit since, yet their company still exists. People remember. Do you remember what the naughty nurses were selling along with entering to win a car? Me neither… I’m fairly sure the company doesn’t exist. And by January and Affiliate Summit West 2011, most people will probably laugh off the Bikini Babes Network as another flash-in-the-pan CPA network that quickly went the way of the dodo (if they ever actually launch).
Here’s the moral of my story, folks. If you’re going to do something attention getting for your business, do it with class. Inject some wit, and style, and people will remember you positively. That’s how you gain attention for your business and leave an indelible, positive impression with someone. Stay classy, businesses.
BTW… Class from Chicago is a great song, and it’s where I stole my headline from.
Read MoreASE10 Tuesday Keynote: Jim Kukral
Tuesday of Affiliate Summit started off with good-natured shenanigans to set Jim Kukral at ease for his first keynote speech. Jim just wrote an awesome book, Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue
So a few minutes before Jim’s keynote, we meet up in the blogger lounge to pick out our capes and get ready to storm the keynote. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Hilton, Jim’s looking out into a crowd of unfamiliar faces & cursing his affiliate super friends for not being in the audience. His nerves are building, despite his experience speaking before, as this is his first keynote.
We finally enter and file into tables front and center that our minions reserved for us. There we were… in full hilarious view for Jim. A smile crept across his face, and he opened his keynote with words that were never truer, “It’s good to have friends.”
Aside from the shenanigans, Jim killed it in his keynote. He had great tips, motivating the laziest of us to get off our asses and be DOERS!
Bullet Point Review!
- Conceive + ask/take a shot = make it happen.
- Do!
- Get in the idea mindset.
- Carry a notebook.
- Forget everything.
- Combine ideas.
- Listen.
- Do the opposite.
- Make a list.
- Free your mind.
- If you want to be remarkable, you need to do something remarkable.
- Never show effort.
- A lot of people don’t value what they’re good at.
- Is your ego holding you back from making money?
- Create a reaction in people with great ideas – you know an idea is good when you get a reaction.
- DeBeers sells “forever”. Nike sells “winning”. You might not sell what you think you sell.
Remember, no office is complete without my motivational poster of Jim (photo courtesy of Brad Crooks)
