Altaf Shaikh

It’s always great to get “press” but when 2010′s #1 Most Influential Person in Sales Lead Management, Mac McIntosh looks to you for advice, tips, and insight — and then shares your thoughts on his blog, well, then that’s just awesome!

Recently, Mac approached me to give my Top 3 Tips for Email in this modern age of emarketing, social media, and new media. You can read my responses, here on his blog: http://www.sales-lead-insights.com/2011/b2b-email-tips/

Do you have any additional thoughts that you would add? Have you found these to be true, or do you have other “tried and true” secrets you’re willing to share? Let us know, and I hope that this post can be a resource to you as you plan out your email and online marketing efforts now, and in the future.

Thanks,

Altaf

To learn more about Mac McIntosh, visit his website here.

Not everyone who uses a computer at work all day knows how to code HTML, and it isn’t like our public schools are planning to include a “PHP, Java, and Advanced Devlopment” course in place of Phys-Ed class anytime soon. So, for a business who wants to participate in Content Creation and Inbound Marketing to their website, what’s a non-techie to do?

Well, there are plenty of great content-creation tools that stir up some SEO-juice along the way without a single lick of code, and here are the best 3 Codeless Content Creation Tools Out There … AND if you can take the extra step of linking these 3 resources together via RSS feeds (no code required) then you’re doing even better. Finally, if you can invest a few dollars into hiring someone to link these resources to your website (or getting someone internal to do it) then you’ve basically given your entire brand an often-updating facelift and a new lease on life.

1. Twitter.com – obviously you’ve heard of it, but do you know how easy it is to set up? If you’ve ever been frustrated that your static website just couldn’t express a single revelation or announcement that your company had EVER, think again. A Twitter account can be opened and up and running (with pretty logos/graphics) in less than five minutes. From here you can share content, update followers about events or seminars, and provide information must faster than you could ever get someone to update your site.

2. Facebook Groups – all you need to do is login, upload a photo, and request friends to join your group and it’s done. Announcements are as easy as hitting the “return” key, and users who might otherwise not go to your website daily now hear from your brand multiple times a week.

3. A Blog* – A blog requires some baby steps to get the maximum benefit out of it, but if you just want to set one up and start sharing your thoughts, then a simple platform like WordPress.com is super easy and the best way to go. All you need to do is define a URL for your blog, and you can be posting to it a few seconds later, e.g. YourBusinessHere.Wordpress.com.

That being said, the distinct benefit of a system like WordPress is twofold: it can be built easily, and it can morph into something much bigger and better down the road. Some small-to-medium sized businesses even use it as a template for their website: which means it can be easily managed and updates without any code – and it’s easy to include pieces from social giants like Facebook and Twitter as you go. The other great thing about WordPress is that you can eventually purchase your own domain for your blog, or fold it into your websites domain as well.

Once you have these 3 pieces set up, you’ve just laid a great foundation for future content marketing success. Sure, you can hire someone to update your website to include these new features, or you can convert your site into a WordPress blog, or spend money on making any of them look nicer… but at the onset as you “experiment” and try new ways to create content and share thoughts with your users – the only cost is the time you put in and the only skills you need are fingers and the internet, so why not give it a shot? It might just change the way you (content) market.

image: www.internetbillboards.com

April has been a busy month here at ListEngage, and we thought we’d take a moment to supply you with some “takeaways” that we’ve learned from this month: from time savers, to why location-based services do and don’t stick. Have a look at our Top 3 Takeaway articles from April 2011 – and feel free to share other great insights if you have them, too!


- Save Time on Your Emarketing Efforts in a Few Apps Per Day


- Location, Location, Location – Why Users Do & Don’t Use Location-Based Apps


- Increase Email Subscriptions with these 5 Quick Tips


Have an eMarketing question or dilemma? Drop us a line.

So now that you know Why No One Wants to Share Your Emails Socially from our post earlier this week, we’ve got some foolproof ideas to get your subscribers to actually start sharing your email marketing campaigns! Here are our Top 5 Suggestions for Making Your Emails more “Share Friendly”:

1) Share in Pieces: make sure there’s delineation between your pieces of content and let each separate piece be shareable. Odds are people will share a few paragraphs or an interesting article over an entire email on their social networks.

2) Show ‘Em WHAT and HOW They’re Sharing: most social subscribers understand the Facebook “Like” button, Facebook “Share” button and Twitter “Tweet” button. Even though there’s no Javascript allowed in emails – you can trick your emails into being able to host these functions. Get Code Here.

