Food trucks have entered the market at the height of social media. Of the trucks I follow in Atlanta, Yumbii, the King of Pops, Tex’s Tacos and Westside Creamery, none use email to market themselves.  Playing devil’s advocate, they could say, “Why should we? We’re selling out our inventory as it is using Twitter and Facebook. That’s enough marketing for us.”

But is it?  Here are my arguments for why food trucks need email marketing*:

1. Not everyone is on Twitter or Facebook. According to a December 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center, 77% of American adults use the internet. 92% of those adults use email, while only 61% use an online social networking site. While Facebook may have 500 million active users, 50% of which log on in any given day, if you’re not following your favorite truck, you’re likely to miss out on their location or schedule.  Same for Twitter. Even though the service is adding 500,000 accounts daily, according to this report from May 2011, only 8% of Americans over the age of 12 are using it. Using Census figures, that’s ~20 million people. Awareness of Twitter is at 92% of Americans of the same age (12 or older), but adoption is clearly lagging.
2. Email is shareable. Yes, I know Facebook has its “share” button, which is intended to make it easier to spread items among your network on the site. But the trucks I follow post their daily locations as status updates, which aren’t shareable (i.e. no “share” button for that feature). And when was the last time you forwarded a Tweet? I suppose you could re-tweet the tweet of your favorite truck and cc your Twitter friend as if to say, “Want to go?” But what if the friend you want to make plans with isn’t on Twitter? Or you can’t immediately recall their user name? If you’re using Twitter on an iPad, you can mail a tweet. But wouldn’t it be nicer if the information were already in your inbox? I just know that if I were emailed a truck’s schedule for the week, there’s high probability that I’d forward it to a friend to make plans for a meal.  It’s hard to do that with a Facebook status update or Tweet.
3. Space limitations. Tweets are restricted to 140 characters and Facebook status updates are generally fairly short. Perhaps this is why posts are done on a daily basis – there’s not enough room to convey an entire week’s schedule in one place. (Though some do say something to the effect of “Our weekly schedule is up – check the website” with a link to the applicable page on their website.)  But they’re missing the opportunity to share more information about themselves that an email affords. An email, in addition to informing the recipient of the week’s schedule, would also allow the truck’s owner to highlight their menu or feature a particular item. In an email message, one food truck owner could even feature another food truck that offers a complimentary menu item (dessert feature in an entrée food truck email, or vice versa). No harm in some co-promotion among food truck friends, I don’t think.
4. Segmentation. Email allows you to get to know your audience in a way that Twitter and Facebook cannot. As part of the email sign-up process, a food truck could ask for the person’s home and work zip codes. This would allow food truck owners to send subscribers special notices when the truck is going to be in their area. Twitter doesn’t allow food trucks the luxury of targeting, and neither does Facebook (unless you count paid advertising, which I’m not in this case).
5. Email can be distributed via social media. It’s possible to “tweet” an email and broadcast its contents to your followers or “share” an email on Facebook. However, it is possible to share the content within an email via a “tweet this” button, Google’s +1 or a Facebook share button so a particular piece of information, photo or video to be shared via a social network. Similarly, many email software providers offer functionality that will allow for web-hosted versions of the entire email to be distributed via Twitter and/or Facebook when the message is sent. In some cases, these web-hosted versions have a toolbar at the top that includes a button for Tweeting or sharing on Facebook, so even if someone wasn’t on the email’s original distribution list, they can still pass along the email via social media. Also, when an email is posted to Facebook as the campaign is sent, it’ll likely be as a news item with the “share” option included. As I’ve said earlier, Facebook status updates don’t include that option.
6. Email can go viral: Thanks to the forward button, an email recipient can send an email to as many friends as they’d like. If you can’t share a Facebook status update or forward a Tweet, a food truck owner is banking on someone to remember to have an offline conversation about their truck. Given the trucks’ success, it’s happening. Tweets can be retweeted, thus they can be shared many times over beyond the food truck’s network, but it’s worth mentioning that an email has the same ability to go far beyond its original distribution list, even without ever being posted to a social network.

