These days you can't move for people talking about twitter, linkedIn, facebook, blogs and email marketing. Everybody's having a go...
Celebrities tweet about their every movement, lobbyists leak info about and draw attention to suppressed official documents and people involve complete strangers in their lives. If you're not involved yet, that's fine, but there is a new world of two-way engagement emerging which you need to embrace now before you get left too far behind – especially if you have an important message.
Although it was not hugely scientific, our research into this subject indicates that the number 1 reason why organisations don't take the plunge is Fear. This was closely followed by a perceived 'lack of time' (although we believe this is also related to the lack of belief by business owners that you really can get a solid return on investment from the activity.)
Here are 5 reasons why you need to get emarketing today
1) The world is moving online - Magazines, newspapers, music, radio podcasts and TV included. Consider your own behaviour, when you look for information where do you look? I bet you automatically "google it" - your customers are exactly the same! If we googled your core business subject today - where would you come in the ranking list and what other references would there be to drive people to your doorstep rather than other causes and third sector organisations?
2) There are billions of websites so if you want yours to be found, then you need to draw people to it. Google's algorithm is complex and a closely guarded secret, however we do know that links back to your site from blogs and other respected sites will boost your google rankings.
3) Your customers & supporters will choose how they want to connect with you. We sent an invitation to users via twitter and some people chose to come back to us via facebook. It's their choice! They choose how they interact with us, so as organizations, we need to make it easy for them to communicate and engage with us how they want to.
4) Your customers are busy people. They don't have the time to research and read up on what you are doing so they stick with what they know - which is what they have experienced to date and what they have heard from you. By communicating with them directly by email, you have massive potential to get a clear and relevant message to them at the push of a button.
5) The majority of decision makers google looking for information about you other than your official website. It is now more essential than ever that you actively manage your ‘online reputation’, even as a social economy organisation. It is your responsibility to watch and monitor what people are saying about you and to actively manage it in order to ensure that you are making the right impression.
The world of communication is changing, along with how we interact with our fiends, colleagues, businesses and organisations. We are far more curious about who we are engaged with, especially now we have access to a lot of information about them at our fingertips.
Employers google prospective employees as a standard measure now. Just by looking at their online interactions, they can get a measure of their prospective employee before they even meet them. The same is true of people looking to engage with your organisation and unfortunately, just being silent and with nothing to say is not good enough. That speaks volumes in itself!
Whilst the actual applications Twittter, Facebook, bebo, MySpace, LinkedIn etc. along with email marketing & blogging software will evolve over time, the one thing that is here to stay is our thirst for knowledge about who we are dealing with and the wish to interact with them on our terms. Indeed the need to interact with brands and organisations will only grow as the technology evolves to allow us to get more involved. If there is ever a simple message, it is that now is the time to dip your toe into the water and get involved!
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