3) Make Your Email LOOK Social: Gone are the days of billboard marketing to your subscribers. Show them they’re a valuable part of the conversations by featuring their quotes in noticeable quote bubbles, highlighting “top users” (with their avatars of course!), and showing off the networks and conversations your brand has in the social-sphere. Think of the UI of popular social sites and try to take the best features, look/feel into your emails.

4) Prompt a Response: ask questions that will generate a response, make it look social and link it to a discussion on your blog, Twitter, or link to a YouTube video and ask for comments below the video – then include responses in your next mailing.

5) Embrace the Forwarding: Ok, so maybe there’s no way to check how many people just click forward in their email client, but take solace knowing that email was the first social medium and sometimes people do actually use it to share, connect, and comment in their own small networks. You might not be able to measure it, but it’s still happening!

Now go forth and get sharing!!!

Marketers have been talking about “Making Emails Social” for awhile now— but how many people are actually having success with this mantra? Even though today there are many ways to integrate sharing functions into email like – ShareThis, AddThis and Forward to a Friend, social–sharing still hasn’t hit its stride.

So, what’s the holdup that’s keeping people from clicking, sharing, forwarding and (ultimately) getting your brand in front of more people?

Here are the Top 5 Things that Keep a Subscriber from Sharing Emails Socially:

1) What the heck am I sharing? (Uncertainty) - If you’ve placed a “ShareThis” button in your email campaigns and aren’t seeing a lot of clicks and sharing, you might ask yourself – “do these people know what they are sharing?” – do you make it obvious with visual cues and an explanation?

2) Where does that link even go? (Skepticism/Confusion) – Your users might be leery if they’re unsure of what happens after they click a “Share” function. Will they have time to review it before it posts? What will it look like?

3) Who would I want to share this with? (Common Interests) – You are uniquely you and sometimes your interests are very specific. Odds are, many of your contacts might not be interested in the personalized and specific emails you get in your inbox every day… which brings us to our next question.

4) Why would I want to share this? (Motivation/Value) - Great, you’ve just digested an email with some goodies in it from one of your favorite brands… but unless it has really compelling content, value or an offer you’re not going to bring it to anyone’s attention on your social networks.

And most obviously there’s the question of:

5) Why don’t I just Forward this to them directly? (Ease of Use) - Most users want to expend the least amount of energy possible sharing their info… and sometimes a quick forward from your own address is best.

Stay tuned and find out how to get them to share your emails in our next blog post (coming later this week).

Just like dating, attracting prospects to your business’ social media campaigns can be a challenge. Though we’re sure you’re quite the real-life Cassanova, here are some suggestions when it comes to courting yourself some fine-looking social media prospects:

1. Don’t be a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (aka – be genuine): Just like you can spot a sleazebag from halfway across a crowded bar, social media users can totally see through a company just trying to play it cool to get fans and followers. Don’t lure them in with witty banter if you plan to BLAST them with marketing messages a week later. Instead, ask questions you generally want to know the answers to, run contests users will actually be interested in, and plan to engage, not broadcast.

2. Be prepared for the good… and the bad: When you put yourself out there, sometimes you get the Prince and sometimes you get the Frog. Some of your users will be smart, funny, and engaging while others might just want to criticize your company or product. Make sure you’ve got a plan to react to both types, and no… deleting unflattering comments doesn’t count as a solid plan (unless they’re flinging 4 letter words at you). Always think through your strategy before you put yourself/your brand out there.

3. Go to the right places: If your favorite Friday night activity is building model airplanes while listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony, you might not want to go out clubbing to meet your next soul mate. Seems simple, right? Well, the same thing is true about social media: as tough as it is to swallow, some businesses might not fit well on Facebook, for example, because they are just not that social. The takeaway is: know your audience and go where they are. If they don’t have a central meeting place, maybe creating a blog or forum will give them one!

4. Tell them how pretty they are: Ok, maybe that’s a little too creepy – but thank your fans, followers, and brand advocates! Make them feel like they get as much out of this relationship as you do, and make them feel special – with “members only” messaging, discounts, and “in the know” opportunities.

And if these suggestions don’t get you the hook-up, maybe lose the suspenders.

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We know you’ve got a lot to do this year – so rather than make you dig around all over the internet we created a digest of the 3 Best (Borrowed) Social Media Predictions for 2011 and we wanted to share:

1. What: Prediction #2 on Tim Feriss’ 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011 – “The full resurrection of email” Why: We were sick of people proclaiming “Email is Dead” in 2010 – and we’re looking for it to blend with social in ways you never imagined in 2011.

