With all the activity around social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, some marketers might be wondering how to use these hot channels effectively along with their existing email marketing efforts. On the surface, email and social media together might seem redundant, as they both [>>]]]> Guest post written by Jason Meserve, content developer at Constant Contact

With all the activity around social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, some marketers might be wondering how to use these hot channels effectively along with their existing email marketing efforts. On the surface, email and social media together might seem redundant, as they both can be used to reach large groups of people. However, the two can work together to help you build your email list and acquire new customer prospects more quickly and efficiently.

The easiest way for a business or organization to use email and social media in a complementary fashion is to promote the existence of all the touch points available to customers and members. For those with a healthy email list who are just getting started with social media marketing, you can send a special mailing to your subscriber base asking them to “Like” you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. Also, make sure every outgoing newsletter or communication includes links to your social media sites so recipients, particularly new ones, know where they can connect with you online.

On the flip side, if your company is just getting a newsletter effort started, but has a large social media following, you can direct fans and followers to sign up for your newsletter. If you’re a Constant Contact customer, you can do this easily on Facebook by adding the Join My Mailing List App to your page—the app allows fans to sign up for your list without leaving the Facebook experience. On Twitter, you can link to your mailing list sign-up form.

Granted, it’s not as easy as posting the sign-up link on your social media sites, then sitting back as the email addresses flow in. You have to give people a reason to sign up. One way to do this is to post a short teaser about an upcoming newsletter on your social media site. For instance, a restaurant that features recipes in each newsletter could post the following to its Facebook and/or Twitter feed: “We’ve got a hot new chili recipe in this week’s newsletter. Sign up now!” Of course, the message should include a link to the sign-up form. This gives potential subscribers a taste of what’s to come and gives them a reason to join your list now.

The email/social media integration doesn’t end there. You can use social media to extend the reach of your email campaigns beyond the original subscriber list. Many email marketing services, including Constant Contact, offer ways to add Tweet, Like and other social sharing buttons to your outgoing email messages. When you do, your recipients can easily share your messages with their social graph through the click of a button. Social media extends the reach of your original message and does it more quickly.

As the sender you, too, can—and should—tweet and share links to the Web version of your email campaign via social media so those not yet on your mailing list can see what they’re missing. For marketers who are short on time (and who isn’t?), this is a great way to leverage a single piece of content (your newsletter) across multiple channels.

There’s another benefit to having your Twitter followers and Facebook fans join your email list: You don’t own your contacts on Twitter and Facebook. If those sites were to go away tomorrow, your reach would go away, too. But you DO own your email list and you’re free to move it between email services.

The tips above mainly focus on Twitter and Facebook, since they have the largest number of users and the widest adoption (Facebook alone has more than 500 million active users), but there are more than two social networks out there. Many B2B companies take advantage of LinkedIn, while Foursquare offers retailers, restaurants and other brick-and-mortar businesses an easy way to reward loyal customers who “check in” online. And there are many, many more.

So how do you know which sites your customers are using? Ask them in your next newsletter. It all comes full circle.

As the former CEO of Tesla Motors and one of the company’s two founders, I was asked by a friend at Tendo–who worked alongside me at Tesla–to highlight the significance of blogging in the launch of my company and in the unveiling of the 100% electric Tesla Roadster.

First, a little background. Marc Tarpenning and [>>]]]>

As the former CEO of Tesla Motors and one of the company’s two founders, I was asked by a friend at Tendo–who worked alongside me at Tesla–to highlight the significance of blogging in the launch of my company and in the unveiling of the 100% electric Tesla Roadster.

First, a little background. Marc Tarpenning and I launched Tesla Motors in July 2003 and managed to keep a low profile, operating in stealth mode until our first prototype was unveiled three years later in July 2006 at the now famous Santa Monica launch (click here for a timeline of Tesla Motors).

In the early days, there was tremendous competitive risk in allowing information out ahead of the car’s unveiling. For this reason, we made a concerted effort to fly under the radar and maintain as a low a profile as possible. When we finally unveiled the car, we knew there would be questions. In fact, we knew that simply taking the wraps off the car would promote both a groundswell of enthusiasm as well as skepticism around a broad range of topics-political social, economic, technical, and everything in between.

We saw tackling these questions as not only an opportunity to sell the concept of a 100% electric sport car with a premium price tag attached, but also, and more importantly, to show rather than tell how we were different from big, established car companies-namely, by making ourselves accessible to the public, not just select industry insiders. Internally, we considered this approach “managed transparency,” recognizing that while we couldn’t share every nuance, we should and would strive to be as open as possible in an effort to build trust and establish a dialog about the merits of our program. My first blog post, “Attitude,” went up as the car was revealed; it announced to the world not only what we were trying to accomplish, but also why.

