'Net Features : icontact

Email Insights for Small & Mid-Sized Businesses

Allison Howen — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:05:00 GMT

A new report from iContact is shedding light on how small and mid-sized businesses use email as a marketing strategy.

The Small and Midsize Business Email Marketing Survey 2013 Report, which was commissioned by iContact and was conducted by Edge Research, reveals email is still among the most popular digital marketing strategies. In fact, the report found that 56 percent of businesses plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2013. On average, businesses currently spend 15 percent of their marketing budget on email.

Moreover, the report found that businesses are more likely to integrate email and social activities than any other marketing channel. Sixty-four percent of businesses, for example, coordinate their email marketing with their social marketing strategies.

“Email marketing has been and remains a primary marketing lever for businesses,” said Vice President of Digital and eCommerce Marketing, Geoff Alexander. “Social media and other marketing channels have only increased the effectiveness of email marketing.”

Additional insights from the report found that 92 percent of businesses use email to share information about new products and services, while only 72 percent use email to advertise sales and promotions. Furthermore, the study offered some valuable information on subscriber numbers, revealing that most businesses (62%) have email lists of 10,000 or fewer subscribers – with the median list size being about 3,500 subscribers. That being said, 24 percent of small and mid-sized businesses have 1,000 or fewer subscribers, while 21 percent have more than 10,000 subscribers.

Social Media Tips from the Republican Party

Allison Howen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:30:00 GMT

There is finally something that the Democrats and Republicans can agree on – social media is an essential marketing strategy.

Originally, it was President Obama who put social media on the political map during his campaign to the White House in 2008. However, since then, other politicians have taken note of the effectiveness social media marketing can have on campaigns, and therefore have emphasized it in their own campaigns.

A new study from iContact reveals new insights from the social media strategies of the Republican primary presidential candidates. These candidates are using social media to share messages, empower voters and raise money. However, these same strategies can also be applied to to small businesses that should be using social media to engage their followers, promote their brands and increase sales.

Facebook still reigns supreme. Even in politics, Facebook is the king of social networks. Across the board, the largest amount of followers and engagement for the candidates came from the world’s most popular social network.

Small businesses tip: Facebook is still the most popular social platform, and is the best option for small businesses to reach out to customers and prospects.

Quality is more important than Quantity. Although Mitt Romney had the highest number of Facebook fans, his Facebook fan engagement ranked the lowest at 8.97 percent. And to further prove the point that quantity isn’t everything, Rick Santorum had one of the lowest numbers of Facebook followers, but had the highest engagement level at 50.42 percent.

Small business tip: If the social media follower number is high but the engagement is low, it may be time to reevaluate the content and platform being used in order to ensure that your brand’s message and content resonates with your audience.

Social media + email = success. The candidates have all incorporated these two powerhouse marketing strategies into their campaigns, and made it easy for fans and followers to subscribe to both channels for constant updates about their campaigns.

Small business tip: Don’t forget about email. Although social media is the popular new kid in the marketing world, email has most likely been your faithful friend for a while now. Social is good for sharing content and having discussions, but email can create long-term customers and conversions.

We are a visual world, use pictures (or videos). Much of the content on Romney’s social networks includes photos and videos from events, speeches and commercials. It helps him convey his message in a unique way, and capture his followers’ attention. Also, Ron Paul utilizes his campaign’s YouTube channel to upload videos, and has accumulated more than 7 million clicks.

Small business tip: Attract attention in the newsfeed! Utilize eye-catching content like photos and videos, which can increase engagement and more easily go viral (which means more visibility for your business!)

Nothing is more important than quality content. Newt Gingrich has the highest number of Twitter followers, with 1.38 million. Not only does he tweet often, but the content he provides seems to be what his audience wants to read.

Small business tip: Providing your audience with quality content is still the most important aspect of publishing items onto social networks. When possible, keep content relevant, engaging, fun and insightful – because it will leave your audience wanting more.

To Google+ or not to Google+? That is the question, but the answer you get will greatly depend on who you are asking. Both Romney and Gingrich have integrated this new social network into their social media strategies. But, a recent iContact survey revealed that 48 percent of small businesses love Google+, while the other 52 percent still weren’t convinced.

