For one, Google+ is growing on me. This is mostly because it’s provided a new venue to get closer to the friends I actually want to keep in touch with versus those I accepted invites to “friend” on Facebook out of guilt. Their “circles” have also been easy to use and have kept me from insulting family members and friends alike (Given how conversations aren’t always appropriate for all audiences i.e. young nephews I support getting online but who don’t need to see partially naked pictures of my drunk friend vacationing in Amsterdam).

I’m also impressed with their new music beta and accompanying “cloud” offering. I volunteered to test their beta product for a few months before it s final soft launch in November and saw dramatic improvements over time. It’s a legitimate alternative to iTunes if you’re looking for one. I was also able to quickly and seamlessly tie my music collection to their web-based platform and connect it via their free cloud offering to my tablet and phone (yes, both Android).

One last recommendation I’d make is to check out Google Currents. It is a great way to index and organize your favorite online magazines, publications and blogs. It provides intuitive formatting for displaying pages cleanly and efficiently for tablets and has definitely lead to some cool new content discoveries.

Apologies ahead of time for what can be taken as a public service announcement for Google but definitely check these new platforms out if you haven’t already and let me know what you think…

So far, Google+ has only really introduced features they feel are an improvement upon Facebook, the 800-lb gorilla in the social sphere. One of the biggest nuances is the use of “circles” versus lists for simple grouping of friends, family and co-workers. This allows easier sharing with select groups. This is a nice feature but hardly enough to get the approximately 750 million Facebook members to switch to Google+. Early adoption is already taking place but moving the masses will be the challenge.

From my perspective, the opportunity lies in the power of Google’s other services.  For starters, you’re tied into Gmail while on Google+, offering easy access to an already trusted communication tool. Add a sprinkle of Google Maps, a dash of media and games from Google Wave and Buzz, a touch of Google Offers for daily deals and you have the recipe for successfully attracting consumers. The cherry on top will be access to Google Apps and mobile integration.

So far, from my personal experience with the platform, the “circling” of specific groups and ability to combine Facebook and Twitter messaging tools makes Google+ intriguing. As a marketer, though, what remain unanswered is how they aim to tackle profile pages for businesses and what advertising options will exist.

Recently, Christian Olsten, a product manager on the Google Plus team, posted: “We have been watching Google+ take shape over the last week and we’ve seen some really great companies get involved. But frankly we know our product as it stands is not optimally suited to their needs. In fact, it was kind of an awkward moment for us when we asked Ford for his (or was it her?) gender!” To put it gently, this doesn’t sound like they’re quite ready for advertisers yet.

What is set, though, is the opportunity for marketers like us to utilize the product as a consumer to see the possible platform benefits for your business and clients. So, be an early adopter or search the web to get invited by someone who is and check out “Hangouts,” send out a “Stream” update to your co-workers, hold a meeting via Google Talk and most of all … get a grip on those “Circles.” Give it a shot and share your thoughts with us!

When Elaine Ellis returned to her downtown Boulder apartment Saturday morning to find her bike lock ripped from a brick wall and her Trek Allant bicycle gone, she was heartbroken – for a moment.

But instead of simply calling police to report the theft and hoping to one day see her bike again, Ellis – known as a leader in the Boulder technology community and a social media butterfly – decided to take action.

“Have you seen this Boulder bike thief?” Ellis, 30, tweeted around 11 a.m. Monday. She included a link to her blog, where she’d posted a cell phone photo that her neighbor snapped of the crime as it happened.

Within hours, one of Ellis’ 3,558 Twitter followers spotted a man matching that photo riding her Trek along the Boulder Creek Path. The police were notified, and that sighting led to an arrest — and Ellis’ reunion with her bike. “Got my bike back!!!” Ellis tweeted Monday evening. “4.5 hours after my blog post. Well done Boulder.”

Gotta love how this two-way communication tool has the power to make such a difference in our lives. An angry complaint via a Twitter post actually saved my credit score a few points just last year. We can use social media in so many ways that it seems we’re just barely touching its full potential.