2. What: Prediction #3 from ReadWriteWeb’s 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011 – Mobile will become our Gateway to the World. Why: “There’s an App for that.” (and everything else on the planet)

3. What: Prediction #5 on Big Changes Coming in Social Media in 2011 – “We’ll reach a saturation point” Why: We will soon be even more bombarded with marketing messages from every corner of our lives: email, mobile, social, SMS, video & beyond. The possibilities are limitless – the only drawback is: will our subscribers, fans and followers ultimately feel bombarded? TBD in 2011…

Think you’ve got a better one? Share in the comments below, converse with us on Facebook, or Tweet at us. We’re listening!

Think you know everything there is to know about online marketing and email software? In Elementary School were you classified as a goody-two-shoes-know-it-all-teacher’s-pet? Do you take delight in finding answers to problems before anyone else – and then rubbing it in while singing nah-nah-nah-nah-boo-boo? Do you dominate all things HTML, CRM, and email marketing software? Do you get mad when stereotypes aren’t inclusive enough to contain “nerd” “prodigy” “quick on your feet” and “charismatic” under one umbrella? Then, let’s talk…

List Engage is a fast-paced, growing start-up email and social media marketing agency located in the Metro West area of Massachusetts. We are currently looking for a polished professional to join our team and take over the internal role of Implementation Consultant. Your job will be to lead clients through the set-up and “solutioning” of their accounts, as well as join and lead calls as part of an office-based project team. The ideal employee will be a hybrid business and technical consultant that works alongside our new clients as they transition into our email marketing software system. Responsibilities include: technical, marketing and business related requirements gathering and successful solution rollout.

Interested? Click here to read the essential duties and responsibilities. Once you’ve read over these if you think you’d be a great fit – go ahead and apply! Here are the details you’ll need:

What should you do to apply?
Please provide cover letter, resume, references, and salary requirements to: jobs@listengage.com by 1/1/11 – although position will be considered on a rolling basis.

Want to connect and learn more about us?
Follow us on Twitter @ListEngage
Become a fan on Facebook.com/ListEngage
Read this blog you’re on… yep, this one (ListEngage Blog)

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Over the past few Thanksgivings, if you’ve kept an eye on the “Trending Topics” on Twitter, you’ll notice that one of the biggest is “Tweetsgiving” a trending topic that started in 2008 (before most people had even heard of Twitter!) and is reproduced yearly to do 2 excellent things:

1. Allow people to express what they are grateful for followed by the hashtag #tweetsgiving
2. Raise funds for non-profit “Epic Change” to help build classrooms for children in need

This year, Epic Change plans to roll out an “Epic Thanks” campaign to coincide with Tweets/Thanksgiving – and since we’re thankful for our great success, our business, our co-workers, our friends and families, and our health – we thought we’d spread the word along and maybe give you some insight on how to join in on the “Social Thanks” this Thanksgiving. For more information on EpicThanks, visit http://www.EpicThanks.org

Wanna give Thanks Socially this Thanksgiving? Acts of thanks this Tweetsgiving can include:

Tell us how you plan to give thanks socially this Thanksgiving – by chatting us up @ListEngage or on our Facebook Page.

Admittedly, we’ve been urging (ok, harassing) our clients to get their marketing efforts online and moving with social networks, email, and blogs for the past few years, however, we’d also like to take a moment to just reflect on “good old fashion marketing”. That’s right, we’d like to suggest despite our love for HTML, landing pages, and pURLs that Offline Marketing isn’t just some hairbrained idea for old turkeys and people who still use a rotary phone.

The truth of the matter is that until the human race is completely pushed to our electronic limits with 24 hours a day of iPhones, mp3 players, laptops, e-readers, and the likes – we all have to, at some point during the day, look up! So why not:

• take that time to put your online marketing efforts on an offline print ad?
  
• use your company wheels as a rolling billboard? – foodcart or not, it’s “mobile advertising”, minus the smartphone
  
• tweak your business cards to include your facebook page or twitter profile?
  
• host a “tweetup” or “blog party” for people who share your business interests
  
• think outside the box: t-shirts with your @TwitterHandle on ‘em at conferences? QR code for a free burrito on a train advertisement? SMS campaign contest that starts with an advertisement at a sporting event? Stress balls with your cleverly named Industry Blog & URL at your next networking event? Yes, yes, yes and yes!