Small business tip: Website Magazine says, “To Google+.” Although this social network isn’t quite the Facebook killer that some thought it would be, it is still an important social channel. Furthermore, it may prove beneficial for small businesses to become early adopters of Google+, especially as the site grows and adds more features for businesses.

Social is a must-have marketing strategy. Campaign budgets don’t matter when it comes to social media, because all candidates realize that social media is a key investment for their success. Not only is this marketing strategy cost-effective, but it also engages audiences and ensures that the desired content reaches the right people.

Small business tip: There is a small business strategy to fit your business no matter what your budget is. It is important to set goals for your social media strategy, such as strengthening your brand, generating sales or acquiring contacts. Then, it is important to monitor these goals through metrics such as followers, fans, likes, retweets or other engagement scores. This way your business will know exactly what your ROI is.

Email Service Providers Become Social-Ready

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:00:00 GMT

One of the benefits of using an email service provider is that the best vendors help support your subscriber acquisition efforts.

ESP’s typically do this by providing Web forms. Content submitted through this forms is then piped from the website collecting the information into the database being stored at the ESP. With the influx of attention around social media however, email service providers are increasingly offering their clients a means to do at least some of this necessary acquisition legwork on popular social media sites – namely Facebook.

To date, most of the work done with “social” on the part of email service providers has revolved around SWYN (Share With Your Network) features which give the ability to post a notice on Facebook and Twitter about the most recent newsletter/email sent, and hope that it gets shared by users. That’s useful but there are other ways to use social media for the sake of email – again, in terms of recipient acquisition.

Email marketing software provider AWeber has been the most recent entrant in the cause to leverage social for the good of email. Users of the service can now enable the Facebook registration feature which automatically prefills a prospective subscriber’s information (name and email) into a Web form, as long as they are logged into the social network.

While the Aweber feature could lower the barriers to acquisition marketers should consider the trust and privacy implications for users who may question the rather aggressive approach.

Website Magazine looked into what other email marketing software and service vendors are doing to support the increasing interest in using social to drive acquisition with email. iContact offers an integrated set of social media tools, including customizable, Facebook-ready sign-up forms, a means to add sharing buttons to emails and Facebook and Twitter publishing. ConstantContact is another that obviously recognizes the role social is playing in email success. It’s Join My Mailing List application, which was launched in late 2009, enables marketers to collect email addresses on their Facebook brand pages. Another of my recommended ESP’s, GetResponse, doesn't offer a Facebook form for subscriptions but does provide an import tool dubbed List Booster which enables email marketers to upload email lists from mail clients or other services, including LinkedIn.

There are of course many others email marketing service providers which offer social sharing features – too many to mention. Collecting subscribers through is only one benefit from being at the intersection of email and social. With the rich data that comes from social interaction, email marketers are also now empowered with an ability to approach those most influential to their success.

One of the problems email marketers have encountered is in understanding who their most influential subscribers are – something which could prove very useful. A new solution from email marketing provider BlueHortnet Networks, dubbed Social Influencers Strategy Blueprint, could be the answer. The solution offers marketers the ability to identify members of their subscriber email list who actively share email content across their personal social networks, segment those subscriber based on their social sharing behavior, and send them targeted email to further motivate social sharing activity. By being able to connect with “influencers”, marketers also have an ability to attract more loyal users, buyers, and subscribers.

What other innovations as an email marketers are you seeing today? And what social media features does your email service provider offer? Share your comments below with other Website Magazine readers!

Make Stronger Social Interactions with iContact

Allison Howen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:15:00 GMT

By now we all know that social media is an integral part of online marketing, but sometimes this marketing avenue can lack for small- and medium-sized businesses that don’t have the time nor resources to keep up with its demands.

A solution may have arrived from email marketing provider iContact, which is now offering an all-in-one digital marketing platform. The solution enables businesses to directly publish, schedule and track social media marketing on Facebook and Twitter, either as a stand-alone campaign or integrated with an email campaign.

“Social networks continue to grow and transform business communications, yet businesses have lacked the insight and capabilities to utilize these channels to their full potential,” says Jeff Revoy, chief product and marketing officer at iContact. “iContact’s new social media marketing solution provides valuable insight into which channels, content and messages resonate most with key audiences. We are providing the foundation for businesses to have more meaningful social media interactions with their customers and constituents.”

