Ex3 Café

New Facebook E-Mail Reply Feature

The caption below is an example of a new feature recently added to Facebook:

New Feature: Reply to this email to comment on this photo.

To see the comment thread, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?photo.php&pid=73845693&id=1299573645&mid=4FDD234234GEADFGA

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

In short, this new feature enables the user to reply to a post via e-mail if the post was originally sent to the user via e-mail.  This is convenient if the user is on a cell phone and it's cumbersome --or not possible-- to launch a mobile web browser on the phone to reply to the post.

This seems to be just the "digital glue" that Greg Cangialosi speaks of in the presentation below:

View more presentations from Greg Cangialosi.

This begs the question.... Is e-mail dead or is it simply taking on a new role in the context of social media?

Top 10 Marketing & Tech. Articles for 2009

Every few days, I scan a select number of marketing and technology blogs and news sites for interesting articles.  These articles (I believe) highlight the latest-and-greatest in marketing news, technologies, insights and methodologies. 

When I come across an interesting article, I bookmark the article in Delicious (a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages).  Then --via the power of RSS-- I re-broadcast the recent articles I've selected on my blog, my website and various other social networking sites I have set up.

Here's the link to Ex3 Cafe Delicious site which contains all of the bookmarks I've saved to-date:  http://delicious.com/Ex3Cafe.  To take things a step further, I've listed the articles from the Ex3 Cafe Delicious site most bookmarked by other Delicious users:

• #10:  Social Media Marketers Declare Success

• #09:  Executives and Social Media

• #08:  Marketers Embrace Twitter over Facebook

• #07:  US Twitter Usage Surpasses Earlier Estimates

• #06:  Banner Ads: Beyond the Click

• #05:  How People Share Online Video

• #04:  Who Uses Social Networks?

• #03:  Using Social Media Strategically

• #02:  The Social Data Revolution(s)

• #01:  Social Network Marketing Expands Sphere

Surprise, surprise.... social networking is in all but one of the articles above.

Now, let me be the first to say that this poll is in no way scientific.  I think it does give us a glimpse though into what the hot marketing topic was for 2009.  It will be interesting to see what the hot marketing topic is a year from now.

P.S.
Being that this will be my last blog post for 2009, I want to wish all of you a happy, healthy and effective/efficient marketing New Year.

A Big Group Hug with the IT Department

Over the last few years, the Marketing department has grown steadily dependent on the IT department.  This has occurred because Marketing is increasingly leveraging systems (managed by the IT department) to streamline marketing effectiveness and increase marketing efficiencies. 

As a result of this dependency on the IT department, Marketing (more than ever) needs to maintain strong ties with its IT counterpart.  This can be achieved by:

• Taking your IT team out for a group lunch or other group outing (formal or informal) to strengthen the relationship between the two groups.
  
  
• Educating your IT team on the business impact of their efforts.  This could be accomplished by scheduling educational meetings with the IT department to demonstrate how their efforts translate into business value.  In this instance a little bit of time spent, on the part of the business, can go a long way.

• Rewarding your IT department for a job well done.  Free tee-shirts, marketing trinkets, special outings all fit the bill for a job well done.  The point is that you consciously reward your IT team for a job well done.

Marketing's reliance on the IT department will only increase with time.  So the sooner you engage the IT department in a positive and constructive way, the better.

Instant Coffee - Revolutionary?

 

Yesterday, Starbucks formally launched a new product called Via™.  In short, the product is high-end, instant coffee (i.e. poor in "microground" coffee, add water, stir and voila).  What caught my eye is that Starbucks marketed this new product—in part—as "revolutionary."  I thought this was a bit of a stretch, since instant coffee has been around for over 100 years.  Now granted, the instant coffee of "the past" didn't taste all that great, but to market this new instant coffee as "revolutionary" I thought was a little over the top.  I even think to market this product as evolutionary is stretching it a bit, but that's just my opinion.

This product announcement made me stop and think about recent marketing innovations that may have been mischaracterized as "revolutionary" including:

• Inbound Marketing:  Per one of my earlier blog posts.  Inbound marketing focuses on creating and publishing content that "draws people in" to learn more about your company and its offerings.  The primary channels for inbound marketing include, blogs, SEO, social media...etc.  While the term inbound marketing and the communication channels are relatively new, the concept of inbound marketing has been known for years as "pull marketing" (i.e. in push versus pull marketing).
  
  
• Viral Marketing:  This is another marketing concept that has been in existence for years (previously known as referral-based or word of mouth marketing).  Remember the slogan, "You tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on...."  Like inbound marketing though, the communication channels have changed to distribute the message but the underlying concept remains pretty much the same.

• Data Analytics:  Previously referred to as data mining, machine learning, information discovery...etc. the terms and technologies have changed over the time but the underlying concepts and methods have remained virtually the same.

In short, the next time you hear about something marketed as "revolutionary," be suspicious, as it's likely an old idea—with a few minor tweaks—repackaged as something new.  Wait, that's what marketing is isn't it?

P.S.
I actually tried Starbucks Via™ and it was pretty good.  I still wouldn't characterize it as "revolutionary" though. :-)

Facebook Not All Things For All Businesses?

Like many businesses today, I too have a Facebook Page.  I must admit though, I primarily have the page to demonstrate that I’m "in the know" about the latest and greatest marketing tools.  I also have the page to distribute the latest posts from my blog to those who actively use Facebook.  In this case, whenever I publish a new blog post, the title, date and first paragraph are automatically posted to my Facebook fan page.  This publishing/syndication strategy enables me to reach the largest possible audience with the least amount of time and effort expended.

I never realized the true value of having a Facebook business account though until I helped some friends set up Facebook account for their new retail toy store in my local downtown.  The store focuses primarily on the art of performing and left brain type activities.  In addition to selling high quality toys, the store also has a stage where regular, live performances are made including:  music performances, magic, puppet shows, story telling..etc.

What struck me most about helping my friends set up their Facebook account was how relevant and integral many of the Facebook features were to their business.  Some of these features include:

• Event information, notification and registration
• Special offer alerts
  
• Discussion boards
• Photo and video sharing of key events
• Related groups (including associated downtown business groups, local community groups...etc.)
  

Now granted, I'm not currently sponsoring any marketing events nor am I facilitating any discussion topics on my Facebook page, but after setting up the Facebook site for my friends' business and seeing the success of their site (versus my site) I wonder if Facebook is simply more effective for some businesses versus others.  Thoughts/Comments?