I'm in the middle of developing my website (Wordpress with BuddyPress community maker) and when creating the menu of services in the navigation, I seem to be a little stuck. My "niche" is technology/social media marketing based. Because the ever-evolving way that businesses run and tools that are used, I'm trying to determine the right solutions to offer my clients. To be completely frank, I'm wanting to steer away from typical administrative office services, as I just don't have much passion for it. My true love lies in social media and how it related and can help business.

I just got through posting a question to Facebook asking if people thought that email marketing holds much weight anymore, or is it social media driven. Think about it... Facebook and Twitter rule and are litterally almost phasing-out traditional email, even though email is still widely used in business... not as much for business marketing.

I want to base my services around a solution comprised of several in-demand technologies. So far I have:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Wordpress

Now I'm searching for a solution like Aweber and Constant Contact is for email marketing... but not for email - for something better.

Does that make sense? If so, and if you have an opinion or a suggestion, which I would love.... please reply.

P.S. I do see the value in Aweber-type tools for autoresponders for distributing material, such as reports, ebooks, etc....

There are many great email marketing services out there. Several of my web marketing clients did not have a clue on where to start or how to keep it going once they have their list and account. There is certainly a need for support of this service.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Hello,

There are many different email marketing options to choose from. The two I would suggest are Mailchimp and Aweber. There are many others, like Constant Contact, Vertical Response and a few others.

Like Lee said, there is definitely need for support in this area. I did want to add that while there are many people on Twitter and Facebook, there are just as many people who aren't. Email is still a great way to market to those individuals. Depending on your clients niche and target audience, email marketing may still be the best way to connect with their customers online.

Darlene

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Darlene Victoria Gonzalez
The Voice & Vision Behind Your Business

Though social media marketing is tremendously powerful, it misses many traditional businesses. Email marketing is generally opt-in and, as such, reaches your already existing and committed customers. It bypasses buzz and fads.

Though every business needs to grow, keeping current customers is the 1st and most important step in that growth.Keeping existing customers informed and happy is much more cost effective than finding new customers.

By all means pursue your passion for social media, but don't discount email. Constant Contact and other such services are fun and easy to use, they are great for managing lists, sending press releases etc. and really return a lot of bang for your buck.

BTW what kind of answers did you get to your facebook question? I'm curious. Also, don't forget that you self-selected social media users with that question.

Leanne

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WorkSmart, Administrative Assistance
When one of you is not enough

@Leanne - The audience was social media users, but they also run or work for businesses that deal with operations that include using email. To be honest, I have trouble getting feedback like this on FB... not sure if people don't care about it, don't have an opinion, or my question is not visible to all of my friends on FB because of the settings they have for only viewing updates from people you're most frequently in contact with. I have that setting adjusted, but some may not. Who knows. I think this forum will be my answer for getting feedback, lol.

I see that Constant Contact is offering what I have in mind.... see: http://search.constantcontact.com/so...ness/index.jsp

They have great customer service as well.

Here is a good breakdown with a short video to explain:
http://www.socialquickstarter.com/co...edia_marketing

What a great link! Thanks.

Leanne

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WorkSmart, Administrative Assistance
When one of you is not enough