Through the iContact solution, businesses can publish without logging onto Twitter or Facebook, monitor social analytics such as likes, comments, clicks and retweets, as well as schedule posts to be sent out at various times of the day.

The new solution is currently available to the public, and the company also offers a free trial.

New Social Tools from iContact

Linc Wonham — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:30:00 GMT

Email marketing firm iContact has introduced the latest version in its growing line of social media marketing solutions. I Contact Social Tools gives small and medium-sized businesses a powerful and effective means to reach existing and new customers through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

The upgraded version of iContact Social Tools builds on the foundation established earlier in the year when the company started blending email marketing and social media marketing into a single conversation focused on small business success. Following are a few of the expanded features and functionalities:

• Social Tools Tracking – Users can insert, edit and track Like and Tweet buttons in every message for recipients to easily share with their friends, colleagues or followers on Facebook and Twitter. This feature splits up the tracking of Likes and Tweets by source so marketers can see how the numbers break down across viewers coming in from Facebook posts, Twitter posts, direct email recipients and other third-party sources.

• Facebook Like Buttons – Contacts can now “like” a vendor’s emails from their inboxes to further extend their reach.

• Tweet Buttons – Users can add a tweet button and contacts can tweet from anywhere in the message.

“It is easy to share information with friends on Facebook,” says Chris Regalado, revenue manager for Miami’s Beacon Hotel, which uses Facebook to encourage fans and previous guests to sign-up for its email list and take advantage of promotions for future visits. “We have found that incorporating social media with email makes each approach more powerful, and helps us expand our marketing efforts and grow our brand awareness. iContact’s Social Media tools are very straightforward to use, and we can see great results in a short period of time.”

iContact Launches Free Email Marketing Tools

Linc Wonham — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Leading email and social marketing firm iContact is launching a no-cost version of its flagship product that will better enable Web professionals, community organizations and small businesses without large budgets to communicate with their subscribers and fans via email, Facebook and Twitter.

The iContact Free Edition allows individuals and businesses with subscriber lists of 500 or less to manage a contact database, send out emails and social media messages, track the opens, clicks and social views and conduct surveys. Features of the free edition include the following:

•    Email creation, sending and tracking capabilities for up to 500 subscribers and 24 designer templates for effective, eye-catching messages.
•    Social media integration with Facebook and Twitter that allows users to create and share links to their email communications from within the application.
•    Compatibility with iPhone and Android mobile apps that allows users to manage contacts, access and send messages, and view detailed tracking reports, all in real time.
•    Built-in survey tool that enables users to easily create questions and choose a response type, such as text box, radio button, drop-down menu or selector.

To learn more about the free edition, visit iContact or take a look at the company’s blog post announcing the details of the launch.

Five New Apps for Web Pro's on Force.com

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:43:00 GMT

The interest in SalesForce.com's AppExchange never ceases to amaze me. New applications are added frequently, so if you're a SalesForce user and responsible for improving the user experience as well as the efficiency of your own business and marketing efforts, keeping up to date with new releases on Force.com is a smart move.

Below are five recently released (last 45 days or so) applications for Web professionals available to SalesForce.com users (these apps are mostly paid by the way) with a few alternatives thrown in for good measure:

ExactShip: This paid app helps to streamline operations for Internet retailers by managing all shipping from a single packing & shipping solution designed for high volume fulfillment. Supports all major US parcel carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS & DHL) & more than 3000 LTL/TL freight carriers. Also see FedEx and UPS.

iContact: Email marketing with iContact for Salesforce allows you to create, send and track relevant and targeted email marketing without the need to learn a new application. This is a paid application bu there is no per-user fee. The app also provides results on messaging performance. See also the apps from Vertical Response, ExactTarget, Marketo and BlastWizard.

Bime: A BI application with some impressive visualization capabilities that mixes data from cloud and on-premise sources, allowing for the analysis of all data in one place. The app enables users to take data from SQL databases, Excel spreadsheets, and XML webservices and manipulate it to form predictive models. Also see GoodData Analytics and Sales Pipe Insight.

