[ Update: a recent experience brings this into even sharper focus ]
Social Media.
What comes to mind? Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, MySpace, Buzz... For most of us, 'email' doesn't come to mind. We rarely think of it. Some of us remember the days of cc:Mail, Lotus Notes, Novell Groupwise, and still use some of them. So prevalent and utilitarian, we rarely think about thinking about it. It's a commodity we use so regularly, so intuitively, it's nearly invisible to us (uh, except for the spam). The rise of stable, easy-to-use web browser-based email systems has contributed to the ubiquity and omniscience of email. And we rarely give it a second thought.
Give it a second thought, right now: Email is among the very first and still among the most powerful social media and social networking resources on the planet...
There. I said it. Boom. Let it sink in for second or two: Email is major social networking and social media mojo.
A little context might help take it in. Remember the first time you received a file attached to an email? Something other than your boss or co-worker passing along a Word file or a spreadsheet? Maybe it was a picture of someone's baby, or their dog, or a couple of recipes for Waldorf salad and green bean caserole. The very next thing to cross your mind may have been along the lines of: 'I've got to share this with...' Whereupon you looked at your small (and soon-to-be growing) contact list and reached out to folks, passing the tidbit along, sharing what you'd just discovered in your Inbox, maybe even adding some of your own insight, some additional inspiration, a memory, or maybe just a little comment along with it: 'Hey, just saw this and thought of...'
Very social, indeed. Even the incessant forwarding of comics, jokes, prayers, chain letters, coupons, and now even video clips and games. We do it all the time, we're an active part of the most common online social networking space known to man, and most of the time we never even consider it. Here's the rub: fast forward from nostalgia-land and the magical WayBack Machine to today, and the need to use email effectively as a business and communications marketing tool. Seems to require gaining a set of completely foreign skills or expending an unseemly amount of money. There are so many email blasters you can buy into, upload lists upon list of email addresses - even buy lists upon lists - so many options, colors, times, technical bits, creative bits. All a bit overwhelming, and now you're feeling maybe a little less yourself and more like an 'email marketer', and who wants that? Well, besides email marketers, that is.
Ahh, how easily we forget... If you're passionate enough about what you do to want to continue sharing it with the world, email should be among the four cornerstones forming the foundation of your modern marketing efforts. There are plenty of free trials - even entirely free plans, I use one myself - and lots of information out there. And if you find yourself getting overwhelmed by it all, or feeling kind of slimy like you're almost a spammer, remember your passion and your voice, and forget about all the bells and whistles. Scribble down what you want to say, and then empower that message with the best resources you can: a good writer, a whiz-bang designer, a drop-dead simple yet powerful email blasting service.
And remember, email's the first and still most powerful social medium that's so rarely - yet so easily - well done.
What comes to mind? Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, MySpace, Buzz... For most of us, 'email' doesn't come to mind. We rarely think of it. Some of us remember the days of cc:Mail, Lotus Notes, Novell Groupwise, and still use some of them. So prevalent and utilitarian, we rarely think about thinking about it. It's a commodity we use so regularly, so intuitively, it's nearly invisible to us (uh, except for the spam). The rise of stable, easy-to-use web browser-based email systems has contributed to the ubiquity and omniscience of email. And we rarely give it a second thought.
Give it a second thought, right now: Email is among the very first and still among the most powerful social media and social networking resources on the planet...
There. I said it. Boom. Let it sink in for second or two: Email is major social networking and social media mojo.
A little context might help take it in. Remember the first time you received a file attached to an email? Something other than your boss or co-worker passing along a Word file or a spreadsheet? Maybe it was a picture of someone's baby, or their dog, or a couple of recipes for Waldorf salad and green bean caserole. The very next thing to cross your mind may have been along the lines of: 'I've got to share this with...' Whereupon you looked at your small (and soon-to-be growing) contact list and reached out to folks, passing the tidbit along, sharing what you'd just discovered in your Inbox, maybe even adding some of your own insight, some additional inspiration, a memory, or maybe just a little comment along with it: 'Hey, just saw this and thought of...'
Very social, indeed. Even the incessant forwarding of comics, jokes, prayers, chain letters, coupons, and now even video clips and games. We do it all the time, we're an active part of the most common online social networking space known to man, and most of the time we never even consider it. Here's the rub: fast forward from nostalgia-land and the magical WayBack Machine to today, and the need to use email effectively as a business and communications marketing tool. Seems to require gaining a set of completely foreign skills or expending an unseemly amount of money. There are so many email blasters you can buy into, upload lists upon list of email addresses - even buy lists upon lists - so many options, colors, times, technical bits, creative bits. All a bit overwhelming, and now you're feeling maybe a little less yourself and more like an 'email marketer', and who wants that? Well, besides email marketers, that is.
Ahh, how easily we forget... If you're passionate enough about what you do to want to continue sharing it with the world, email should be among the four cornerstones forming the foundation of your modern marketing efforts. There are plenty of free trials - even entirely free plans, I use one myself - and lots of information out there. And if you find yourself getting overwhelmed by it all, or feeling kind of slimy like you're almost a spammer, remember your passion and your voice, and forget about all the bells and whistles. Scribble down what you want to say, and then empower that message with the best resources you can: a good writer, a whiz-bang designer, a drop-dead simple yet powerful email blasting service.
And remember, email's the first and still most powerful social medium that's so rarely - yet so easily - well done.
Posted via email from thinblog
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