Have you been selling since birth? Did you ever ask to borrow things from your siblings just to sell their prized possesssions back to them days later? While growing up, did you often claim to be selling candy for local girl scout or boy scout troops, but were actually just pocketing the profits for your first Lamborghini at age 10? (Shame on you! Give that money back!)

Well, here at ListEngage we’re looking for someone who loves to sell and can handle the rigors of phone-calling, wheeling and/or dealing 5 days a week. The right candidate must be highly motivated, goal oriented and a team player willing to work in a fast paced and dynamic environment. This position has a major focus placed on outbound calling – and we’ll want you to meet goals along the way.

What do we expect?
• Make outbound phone calls to established leads.
• High volume prospecting for quality leads.
• Schedule on site visits and demonstrations.
• Proven history of developing qualified leads and meeting agreed-upon quotas.
• Strong interest in a selling role or previous sales experience.
• Comfortable conversing with executive business decision makers.
• Good technical aptitude, with the ability to learn quickly and adapt.
• Maintain a positive and consumer friendly attitude.
• Independent, self-motivated and success driven, yet able and willing to take direction
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Familiarity with databases and generic computer skills is a must.
• Reliable transportation.

- & Experience selling Email Marketing/Social Media solutions and services is a huge plus.

What should you do to apply?

Please provide cover letter, resume, references, and salary requirements to: jobs@listengage.com by 11/1/10 – although position will be considered on a rolling basis.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to a new study from PR firm Weber Shandwick, the majority of CEOs are not using social media to engage with the public and other stakeholders: 64% of the world’s top 50 companies to be exact.

The report “Socializing Your CEO: From (Un)Social to Social” (released last week) looked at the social media activities and presence of CEOs from the world’s top companies.

Among those CEOs profiled, 93 percent have been reaching out to people outside their companies in traditional ways. Though only 36 percent of the CEOs were found to engage with the public through their own corporate Web sites via podcasts, blogs, and YouTube channels or through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The study also found that the most admired CEOs had a greater online presence (41 percent) than those who were less admired (28 percent).

The question begs then, why aren’t more CEOs taking greater advantage of social media? I’m sure time, fear of making missteps, and lack of research (until now) surrounding the benefits of social are some of the hang-ups, but if you have thoughts of your own, take a second to post a comment below.

Although we hate to say “I told you so”… remember those blog posts we wrote a few weeks ago about businesses looking to acquire new leads in a bummed economy?

Acquiring Leads in a Ravenous Economy, Part 1 -Why you need ‘em, and why you shouldn’t buy ‘em in bulk.

Acquiring Leads in a Ravenous Economy, Part 2 - Where to get ‘em, and who to look to for help (hint: us).

Well, it seems we’re not the only ones who have picked up on the latest trend to hit big and small business alike: businesses are frantically looking for new, qualified leads who will eventually become great customers, and repeat buyers.

According to a new report by marketing consultancy Winterberry Group, U.S. marketers will more than double their annual spending on online-derived data sources over the next two years, investing as much as $840.0 million by 2012 on database lists and information about digital audiences and online behaviors. Holy smokes! Looks like you better get a leg-up on the competition and come talk to us before your prospects’ inboxes and Twitter feeds are @inundated by your competitors!

The report, “The Changing Mission of Marketing Data,” noted that U.S. marketers will gradually increase their spending on all marketing data, to $8.0 billion by 2012.

Winterberry said the greatest challenge for marketers is managing “integrated data,” including contact information from online resources together with traditional database management vendors, publishers and e-commerce platforms. (Oh boy, we couldn’t agree more! But we have great ways to help you cope with all your online channels, too, should you need it.)

So — what is your company doing to collect new data and leads? How are you managing all of your different marketing channels? And what’s your biggest challenge?

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just in case you haven’t read Part 1 of our 2 part blog series on Acquiring Better Leads in a Ravenous Economy, the gist of it was: Economy Bad. Marketing Budgets Microscopic. Businesses need new clients. Businesses wants lists. Not all lists are created equal; here are some things to consider before investing in lousy lists.

So what’s the best solution for businesses looking to expand their prospect databases in quality and not just quantity?

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

1) Go social! – with the right tools, ideas, and team you can monitor and grow your social media profiles and engage users in relevant discussions and with relevant offers. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or a niche site of your choice – the info is there and ready to grasp!