“Attitude” went on to log 631 responses, and I followed it up a week later with “Lotus Position,” which further elaborated on the whos, hows, and whys of Tesla Motors.

While it’s challenging making broad generalizations about how and why companies should blog, I can personally attest to the following:

Blogging promotes transparency and builds credibility

Simply put, a blog is a conversation. In the arsenal of marketing tools, it’s the most cost effective and it’s among the few that allows for an exchange of ideas. In the world of automobile manufacturers, the notion that a car maker would actually be interested in hearing what car buys think was then, and largely to this day remains, an anomaly. Consider the tenor of current automotive bailout proposals and how differently these may be perceived if automotive manufacturers made an effort to encourage and support dialog about what consumers would like to see in future models and how they would like to see bailout money used for the domestic manufacturers to remain competitive.

Of course, for blogging to ring true, it needs to be more than an exercise kept up for the sake of appearance. At Tesla, we began with my blog, which provided direct access to the company’s co-founder and CEO. From there, we expanded into a multi-channel approach until we had separate blogs for marketing/sales, engineering, and notable thought leaders/customers. So whether people had questions about the design of a component, the marketing of the Roadster, or what motivated folks to submit deposits, they could expect a straight answer right from the horse’s mouth.

Earning trust and respect is a big deal for start-ups, but established companies have just as much to gain from doing the simplest thing in the world: engaging their customers in a conversation.

Bloggers need a voice

Before I got to Tesla, I learned an important message. At NuvoMedia, I realized that it was far better to present myself, the CEO and spokesperson of the company, as human: speaking with my own voice, occasionally ruffling feathers, and occasionally apologizing for sticking my foot in my mouth. In contrast, the CEO of my competitor always employed his marketing department to finely craft his public remarks, which were smooth but bland. They lacked conviction.

This became obvious when we were both invited to participate in a live Web meeting, where eBook fans could ask us written questions and we would answer in writing online. I would bet good money that his marketing team was right there with him, and they collectively crafted his fine, bland answers. I wouldn’t let my marketing people in the room while I was doing this event. Sometimes I could hear them screaming outside my door at whatever I had just written; sometimes they applauded. But my responses were pure Martin, and the readers knew it. And this definitely resonated with the participants, who overwhelmingly scored my performance as the best.

I think people confuse the importance of the two root words in “spokesperson.” I think the most important aspect is to be an actual person. This lesson was very much in mind as I began speaking as the voice of Tesla Motors.

Blogging is the ultimate real-time focus group

The notion of “crowd sourcing” is really just a fancy Web 2.0 word for reaching out to the online community with a simple question and getting feedback. While identifying “target consumers” as part of market research has been a mainstay of product development for eons, focus groups only work so far as the members are really assembled and handled in a way that allows them to remain representative stand-ins for a broader community of folks on the outside. With crowd sourcing, there is an opportunity to have a direct feedback loop with select members of the community. For example, if I wanted to know how to best serve prospective customers in getting charging stations installed at their homes, I would also need to know how much electrical capacity their homes have. I found that the best and quickest way to get an answer is simply to ask them.

This approach provides real world results, and it sets up a dynamic where customers feel like their input matters (and in this case, it most definitely did).

Blogging supports team building

After years of toiling in relative secrecy/obscurity on a project we collectively knew would turn the automotive world on its head, there was no bigger sense of wonder and encouragement than the feedback we received once the project was unveiled. Part of sharing in that experience was giving team leaders and company supporters a voice by actively encouraging them to blog about what they were up to and what they’d learned along the way. Based on experience, this principle applies at most companies. When members of the development team get recognition for their hard work and insights, and occasionally challenged on these very same areas, it fosters a sense of commitment and common purpose that no amount of traditional advertising or PR could ever hope to accomplish.

Blogging is the single most efficient tool for reaching mainstream media

While we disseminated and tracked traditional press releases at Tesla alongside our online activity, we made a point of reaching out to our customers first-ahead of the press-in a private forum whenever we had new exciting news to share about the company or car. In many cases, we had relationships with key bloggers that were the next in line for key pieces of info after customer had received it. With customers and the blogosphere pretty well covered, the significance of traditional press releases was greatly diminished. Interestingly, as measured both by volume and coverage, more of the mainstream press pieces that covered Tesla Motors and the Tesla Roadster originated from information first announced among customers and on forums/blogs than we ever saw as the result of press releases. The benefit to us was that we could get more info out quicker, and we generally received more meaningful press coverage than a traditional wire release could ever provide. A big part of this was that since blogs and forums are inherently egalitarian (and, in large part, anonymous), the press could grab content from us any time they pleased; in fact, there was an urgency to break stories quickly and to provide substantive coverage because once a story broke on the Web, it was out there for all to see. If something wasn’t clear or required further clarification, the press, like anyone else, could ask questions and expect immediate feedback.