* This was not intended to be a “why email is better than social media” post. Rather, I’m aiming to highlight the food trucks’ missed opportunities by limiting their marketing plan to Facebook and Twitter. I’ll admit that social media is better for last-minute change of plans. Food trucks have the benefit of picking up and moving to a new location when sales are slow or the weather doesn’t cooperate. But since their customers use more than one channel to get information, in my biased opinion, I think food trucks should also diversify their marketing efforts beyond social to expand their reach via an email marketing program. A few additional fans wouldn’t hurt should they ever decide to add a second (or third) truck to their fleet.

But can it really help your email marketing program? Of course! Here are a couple of tactics for using Facebook to enhance your email marketing program – and vice versa. This post is part 1 of 2. More tactics will be posted this time next week.

Email sign-up forms in your business’s page
This is low-hanging fruit. If you have a Facebook page for your business, incorporate a sign-up form for your email marketing program into the page. Some email software providers (ESPs) have a means for users to build the form directly into your page. Otherwise, link to it from your welcome tab.

By doing this, you’ve converted a Facebook fan into an email subscriber and have an additional channel by which to communicate with them.

Make your email messages shareable
You’ve created a fantastic email campaign and want to enable your recipients to share this message on Facebook. (You’ll first need to create content that your recipients will want to share. What’s considered shareworthy will vary from sender to sender, and even recipient to recipient. That’s an entirely separate posting, but here’s a link with concepts for sharing B-to-B content. Some of the ideas could apply to B-to-C as well.)

To be able to share your content or message on Facebook, you need to use the share URL that Facebook has created. By doing this, it will create a preview of your content, which can then be posted to a Facebook profile or sent as a direct message.
The simplest way to give a subscriber the option to share your link is to add this code into your email:

http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=URL

Just replace URL with the link you want to share. In the case of an email message, it would be the URL to view your message online. Don’t forget to include a call to action to “share this message”, preferably using a Facebook icon or linked text.

For example here is the link for the blog post of this message arranged so you can share it on Facebook.

Share this post on Facebook

When you create a link such as that, a preview window will open with optional image selections from the page URL provided. There will also be a place for your email recipient to include their thoughts as to why this link is worth viewing. Once they hit the “share” button in that window, the link is posted to their Facebook profile profile, their wall is updated and the URL will appear in the news feed of their friends with your recipients’ endorsement. Your message now has a personal referral to your recipient’s Facebook network!

Showing up in multiple news feeds is when you start to leverage your recipients’ entire friend list. This process has the potential to move virally as people leave comments or share the item with their friends and family – and so on and so on.

Got another idea (or two) for blending Facebook with your email marketing program? Leave a comment or post to my Facebook wall. Otherwise, stayed tuned next week for a couple more ways Facebook can enhance your email marketing program.

There are a few ways to repurpose your newsletter’s content and disseminate this information via social media.  Here are some options:

Create Your Newsletter From Your Blog Posts – Instead of creating new articles for use only in your newsletter, post the content for your blog and have it feed into your newsletter automatically. (MailChimp’s RSS-to-email is one option). Or, include a summary of a few of your most recent blog posts in your newsletter and link back to the original post for the full article. 

Tweet every Newsletter – It’s a best practice to include a link at the top of every newsletter to view it as a web page. You should also include your address on the distribution list for every newsletter you send (one reason being that you experience getting a newsletter just like your contacts do).  Create an account with bit.ly and paste in the link at the top of the newsletter to shorten it and share it via Twitter.  Bit.ly allows you to see how many clicks your link received, as well as the source (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).

Share on Social Networking Sites – Facebook and LinkedIn allow users to post short messages either as a status update or a network update. Paste the subject line of your newsletter and bit.ly link into this box.

These options allow you to cover all of your bases to spread your company’s good news.  Email is a universal channel. The other networks mentioned above will help you reach those not on your email list with the ultimate goal of converting them to newsletter subscribers.  Don’t limit your bragging to the people who are already believers – reach out beyond your core audience!

After I wrote my first post on the topic, a Zappos customer service rep contacted me with the email below: 

Hi Sandi,

I read your blog that was posted on Tuesday about your Zappos purchase and the data link to facebook.  I am so sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

This feature with Facebook is brand new and only works when you are logged into Facebook at the same time that you are placing an order on Zappos.com.  We are collecting feedback from customers and may or may not continue with this feature.