2) Wake the dead! – Don’t ever assume that a dead email address is a dead contact, or that a list with only partial contact information is worthless. Your contacts can be found on the web today even if they’ve switched companies , careers, or continents – and when you’ve given them years of great service, they’ll likely even be happy to hear from you when you find them!

3) Let them come to you – establish yourself on social media sites and discuss openly the topics that you are passionate about. Just like you are constantly looking for prospects you need online, potential clients are always looking for services that they need online and well. The more spaces that you converse in often, actively, and respectively – the more likely you are to find relevant leads that come to you!

Those are just a few “starter ideas” on how to get your brain buzzing on potential prospects and clients you didn’t even know you had! For more ideas – subscribe to our newsletter to the right of this post, follow our RSS feed, and keep in touch with ListEngage on Twitter and Facebook!

Here at ListEngage we think about this stuff all the time – and have a full-service team that specializes in email appends, data-mining, and matching the absolute best (opt-in) prospects with the absolute best permission-based marketers (aka – you!). Email us if you have any questions — or wanna talk shop.

For more information on our Data Mining services — including email and social media — visit our website here.

We’re not going to lie: since the market nearly flat-lined in 2008, we’ve seen a tremendous dip in the budgets of every client and prospect that we speak to across the board. For the small to medium sized businesses that survived the economic meltdown and have had to “get smart” with their limited marketing dollars – nothing is sexier than the prospect of new clients… and we couldn’t agree more.

The bottom line is: everyone wants new leads, so everyone needs new lists.

But businesses don’t want just ANY LIST– they want updated lists of cold prospects; pin-point specific opt-in lists; and potential customers who genuinely want what they are looking to sell.

Any business can go buy a few thousand names from Jigsaw and hit the “send” button in an email marketing platform – but the trouble lies in the quality of these lists (and the legality of them as well). We’ve almost always found that purchased lists leave businesses sorely disappointed and looking to point fingers, so we suggest that you look “bigger picture” than just a few thousand names and ask yourself:

• Do you plan to also engage these customers on relevant social networks? How will you find them?
  
• Do you have a strategy for when half your list is lousy (email appends) and the other half is irritated that they weren’t properly opted-in in the first place?
  
• Have you thought about your offline records much? Or your “dead” email addresses? Don’t you think these people are still out there?
  
• Are you willing to risk missing a possible new client just because their information changed?
  
• Have you thought long-term about your brand identity, email deliverability, and your “good name” as a business? What do these messy “batch and blast” processes mean for your bottom line?

Once you’ve thought these things over, keep an eye out for Part 2 of this series, which’ll give you some great ideas on where to find prospects and how to engage them!


Here at ListEngage we think about this stuff all the time – and have a full-service team that specializes in email appends, data-mining, and matching the absolute best (opt-in) prospects with the absolute best permission-based marketers (aka – you!). Part 2 of this series will be posted shortly, so keep an eye out… but in the meantime email, Facebook or Tweet us if you have any questions.

There’s been a lot of debate recently about the future of email: is it pushing forward stronger than ever or on the verge of extinction, about to be overrun by all-inclusive social networks?

As an e-marketing specialist, I find it hard to imagine the internet without email. No matter what you use email for, I believe that we, as online content consumers, will always need our inboxes to aggregate, create, organize, and search the hundreds of online data points we create daily as we navigate the web. Email is the only private online location where users can store and create content with very few limitations or restrictions. Where else can you manage your social networks, businesses, bills, family, friends, banks, job searches, and more in one location?

At ListEngage, we help our clients with email and social media marketing daily, so we see the benefits and drawbacks of each: email is a great relationship building tool but not a great prospect acquisition channel, while social media, if used intelligently, is ideal for prospect acquisition and qualification but lacks the “direct contact” that opt-in email does.

I’ve been really impressed with a company called Groupon lately, that seems to be using email and social media as a dynamic 1-2 punch for spreading their daily deals and messages. Click here to read more about the union of email and social media, and how Groupon is delivering a winning e-marketing TKO.

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Read full article

The search for the perfect Account Manager is over!

ListEngage hired Stefanie Uglevich last month, who came to us from The MathWorks in Natick, Ma– loaded with all the skills to strengthen our team and better serve our clients.

Stef’s a marketing wizard, who graduated from the University of South Florida with a BS in Marketing and Management – and comes equipped with some potent CRM, social media, and marketing skillz. Not only are we happy to have her on board, but we’re psyched for you folks to start working with her too! You can say hi to Stefanie on Twitter @ListEngage or on the ListEngage Facebook Page!

