That depends. If your Facebook status updates or Twitter feeds consist of updates on the color of your tie or links to the latest laughing baby video, it won't.

To succeed with social media you must first consider what you can offer your "followers" that they will consider valuable. For instance -

• If you are in foodservice, post exclusive specials to your Facebook page or send your Twitter followers a great lunch deal an hour or two before noon.
• If you sell merchandise, social media is a great place to feature closeouts, one of a kinds, etc.
• If you sell a service, make your followers the first to know about software upgrades, accounting law changes, etc. AND remind them when it is time to start thinking about your services - tax time approaching, spring AC service, etc.

To build your "following" let people know "what's in it for me" when you ask them to be a Facebook fan or a Twitter follower. Promote it on your website, at point of sale, in newsletters and on print advertisements as "Facebook Fans get exclusive deals...." or "Follow us on Twitter and be the first to know about..."

For a great case study, check out a recent Advertising Age article on Starbucks.

If you think you have something to offer your customers or prospects through social media and need help getting started, give us a call.

Sincerely,
Jim Gawley
VP eMedia, ForbesAMG
Phone: 973-601-8110
jim@forbesamg.com

• Trendy consumers who care about "what's hot and what's not" are heavy retail email subscribers. They're looking to save money on stylish items, but also subscribe for new product information. Style-savvy retailers are responding with clever content angles, including exclusive invitations to shop time-limited sales, editor picks, featured products, top-rated items, new ways to shop, social networking tie-ins, ways to wear and finds under a certain price, reported DMnews. Read More

• Time spent with personal email as of fall 2009 was even with the prior year, based on data from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle. Nearly three-quarters of respondents spent at least 20 minutes a week emailing friends and family. Merkle also found that social network users check their inboxes more frequently than those who shun social sites, reported eMarketer. Read More

• Under its revised plan to cut mail delivery to five days a week, the U.S. Postal Service would eliminate delivery to street addresses and some processing on Saturday, but it would not close post offices. The plan requires Congressional action to be enacted, reported DMnews. Read More

• The Postal Service released final "droop" regulations that give small newspapers a break but are otherwise full of problems for mailers of catalogs, magazines and other flat mail, reported ROI. The rules, which are to be fully implemented Oct. 3, will be an especially hard blow to tabloid-sized publications and to skinny magazines, catalogs and retail flyers. And they might prove to be a hindrance for co-mail operations – which postal officials have touted as an ideal way to reduce both mailers' and Postal Service costs. The regulations will impose a significant penalty on mail that fails a new flats deflection test, commonly referred to as the droop test, which is supposed to determine whether mail is well suited to the Postal Service's sortation equipment. Read More

• To build your brand you should communicate what you and your brand are all about through the power of stories. A recent ROI article offers two ways that a story can help you reach and retain your customers. Read More

CASE STUDIES
The Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus Pine Council (GSACPC) utilized a multi-channel campaign which featured a variable data mailing with personalized URLS to cultivate new donors who might participate in an upcoming capital campaign. The results were impressive -

• Total response of 8.2% with unique individual response of 4.9%.
• 31% of respondents (47 people) made a donation
• Increased average donation from $50 to $250
• Collected 87 referrals from "refer a friend" function
Click here for more information and samples of the mail pieces.

For Pleasant Valley Business Solutions (PVBS), a monthly enewsletter has been key to staying in touch with prospective and current customers. But "High-Growth Government Contractor News" provides only a bare minimum of information about PVBS's wares. In fact, the bulk of the content is written not by PVBS but by its "partners" - other companies that, like PVBS, sell to government contractors, reported Direct. Read More

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