Mixing It Up with MarketingProfs: Day Two

More great content was shared on day two of MarketingProfs’ Digital Marketing Mixer. The day’s highlight was easily Dr. B.J. Fogg’s keynote address on why Facebook and Twitter have succeeded. For example, Facebook’s “hot triggers” — those emails that alert us when someone’s sent a friend request, commented on our status, or tagged us in a photo — have helped create ritualistic behavior, and they keep us visiting Facebook, not because Facebook tells us to, but because we want to.

“Email enabled Facebook,” Fogg explained, adding that texting paved the way for Twitter. “Today’s platforms enable tomorrow’s rituals, and winning rituals become the behaviors of tomorrow.”

Most inspiring was Fogg’s suggestion to start small and not to get frustrated if things don’t go well the first time you try something. “Everything big started small,” he said. Fogg made many in the room smile (including me) when he said that small businesses and startups have an advantage versus the bigger companies because of necessity; smaller businesses simply don’t have the resources, financial and otherwise, that bigger businesses do. Thus, because smaller businesses tend to focus on smaller wins, and can be more agile, they’re better positioned to succeed.

Here are some other highlights from day two of the Mixer:

• Stephanie Miller, of ReturnPath, explained that “Consumers are not just email savvy, they’re email wary,” and because of that, they’re much more choosy these days about what mailing lists they’re signing up for. Businesses and organizations have to make sure that when they’re asking customers and members to sign up for a mailing list, that it’s something worthwhile.
• The folks from MarketingProfs’ research department gave us a sneak peek at some data from a recent survey of marketers about their use of social media. Among the findings: Email marketing continues to be the standard bearer in terms of online marketing tools. 77.3% of business-to-business organizations use email marketing, versus only 48.5% who use social media. Similarly, 75.7% of business-to-consumer organizations use email marketing, versus 54.3% who use social media. The full report will be out soon, and I can’t wait to see the other results.
• Answering a question about which social networks are best for businesses and organizations to be on, MarketingProfs’ Roy Young offered this simple but helpful advice: “Go where your customers are. Listen, and then connect with them.”

Constant Contact had a booth at the conference, and it was great to talk with so many people (including some of our customers) about how they can improve their email marketing efforts. Our own Brian Donnelly did some one-on-one coaching with some of our booth's visitors, so let me take this opportunity to say a big thanks to him for doing such a great job!

As I noted yesterday, there was much more than this to share. I look forward to discussing some other themes in future blog posts. Stay tuned.