The new digital dialogue

Research showing how should we create dialogue by combining email and social media marketing with other channels

I've recently been involved with creating the programme for the upcoming eCircle event:  ConnectEurope2011. As for last year I will share some highlights from the presentations like the case studies,research and latest thinking on Smart Insights. Last year I shared two case including Halfords Intelligent Lifecycle Marketing which went down well and Halfords are speaking again.

In the meantime, I just wanted to let  you know about the event - if you have any questions please ask via my sign-off below or visit our website for more information. At the end of this note I'll share some interesting research about how the overlap in use of consumers of email marketing and social media.

Other questions the speakers will address are:

• Is it possible to make people happy through your marketing?
• What can you do to get information to customers when they are looking at buying?
• How do you give people a rich digital experience of tennis at Wimbledon?

Research on combined use of Email marketing and Social Media

Overall, the theme of the conference is integrating email into other digital touchpoints. As you would expect from email marketing specialists, eCircle have commissioned a variety of studies over the years to examine the impact of every facet of email marketing - from design and the use of video, through to data and initial welcome emails. But we also recognise that whilst email continues to perform as one of the strongest channels, it does not work in isolation. So we have been busy reviewing how email works in combination with social media in six markets across Europe.

Here are some of the key findings and you can view the full report at the end of my post.

Statistics on the overlap of social media, email and newsletter use by consumers

Percentage of consumers following a brand in different European countries

Average number of social network memberships (around 2)

Full Social media research summary

eCircle Social Media Study Summary of Results (Part 1 and 2)

Our review of full research summary

Here are 10 Facts and Figures About Digital Dialogue Marketing With Facebook, Twitter and Email in Europe

1. Social networks are used for acquiring information about products, not for direct selling
2. Fans and Followers are the new email subscribers
3. Email still forms the backbone for digital dialogue with consumers
4. When information is shared, it can have a wide reach
5. Users of social networks want to be engaged by companies
6. A strong combination: Social Media and email works in every country
7. European online market split into two groups
8. Facebook is the number one of social networks – with one exception
9. A company’s “fan page” only reaches three markets with a significant amount of users.
10. “Mobile email” is on the rise for consumers

The results have reinforced our belief that email remains the dominant channel for online dialogue, but it has also challenged us on other assumptions. For example whilst Facebook is the biggest global social network it is not necessarily the most important network for every country. So if you were launching a campaign in the Netherland it would be much more important to target the Hyves network. Likewise the link between email communication and social media activity is still not being optimized by brands across Europe.

For brands investing heavily in social media activity such as Facebook fan pages or twitter profiles, there are still serious questions to be asked about how to create deep engagement. Our research showed a third of UK consumers were following brands via social media but their primary motivation was the desire to get discounts and coupons.

More details on our conference:  http://conferences.ecircle.com/connecteurope2011