A big part of what set Tesla apart from traditional auto manufacturers was as much about our approach to interacting with the car buying public as it was the car itself. For companies looking to forge a stronger, more meaningful relationship with their constituents and spend their marketing effort where it counts, a commitment to blogging and other forms of online dialog is an investment that is hard to match.

Martin Eberhard is the former CEO and founder (along with Marc Tarpenning) of Tesla Motors, the manufacturer of the revolutionary 100% electric Tesla Roadster and forthcoming Type S sedan. Eberhard previously founded NuvoMedia and invented the Rocket eBook, a handheld electronic book and a secure Web-based distribution system that allowed readers to purchase and download books from online bookstores for the first time ever.  Eberhard also founded Network Computing Devices, where he served as chief engineer.

Martin Luther had [>>]]]> The concept of jargon reached new levels of importance last week when it was elevated from boardroom to courtroom. Fed up with inaccessible language within its system, Britain’s local government association (LGA) put its foot down. No longer tolerated are the terms taxonomy, re-baselining, mainstreaming, holistic governance, contestability, predictors of beaconicity—and 194 more.

Martin Luther had 95 Theses; the LGA has 200 terms to avoid. And they’re doing more than nailing them to a church door—they’re making policy out of them, banning them entirely from official use.

“The public sector must not hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases. Why do we have to have ‘coterminous, stakeholder engagement’ when we could just ‘talk to people’ instead? . . .” said LGA Chairman Margaret Eaton in an official press release. “Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax they pay. People would be furious if they have no idea of what services their cash is paying for and how they should get to use them.”

It only makes sense. The best way to reach people is through plain language, and the antithesis of plain language is jargon. Jargon can certainly be clever and catchy—heck, Tendo devotes an entire feature to it each month—but it can also be confusing and cumbersome.

It’s a good lesson for marketers. Jargon can be great when talking to other marketers who actually speak the language. But when trying to communicate with your target audience, there’s little point in presenting the air of faux legitimacy that jargon can instill, especially if it obscures the message you’re ultimately trying to get across.

As the saying goes, if it’s good enough for government work . . .

The airline also has a differentiator that is less concrete, but equally powerful–style.

Virgin America’s site looks [>>]]]> Virgin America has a lot going for it in terms of differentiation from other airlines. Personalized entertainment systems and power outlets at each seat, generous legroom, tinted windows, leather upholstery. . . and mood lighting! And all at affordable rates.

The airline also has a differentiator that is less concrete, but equally powerful–style.

Virgin America’s site looks and functions more like a microsite of its parent, Virgin Atlantic. But that’s OK. It includes everything it needs to carry over the same branding established by Virgin, and nothing more. In fact, it’s the perfect balance of functionality and flash. And while the site is light on copy, the brand voice still comes through loud and clear.

BRAVO

The Virgin America site does a great job of communicating the values of its parent company–style and fun with a bit of cheek–through its use of voice, tone, and visual imagery.

Much of the site includes a lot of white space. But rather than being spare, it makes room for the tone and imagery to pop. For example, the home page is limited to a few functional options, like searching for flights or checking in, a rotating Flash banner front and center, and a few promotional items on the right side, like a sign-up button for the loyalty program.

This could be boring, but the short, punchy copy combined with the red and white color palette is exciting and keeps your eye moving around the page. It also makes it easy to find what you’re looking for because there’s no visual clutter, allowing the copy (and consequently, the brand voice) to stand out.

The copy throughout the site is equally limited and focused on providing information first, but also takes advantage of opportunities for a little fun. For example, the site refers to its customer service team as “Question Answerers.”

The visual imagery of the site is limited to stylish, well-lit photos of the plane’s interior amenities (that mood lighting sure is great!) and some entertaining Flash animation. The “Our Difference” page explains features of the custom-designed seating with an interactive diagram floating on slightly undulating little clouds. And the connectivity options are explained with an interactive game in which you connect the cords to their corresponding outlets.

TRY AGAIN

We really didn’t see much to fault in the site. The copy in the sidebar on the member rewards page could be a little more succinct, but nothing detracted from the customer experience.

The copy and the imagery focus on supporting the brand’s primary message: These are cool planes that are fun to ride in. The site is cute and not overly serious, but it still provides the information and functionality required to accomplish tasks with ease. Well done, Virgin.