There is an opt out feature to disable the data feed from Zappos.com to Facebook.  All you would have to do is login into your Facebook account, click on the privacy link, click the “external websites” link, and then check the “never” radio button for Zappos.com.

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience.  As a token of goodwill, Zappos is issuing a $25.00 off coupon that you may use towards your next purchase at Zappos. Below is your coupon code.

And then the email went on to explain how to use the coupon and ended with their boilerplate, which includes their mantra: “We like to think of ourselves as a service company that happens to sell shoes.”

I wonder how many of these coupons Zappos has issued lately as a result of the Beacon feature.  So far, coupon aside, my experience with Zappos has been great.  The shoes came the next day, they’re exactly what I ordered and look just like they did on the site.  I was already contemplating my next purchase from them before their email arrived, and the discount coupon is a bonus. 

As with other Facebook applications, Beacon should be opt-in, rather than its current opt-out format.  On Cyber Monday, I hope my fellow online shoppers will log out of Facebook before making their next purchase.  

Instead of adding to my earlier post, I decided this whole Zappos-Facebook word of mouth marketing technique warranted its own post.

I added the link to my blog post as a posted item within my Facebook profile, and a few hours later it appeared as a News Feed item, pushing the information into each of my friends’ personal viewing space. That prompted an old camp friend to send me a blog posting by David Berkowitz about Beacon, Facebook’s new application that allows “users to share information from other websites for distribution to their friends on Facebook.” I got that from the press release, which lists Zappos.com as one of 44 participating in the Beacon launch.

Now I have the answers to all three questions I posed yesterday.

1. What does Zappos or Facebook think there is to gain by sharing my purchase with the masses?
2. What does that icon to the left of my name mean?
3. How the heck did it get there?

A peek at the Beacon application page answers question #2. Here’s an explanation for the application, which is written with marketers in mind:

Stories of a user’s engagement with your site may be displayed in his or her profile and in News Feed. These stories will act as a word-of-mouth promotion for your business and may be seen by friends who are also likely to be interested in your product.

And that answers question #1. Word of mouth marketing is their primary goal. But were my friends really influenced by my purchase decision? Some may have learned of Zappos.com, but I think the benefit to the advertiser was minimal.

Question 3 touches on user privacy issues, which the Beacon page also addresses. The application page mentions the importance of user privacy, but from my experience I think they need to walk the talk. Here’s what the page says (emphasis added by me):

When you send an action to Facebook, the user is immediately alerted of the story you wish to publish and will be alerted again when they sign into Facebook. The user can choose to opt out of the story in either instance, but the user doesn’t need to take any action for the story to be published on Facebook.

Really? Can I? I didn’t find that to be the case.

I find this interesting from a marketer’s perspective, but as a consumer I am troubled.

I discovered this by looking at my profile and my first thought was, “Holy shiitake! How did that get there?” I was horrified and my knee-jerk reaction was to delete it from my mini-feed so that no one could see it when they viewed my profile. But it was too late for that secret. I IM’d with my friend Lauren about my discovery and she said something like, “Oh yeah. I saw that. They’re cute.” So you mean everyone of my friends knows about my shoe purchase?! Sure enough, this was in every friend’s feed:

Anybody who can view my profile (which only people I’ve granted access to can do) could click on through to look at a picture of the shoes I bought. Thankfully my shoe size wasn’t a part of the feed. At least something was considered sacred.

I can’t figure out how my shoe purchase found its way into Facebook. I may have had Facebook open in one tab while making the purchase on Zappos.com in another tab, but that’s too simple of an explanation. To borrow the term Dave Coustan used when I Twittered about this: creepy. At this point, I have more questions than answers:

1. What does Zappos or Facebook think there is to gain by sharing my purchase with the masses?
2. What does that icon to the left of my name mean? (I can’t click on it anymore since I deleted it from my feed.)
3. How the heck did it get there?

I’m not ashamed of my shoe purchase. It just isn’t something I consider newsworthy. I’ve never bought anything from Zappos, but have read great things about them and I thought this would be a good opportunity to give them a try. I’ll be curious as to what kind of feedback I get from either group.

In the meantime, I think my shoes are supposed to arrive today. Then what? Do I upload a photo of them and create a Facebook album to show them off?