SalesForce for Google Adwords: Allows online marketers to track Google advertising campaigns and website lead generation activity. If you're looking to more deeply integrate and balance paid advertising insights with your CRM, this paid app (which is included with all SalesForce editions) is one to use. Search Marketers may also be interested in SEO for Salesforce and HubSpot Inbound Marketing Software.

Great Wave Surveys: A solid feedback management application to gather, analyze, and distribute customer feedback. The paid, fully native application enables users to receive real-time responses and utilize standard security permissions to control user access to feedback channel. Also see Timba, Survey Force, ClickTools and FormAssembly.

Email-Social Segmentation Simplified

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:51:00 GMT

Kudos to email and social media mavens for realizing that two great mediums work perfectly well together and that one will not (or should not) entirely replace the other.

There seems to be lots of evidence to support this. GetResponse.com's "Email Marketing and Social Media Integration Report" showed that e-mail marketing messages with a social sharing option generate 30 percent higher click-through rates. According to an aWeber survey (also released this week) a majority (77%) of small businesses indicate that integrating email marketing and social media is either "very important" or "somewhat important".

There is clearly a lot of activity happening in the space and you would be wise to jump on the bandwagon. Fortunately, some very savvy ESPs are providing resources and tools to make the leap less scary and more beneficial.

Email marketing service provider iContact announced a partnership with social marketing platform FlowTown today. The integration will allow iContact users to segment their subscribers based on their social web use. iContact users can now segment any subscriber list by age group, gender, location and social network.

“In the past, sending targeted email was very expensive and only available to the Fortune 500,” commented Ethan Bloch, co-founder of Flowtown. “The Flowtown and iContact integration will enable anyone to segment their lists more effectively and increase open and click rates by sending more targeted email.”

iContact and JitterJam Partner for Social Media Marketing

Linc Wonham — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:40:00 GMT

JitterJam has just enhanced its multi-channel social marketing software platform through a new partnership with industry-leading e-mail marketing services provider iContact. The collaboration brings iContact’s proven tools for impactful e-mail marketing campaigns to JitterJam’s unique set of social and mobile engagement features, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to effectively communicate with customers through the channels they prefer most.

In addition to the new e-mail marketing integration with iContact, JitterJam’s social marketing platform includes monitoring and engagement through Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed, mobile marketing through a native text messaging campaign tool, multi-channel message and campaign creation, scheduling and measurement, and much more in one versatile platform. The partnership will also help current iContact customers expand their own marketing outreach to the real-time Web seamlessly and without having another silo of customer data.

The iContact integration is available now within the JitterJam platform, and a free trial can be found at www.jitterjam.com.

iContact API Challenge Winners

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:06:00 GMT

Email marketing service iContact announced the winners of their API Challenge, a contest for partners and customers of iContact that asked them to build an integration between third party applications and iContact.

The 1st place winner, who was given a cash prize of $5,000, was James Jeffrey of Mosquito Designs for his Drupal Integration. “I created the iContact module for Drupal to make it easier for users on a Drupal site to subscribe to iContact newsletters,” he explained. The Drupal application integration is also able to manage iContact accounts, client folders and contacts.

2nd place was given to JoomlaShack, a team of designers, developers and technicians in the Joomla community, which came up with J!Contact. They received $2,000 cash. Barrie North, a user and designer of J!Contact explained: “We have been long-time fans of iContact. We built a component called J!Contact that leverages the new iContact API to integrate Joomla registration with iContact, and uses best industry opt-in practices to do so. We also gave it away for free!”

Preation, creators of the Eden Platform, took 3rd place with their iContact event source tool They received $1,000 cash. “Eden Platform is a website optimization system for small businesses,” said Lee Eason, Lead Software Architect for Preation. “Our clients trust us to simplify the process of website maintenance and search engine optimization so that they can do these things entirely on their own. We integrated Eden Platform with iContact so that our customers could see how their email marketing messages affect traffic to their website. By bringing all of this data together in Eden Platform we’re able to provide our customers with this valuable information directly on their website dashboard.”

There were also two honorable mentions in the contest: Email by Designs which created Wumpus Challenge- a play-by-email turn based game and Stephen Eley for his Ruby on Rails Wrapper integration. Each received a $500 cash prize.

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.