So, maybe you haven’t recovered a stolen bicycle or fought AT&T over a billing issue on Twitter, but I’m sure this medium has made a difference for you in some form or fashion.  Feel free to share
your stories with us here!

On May 12^th, Facebook Studio was launched as “a place to learn, share your work, and find inspiration. We created Facebook Studio as a way to showcase how agencies and marketers can make an impact by marketing with Facebook.” Submissions seem easy to enter and are archived in the all-inclusive “Gallery” portal in addition to the best-of-breed submissions highlighted in the “Spotlight” section.

Most marketers have been critical of Facebook in general because of the dearth of advertising opportunities combined with a general lack of communication and responsiveness to industry-related issues.  For example, in the healthcare and financial spaces, where liabilities lie around every corner, it’s been particularly difficult dealing with Facebook because of continuous platform changes creating major compliance headaches.

My take is that this may not resolve all of the issues marketers have with Facebook and their controlling nature but it’s a start.  Providing an easily accessible venue to view the best campaigns, programs and ideas on Facebook all in one place won’t make everyone happy but it can’t be ignored either.  From the looks of it, this effort will only be as successful as marketers and advertisers make it so good luck and let the fun begin!

Check it out and let us know what your thoughts are.

This is pretty cool news on a number of fronts.  One, it’s excellent to see the USPS keeping up with the times! Two, the fact they can recognize and process barcodes within the enclosed piece is a neat feature that might add some interesting flexibility to the mailing process.  I’m thinking of the creative possibilities for this as it becomes more widely used.

Here’s the latest info from the DMM themselves surrounding the program that runs from July 1- August 31:

-First-Class Mail and Standard Mail (including Nonprofit Standard Mail) letters, flats and cards with a mobile barcode inside or on the mail-piece can qualify for the discount.
-Participation requires electronic documentation.
-Commingled, combined and co-mail mailings are allowed and a separate postage statement is required for pieces with mobile barcodes.

This is obviously a pretty cutting-edge program for the USPS and is certainly a smart way to infuse mobile technologies with your direct mail campaigns.  For more information, check out the RIBBS website: https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=mobilebarcode

To subscribe to the DMM Advisory, send an e-mail to dmmadvisory@usps.com and just insert “subscribe” in the subject line.

Hey, I’m just thrilled to be sharing news about the USPS that’s not another price hike story!  So, check out the program and let us know some of the benefits you think this will bring your business.

While this isn’t necessarily news to industry folks, what is new is how the social media landscape has helped to drive this metric. HubSpot reports that “57% of those using company blogs have acquired a customer from a blog-generated lead; this is an increase of 11 percentage points since 2010. Facebook and Twitter users reported customer acquisition rates of 48% and 42%, respectively.”

The beauty of this is the cost-efficient nature of these platforms. If companies are able to allocate internal resources toward compelling blog entries, personalized Facebook updates and timely tweets, it’s been proven that qualified leads will follow. Of these tools, research shows that blogs most effectively increase customer acquisition.

In fact, according to HubSpot’s study, blogging is the channel most frequently listed as “critical or important” to inbound lead generation. Have you found this to be true for your business? Share your experiences!

Now when you click the “Like” button on a participating site or within an app, it inserts the headline, a segment of the story and an associated image for all to see. Previously, it simply published just a single line under Recent Activity.

What’s effectively changed is that Facebook is no longer developing the “Share” button functionality. The result is that more referral traffic will be driven to third-party sites that choose to link up with Facebook.  If anything, this adjustment will force us to think a second longer before we click that “Like” button. Do we truly want ALL of our friends to see that we like that particular story?

Previously, you could simply “Share” news but it didn’t necessarily get categorized as being something you actually liked. This can lead to some awkward moments. For example, I saw a note in a related forum about a scenario regarding a co-worker who had passed away. To share the news, his friends posted the story. The unfortunate result was:

Dave ********* passed away due to his long battle with cancer. 46 people Like this.

