The Pull Times

Some marketers tend to believe that, since people increasingly use social network sites to connect with their friends, their businesses also have to be friends with their (future) customers. It’s never a bad idea to treat your customers as your best friends but this doesn’t mean they want to be your friends. They want your social presence to be relevant, and they want you to be a value generator, perhaps even a trustworthy source or someone they ‘like’ but most of all they want you to respect them.

Recently I was asked by a new blog on conversion, interactive CRM and marketing automation, to write about conversion in interactive marketing.

The two meanings of conversion

Conversion obviously has two meanings. In e-mail marketing for instance, it is the process whereby people open an e-mail, click a link and then continue their journey on the landing page and beyond. Every step in such a process is 'conversion'. The same goes for others forms of interactive marketing.

Social media listening and measurement tools can provide businesses with valuable information regarding their brand, competitors and the needs of people.

Many businesses use this information to make strategic discussions and integrate social media in techniques for customer and market research. The same goes for research companies.

Your company probably has a bunch of media, tools, content, etc. However, no matter how strong your communication power is: people ultimately decide for themselves whether they find what you do worthwhile.

Conversation, dialogue, sharing, co-creation, collaboration and participation are key elements in social media marketing and in building communities. A community is something you have to deserve. Share your experiences, thoughts, tips, etc. Provide value, and you'll get value back.

Many marketers still struggle with questions regarding their email marketing efforts. What is the best time to send an email? The best day? How do I circumvent spam filters?

In all cases, customer-centric, or in this case recipient-centric, thinking is key for email marketing timing and deliverability as you will discover. In this post, I give some clues and ideas, coming from several interviews and other posts.