Social media like blogs and peer reviews are gaining influence, and marketers avoiding these newly emerging channels risk losing business, according to Forrester’s Shar VanBoskirk.
However, e-mail may provide an entry point into so-called social computing that marketers can feel comfortable with, said a recent report by the analyst.
“Firms need not be aggressive adopters of emerging media to embrace social computing,” said the report.
For one thing, marketers should “listen” to their customers, according to VanBoskirk. “The fundamental shift of social computing is that marketers must participate in communities with their customers instead of simply pushing them product or promotional information,” her report said.
For example, the report recommended giving registrants power over content, format and frequency of the e-mail messages they receive.
It also recommended adding so-called social media features, such as polls, surveys, message boards and testimonials to outbound e-mail.
VanBoskirk also recommended humanizing the often-impersonal e-mail experience. For example, online ticket merchant StubHub.com improved its registration conversion rate by 500% by adding a message from its CEO, pictures and testimonials from users and customer ratings and peer recommendations, the report said.
“If approached with a conversational, community focus, e-mail marketing programs can provide a familiar medium through which to inaugurate you company into social computing,” said the report.
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