If you Google “Buzz Cola,” my post is the seventh link that comes back in the results. There are more Simpsons fans out there than I had imagined.

All of this hoopla is part of the July 27 premiere of “The Simpsons Movie.” It’s a cheap stunt for Fox since 7-Eleven is paying for the whole thing (which is estimated at costing in the “single millions“).

So why do this? It seems like a pretty cheap way for 7-Eleven to stand-out in the generic convenience mart category. It gets them some good buzz (pun intended) in the press and may even bring in Simpsons fans looking to buy the limited-edition theme foods. But I don’t know if it’s really going to attract much more attention from Slurpee/Squishee loyalists.

This is why Fox participated:

“We wanted to make sure the movie stands out as a true cultural event this summer,” said Lisa Licht, a marketing vice president at Fox. “It has to stand out from other summer movies and TV shows.”

Hmmm…. separating the film from the cluttered summer movie scene, eh? I’ll go with it.

7-Eleven stores that have been transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart are located in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Burbank, Calif., Los Angeles, Henderson, Nev., Orlando, Fla., Mountain View, Calif., Seattle and Bladensburg, Md. (UPDATE — here are their addresses.)

Have you visited one of these stores? Did you go there because it was a “Kwik-E-Mart” or because it was just plain convenient? Please share your stories and opinions in the comments.

I saw on TV recently that the U.S. Postal Service had partnered with Lucasfilm to transform the standard blue mailbox into an R2-D2 look-alike. At first glance it seemed kind of clever. But as I gave it more thought, it seemed like an odd marriage to me. To learn why this unholy union took place, I discovered the USPS is helping celebrate the 30^th anniversary of Star Wars. So there’s some benefit to George Lucas in this agreement, but what about the Post Office? Mack, over at the Viral Garden, has made some good points about this promotion, but I guess I don’t see much of a benefit for our friends in blue who deliver snail mail.

Yes, there’s a lot of buzz about these boxes (this post included). And I can see Mack’s argument that this gives the USPS a bit of personality. But these boxes don’t create a reason for me to go buy stamps. Seeing R2-D2 outside my post office isn’t going to send me rushing inside to buy some postage. Now I will admit that a lot of Star Wars junkies probably will buy stamps they wouldn’t have otherwise because they collect anything and everything Force-related. But is the buzz factor enough to warrant the costs associated with activating this promotion for the USPS? You tell me. I just don’t see there being much additional demand for stamps just because we can feed our letters into an R2-D2 mailbox.

In the meantime, I hope the Force is with my mailman. Given the pollen outside, he needs some sort of protection.

I love user-generated content because it allows consumers to connect with brands in so many different ways. It cuts through the clutter and gets right to its target audience. It also builds a sense of community among a group of people with shared interests.

Here are a couple of links to articles: one about user-generated advertising and another about how it relates to the Super Bowl.

Instead of being passive spectators, the trend of consumers actively engaging with brands is one that is sure to grow. Any smart marketer should know better than to put a stop to consumers who can act as an evangelist and spread good cheer through whatever channel possible. And if the cheer isn’t so good? Consider it an opportunity to improve, I say. Shouldn’t marketing be a two-way street?

Lack of internet access?! It’s 2007! How could that be possible?! Well, let’s just say that I was not having a Comcastic week last week.

My modem died on January 12, but it took three service technicians over a week to make the diagnosis. I’ll spare you the details. I was able to sneak peeks at my personal e-mail here and there, but not having the internet in my home office felt like my right arm had been removed. Needless to say, I was not pleased.

Just as I ended my last posting by saying how a positive customer experience can be a wonderful marketing tool, a negative experience can have the same effect – but not the kind a marketer would hope for.

So in the week that my internet was MIA, I at least had cable television as a link to the outside world. But in between watching my favorite shows, I saw more than one commercial advertising Comcast’s services. Which got me thinking, what’s the point in talking the talk if you’re not going to (or can’t) walk the walk? Shouldn’t companies make sure they’re able to deliver on current promises before they start making new ones?

The best kind of marketing is positive word of mouth from brand evangelists. But what kind of buzz can a company expect when those who are experiencing their brand (and are empowered to speak to it with authority) have nothing good to say? It’s time to reevaluate the link between marketing and customer service within the company.