Are you eschewing the basics to focus on social media?
At two recent conferences where I spoke (Online Marketing Summit and Email Evolutions) there were several discussions about the confluence of email and social media.
Thinking about email and social media concurrently is healthy – and appropriate. Both are best used as customer retention and brand loyalty tactics more so than for first-time acquisition. And ultimately, good email and good social media are both mechanisms for authentic, relevant conversations between the brand and is customers.
But I have mixed feelings about the buzz around social media, a growing cacophony to which email marketers are not immune.
Sure, social media is sexy and new(ish) and all the rage among the mainstream business press. But you should not be worrying much about social media until you and your company have the old school stuff dialed in 100%.
There are WAY too many companies out there sending irrelevant, annoying, batch-and-blast emails of increasing desperation and decreasing effectiveness. There are WAY too many companies out there that still take 48 hours to respond to an email requesting help or support. Are you suggesting that those companies should now monitor social media conversations and respond in real-time? Puhleeze.
Before you go crazy drinking the social media punch, take a hard look at your company and the customer experience you’re providing at retail, on the phone, via email, and at all other touch points.
Let’s commit to successful blocking and tackling before we fully embrace the social media high wire act, okay?
(photo by hellosputnik)
About Jay Baer
[...] Baer talked about the danger of putting the cart before the horse – he cautions us to focus on the basics before jumping into the “sexy and new(ish)” rage [...]