How do I wrap social elements into my email marketing program?

Social media is a tremendous tool in a marketer’s arsenal that, when used strategically, can serve as fuel to lift all other marketing channels. This is particularly true of email.

One way to integrate social into an email marketing program is to include a personal URL (PURL) within the email that your customers can then use to spread the word about a brand and simultaneously earn a reward for sharing. While this link can be shared via email, it is often most effective when shared across social channels.

By incorporating PURLs into referral campaigns, you are enabling your customers to instantly share them on Facebook, vastly increasing the exposure as compared to one-to-one email. While direct clicks from social channels tend to be lower than those coming from emails, customer satisfaction measurement firm ForeSee found that “while only 1% of site visitors come from a social media URL, 18% of site visitors report being influenced by social media to visit a website.”

Social platforms can also serve as catalysts for marketers to increase their email database. A great example is YouBeauty, which leveraged the power of social to build its email assets. YouBeauty worked with Extole to design a Facebook sweepstakes that asked entrants to provide email addresses and opt in to receive itsr email newsletter. At the end of six weeks, YouBeauty’s Facebook campaign landed it 13,000 new email addresses, 10,000 of which opted to receive its newsletter. That’s 10,000 new qualified leads.

Social surveys are another effective way to build your email database. For example, a leading cosmetics company developed a Facebook survey on skin health, and all consumers who completing the survey received a sample. Within 48 hours, Extole provided the retailer with 10,000 new qualified email addresses. The original goal had been to reach this target in three months (not two days).

Integrating social amplifies the impact of any email marketing campaign; and those marketers taking a creative and engaging approach to social—with an intent to build on their powerful email marketing assets—will be the ones who pull ahead of the social pack.

Greg Brown is chief revenue officer of Extole (http://extole.com), a provider of social engagement applications.

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Accel Partners Acquires Minority Stake in Dealer.com

Burlington, VT, Aug. 25, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dealer.com (www.dealer.com), the global leader in automotive internet marketing solutions, today announced that Accel Partners, the global venture capital and growth equity firm and early investor in Facebook, Groupon and Rovio/Angry Birds among others, has made a minority investment in the company. Todd MacLean, Partner at Accel, will join the company’s Board of Directors, replacing the seat previously held by Don Hall.

“We are excited by the opportunity to partner with one of the world’s most successful technology investors,” said Mark Bonfigli, CEO of Dealer.com. ”We view the backing of Accel Partners as a vote of confidence in Dealer.com’s mission to become the preeminent digital marketing partner for the automotive industry and look forward to their guidance and counsel as we continue growing and developing valuable solutions for our customers.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Mark, Rick and the rest of the team at Dealer.com and look forward to helping them continue to grow an exceptional company,” commented Todd MacLean, Partner at Accel Partners. ”Over the past year and a half, we’ve come to know and admire the company and its core values. While we are clearly impressed by their industry-leading technology platform, it is the ability and passion of the team and the incredible culture they’ve built over time that truly differentiates Dealer.com in our eyes. 

“At Accel, we believe that with continued expansion of new distribution channels and increasingly decentralized decision-making, the key to a software company’s success today has very much reverted to basics – building truly great products that customers love to use. In this regard, Dealer.com’s long list of “raving fans” and industry awards is great testimony to its historic success.   Perhaps more importantly, we believe the Company’s emphasis on building a deep-rooted culture – which allows it to attract, retain and motivate great people – will drive continued, repeatable success in the future.”

In the last several years, Dealer.com has seen rapid acceleration in sales, customers and product introductions. Revenues reached $85 million in 2010, an increase of over 60 percent from 2009 and more than triple the 2008 level, and the company increased RD spending more than 100 percent while adding key retail and OEM client relationships to its portfolio.

Bonfigli concluded: “As the online and social media landscapes continue to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, our partnership with Accel will strengthen our ability to transform the experience in the automotive industry.”

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, and managing nearly $9 billion in capital, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses.  Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, New Delhi and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel.

Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful technology companies, many of which have defined their categories, including AdMob, Alfresco, Atlassian, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, IronPlanet, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, OPOWER, Polycom/PictureTel, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Quidsi (Diapers.com), Rapt, Real Networks, Responsys, Riverbed, SupportSoft, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wily Technology, Wonga, XenSource and Zimbra. For more information, please visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com, or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/accel

About Dealer.com (www.dealer.com)

Dealer.com is the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award-winning SaaS-based e-marketing solutions to OEMs, auto dealers and media companies. Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont with a satellite office in Manhattan Beach, California, the company’s innovative websites and integrated online tools include advertising alternatives that significantly lower the cost of customer acquisition, enhancing dealers’ efficiency and profitability.

Recent national and international accolades include placing No. 14 on Outside magazine’s 2011 list of Best Places to Work in America and receiving two Stevie Awards from the American Business Association for Best Overall Company of the Year and Fastest Growing Company of the year in 2011. Dealer.com has also by honored by Inc. magazine as one of the 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces in addition to securing a place on both the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 rankings in 2010. Dealer.com wasalso ranked first in SEO effectiveness among auto dealer website providers for the third consecutive year in 2011 by Sorgenfrei LLC.

CONTACT: Daniel Sieger
         RF|Binder Partners
         (212) 994-7536
         dan.sieger@rfbinder.com

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