Think you’ve got the skills to plunge into the cutting edge world of online marketing head first? Were you born multitasking? Do you dominate all things HTML? Do you update your Facebook status in your sleep? Can you Tweet with your hands tied behind your back? If so, we’re gonna need to hear from you!

List Engage is growing rapidly and we are looking for talent to grow with us. We need an internet savvy Account Manager to maintain and grow several different accounts in the email marketing and social media space. This person must have excellent knowledge of online media including: email marketing platforms, blogging, social media account/page development, good email marketing and social media skills.

If you think you’re up for the challenge, take a look at our Job Description

Please email your resumes to: jobs@listengage.com

My good friend Dave Wieneke recently asked me to partake in a “discussion” on the ethics of ghostwriting in social media on his blog. The idea was to get a few different opinions from within the blogging and social media space, and to see where people’s opinions lay on this recently hot topic. Now, without giving anything away, the first thing that seems apparent about this topic is that people are generally either very “pro” social media ghostwriting or very “anti”.

Here’s what I had to say on the subject…

As an organization, when invited to work with a client, although we may not initially feel one way or another towards, let’s say, the medical device industry for example—we do feel strongly about the real-life people, friends, and partners that we support with our efforts. So, when a client asks us to engage their audience because they don’t have the expertise, the resources, or “bandwidth” to execute their social media strategy, we lend a hand.

In my mind, this new “digital ghostwriting push” is actually nothing new: popular brands have been doing it for years—via customer service “response” letters, pre-recorded phone calls, emails and direct mail pieces. This is just the latest version of busy people outsourcing their surplus work to others who they have trained and who they trust.

Do you think that Teddy Roosevelt (or any President for that matter) really replied to every letter he received during his time at the White House? Do you think that the Beatles really penned back responses to all their swooning teenage followers? Do you think that the President of Ford, Toyota, Coke, or (Fill in Big Corporation Here) always respond directly to letters, emails, or tweets that they receive? Do you “believe” that it is absolutely from them if it has their name on it?

Bottom line: the average person only has so much bandwidth with which to process and reply to the information coming at them—and if you’re @THE_REAL_SHAQ (a brand in and of himself), for example, there’s just no chance that you can reply to almost 3 millions followers’ messages and maintain any semblance of a life… yet someone is taking the time to reply to his fans every day…

Not only is it naive to assume that big names and small companies are executing 100% of their own Social Media—it’s also a bit silly to get offended if you find out otherwise.

Social media opens up avenues of conversations that customers and fans have never had before, but it also opens up the virtual floodgates to companies and people who are in the limelight, and if you don’t know how to manage this, don’t have the time, or the expertise—then you’re liable to get burned, unless you have the right (and properly trained) “support team” behind you.

I’ll even take it one step further in my argument and say that if you aren’t outsourcing this task to an internal team or someone externally that “gets it” – then you are actually doing a disservice to your audience and providing poor customer service. Most conversations with a brand don’t require a response directly from Oprah, Guy Kawasaki, or the CEO of GoDaddy.com (@DrBobParsons) for that matter. Your trusted sources can help your audience by responding to their questions, suggestions or needs.

One thing that I will admit is that you need to think through this outsourcing process or it can backfire. The key lies in the conversations you have with the team you “outsource” this process to (this could be a bunch of internal staff members or an outsourced team):

Here are some things to consider…

    Is it a 2-way conversation between you the outsourcer and the outsourcee?
    Do you trust these people to understand and reflect your thoughts and values?
    Have your spent the time training these folks?
    Are you accessible to answer questions in near real-time?
    Do you take the time to sit down regularly and review the process and the requests coming in?
    Are your reactive in your approach or are you being pro-active about avoiding problems and building a system that responds to the needs of your audience?

You also absolutely need to take time to integrate social media into your life—it might be sharing something you find funny or responding to and commenting on issues that you feel need your personal input or opinion. There are some things you just can’t fake.

So, with plenty of ideas to digest in the above paragraphs—I leave you with this final question: if you are looking for an answer from an organization or from a person with a super social media presence like Guy Kawasaki, Oprah, or Scott Monty the head of social media at Ford Motor Company —

- Would you rather receive a well-crafted response that reflects the true beliefs, opinions, and thoughts of an individual or organization—that might be from a “trained responder”

- OR would you rather not get a response at all?

Source: http://usefularts.us/2010/02/09/altaf-shaikh-social_media-ethics/

Read Dave’s Article…

Read more from Dave’s Blog — Useful Arts