So, there are definitely some kinks that Facebook needs to iron out. Eventually, the modification should benefit users, Facebook and their partners equally. From my standpoint, I like the fact that (hopefully) compelling content will be more readily available. After all, the point is to initiate dialogue among friends, right?

So, a few third-party sites will see increased traffic along the way. I can handle that.  What’s your take?

To top it off, the son-of-a-gun goes out and sets the world record (yes, Guinness has confirmed it) for the fastest ever to reach one million followers. (For the record, I’m not one of them). Remarkably, he did it in a hair over 25 hours.

Now, Sheen has taken the bizarre step of posting a job opening for a social media intern and is working directly with ad.ly, a company that connects consumers to celebrities through social media. Celebrities will tweet about a brand to their followers, while on Facebook they’ll post updates to their fans.

Their “celeb team” ranges from Snoop Dog to Charlie and brands include the likes of Best Buy, Sony and NBC. (I wonder whether CBS will stay away, given recent developments). Through all of this, ad.ly has gained a lifetime’s worth of press, and we discover yet another fascinating way that social media is paving its own path.

Ad.ly’s business model is smart. I view it as product placement (or in this case, simply celebrity placement) into our lives. The difference is subtle, but reveals yet another happy marriage of product and celebrity endorsement. Just the medium has changed. Good for Best Buy, Sony, NBC and the rest for realizing the benefits of this. And yes, I guess good for Charlie as well…

It’s widely accepted that one of the benefits to purchasing an e-mail list for either b2b or direct-to-consumer efforts is the control factor. You can now manipulate and mold the data you own. Segmentation marketing and appending data is easier as you convert these list contacts to qualified leads. All of this, though, comes at a price.

Renting an e-mail list can cost as little as 10% of the expense of purchasing a similar file. There’s also the safety factor. Rented lists are generally better protected and monitored to avoid overuse. Rental companies are more interested in protecting their valued data. This keeps the lists cleaner and hopefully increases response rates. You can see which way I lean…

What’s important, though, is if you are going to rent a list, make sure it’s “branded” by a trusted industry source.  The key is to focus on what’s relevant to the prospect.  As Dave Scott, CEO of online marketing startup Marketfish, observes, “When you rent a list, your message comes directly from another brand. The most respected brands are the ones that are going to inspire the best click-and-open rates.” 

Be sure to partner with a credible industry source that has developed a protected customer file. For example, if you rent a list from The Wall Street Journal, their branding will remain visible as the email distributor and help get your foot in the door.  It’s a fact that customers are more inclined to open e-mails from companies and brands they recognize.

In the end, it’s all about respecting privacy and trust. If done properly, e-mail marketing can still be a viable lead-generation.  I simply believe that brand loyalty is at the foundation. Let us know your thoughts on the subject.

- By Steve Iaconis, Senior Marketing Manager; Account Supervisor- Interactive Accounts, Wax Custom Communications http://www.waxcom.com/  

- Edited by Gretchen Schmidt on Wax Impressions http://www.waxcom.com/impressions/ a blog by Wax Custom Communications

- Follow Wax Custom Communication on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/WaxCustomCommunications

What does it mean to us? Well, for the first time in two years, prices for each “Mailing Services” class of mail will go up by an average of 1.741%. You can check out the new prices at http://pe.usps.com/. Keep this in mind from a budgeting standpoint for your client mailing recommendations moving forward.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. If you’d like to receive “advisories” like these directly to your inbox from the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) division of the USPS, simply send an e-mail to dmmadvisory@usps.com and type “subscribe” as the subject line.

- By Steve Iaconis, Account Supervisor, Wax Custom Communications http://www.waxcom.com/  

- Edited by Gretchen Schmidt on Wax Impressions http://www.waxcom.com/impressions/ a blog by Wax Custom Communications

- Follow Wax Custom Communication on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/WaxCustomCommunications