When marketers evaluate all of the digital communication channels at their disposal, they’re faced with a rich array of choices including the latest in social and mobile marketing. Social media marketing includes participation on social networking websites such as: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, video and photo sharing websites including YouTube and Flickr, blogging, microblogging (Twitter), podcasts, forums, product reviews (Amazon) and social bookmarking websites. Like
email marketing, these channels help companies disseminate information to large audiences rapidly and cost-effectively.
Omniture and The CMO Club conducted a Digital Marketing Survey in May of 2009 wherein 102 CMOs were asked to rate the relative effectiveness of digital marketing media. While most respondents, or 78 percent, found email marketing most effective, online communities and blogs were also successful for 33 percent of the respondents, a strong statistic considering the low cost of entry and relatively young nature of social media. Most online consumers engage with a variety of online communications and activities and have different preferences and tastes. Studies like this underscore the importance of including a full range of interactive and mobile marketing vehicles in your digital marketing campaigns.
Today's businesses should be using all of these complementary media outlets – email, social networks and mobile marketing – to most effectively connect and communicate with their current and prospective customers.
