For Sign-Up.to users, there’s only one thing we do that this might impact – data capture forms. Any forms added to Facebook pages using our new and improved Share section will be fine and you won’t need to do anything. However if you added a form to your Facebook page before our September 2011 Share update then the chances are that you did it using FBML.

If you fall into the latter category there then luckily there’s a simple solution for you. You’ll need to add your form to your Facebook page using the Share section and then remove the old FBML tab from the page. You don’t need to create a new form unless you want to, and you can make this change at any point in the run-up to June 1st to ensure uninterrupted access to your form. The sooner the better really, so if it’s going to affect you then get cracking!

Questions or queries? Get in touch with our friendly Support team and they’ll be happy to assist.

What is a plain text email?
It’s an email devoid of any HTML formatting. It’s not very pretty, but it does the job of getting your message across when an HTML email is not appropriate.

Why should you send plain text?
Some people choose not to receive HTML emails and some people simply cannot, so it pays to cover all bases and send plain text as well as HTML wherever possible. Nowadays many people also choose to read their email on a mobile device and these won’t always be fully compatible with HTML emails. Furthermore, setting a plain text version of your campaign will gain you brownie points with spam filters, as it is often assumed that the ‘lazy spammer’ wouldn’t bother to do so.

How does plain text differ from full HTML?
In a plain text email there will be no images (alternative text will not even be displayed), text formatting cannot be applied and our social share buttons will not work.  Also things like anchor tags, indented text and bulleted or numbered lists will be stripped from the email. A link will be displayed as its full URL and technically won’t appear as a hyperlink, but most email clients are clever enough to know what a link looks like and make it clickable. This is not the case however with Outlook 2007, 2010 or Lotus Notes 7, which will display URLs in a non-clickable format.

OK, so what does actually work?
Personalisation and campaign links such as forward to a friend or unsubscribe will work in plain text, however the rules regarding hyperlinks still apply. Like I said, plain text isn’t pretty, but it’s often useful.

How do you make a plain text version of a campaign using Sign-Up.to?
The Sign-Up.to Create section makes creating plain text emails very straightforward. Just one click will generate a plain text version of your campaign, see this handy guide for details.

How do you send the plain text version of a campaign?
Conveniently Sign-Up.to takes care of this for you. The system will automatically send out a multi-part email which contains both the HTML and plain text versions of your campaign. Depending on the inbox settings of your recipient, the appropriate version will be delivered. Your subscriber will only ever receive one version of the campaign.

How do you preview the plain text version of the email?
If you simply send a preview of a campaign, chances are you’ll get the HTML version as it will deliver what’s appropriate for your inbox. You’ll need to tell the system to send you the plain text version. Find out how here.

Hopefully this post has helped shed some light on the topic of plain text, but if you’re still unsure then drop our support team an email and we will be happy to help. Anything to add? Please leave us a comment in the box below.

The mobile explosion

When I started at Sign-Up.to I had a little Samsung phone, with limited internet excess but some ‘great’ music features – and I loved it. Today I have an iPhone 4 and couldn’t be without it. The growth of smartphones and the tablet market has been incredible and phones have become so much more than a way of speaking to or texting someone. My phone is my camera, calendar, music player, the place I check emails, a platform for playing games, how I check my bank balance, check all my social media channels, an alarm clock, how I check the weather, which actor was in that film I watched last night, how I place bids on eBay etc. Phew, that list is long! Making calls and sending text messages don’t sit at that top of the list and that really demonstrates the shift in how I use my ‘mobile phone’. The Internet is readily available and it’s given me different, and multiple, means of getting in touch with people. If I do want to send a text I have iMessage and What’s app, so our SMS behaviour has changed too. Smartphones are far from exclusive to young people too, they’re a mass market product. Heck, my parents even have one.

I remember when the iPad launched in 2010 and how a lot of people questioned their purpose. Despite that feeling, tablets have become a huge part of how people go about their daily lives – from internet browsing to reading books, tablets do it all. They’re hugely popular, with worldwide sales of tablets forecast to total 118.9 million units this year, up from 60 million last year (according to the Telegraph). Sadly I don’t own one but I can’t pretend that I haven’t been tempted on several occasions to splash out. E-readers, such as the Kindle, are hugely popular too but I can’t help but ask what’s wrong with a good old fashioned book?

A social world

Social media has boomed since 2009. Back then I actively used Facebook and Twitter but I certainly didn’t depend on them like I do today. Both platforms have become a big part of how I talk to my friends and family – especially for friends who live far away or are travelling. I use Twitter to see the latest news; in fact it’s become my primary news feed and whenever someone asks me what the point of Twitter is one of the major selling points for me is that it lets me easily keep up to date with news.

Let’s not forget that social media continues to evolve and the market isn’t made up of those two players anymore; we have Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest etc. Some are more relevant to me than others, and Pinterest and Tumblr have become favourites of mine. They’re both great for ‘dumping’ images and ideas I see on other websites and just this week my friends and I began using Pinterest to plan a weekend getaway. My friends and I are quite into crafting, a hobby that is going through a bit of a renaissance at the moment, and websites such as Pinterest and Tumblr along with the likes Ravelry and Etsy have opened up ways of meeting new people and seeking inspiration! Let’s not forget Instagram, a hugely popular mobile app for photo sharing with a vast array of impressive photo filters.

Getting smarter with emails

With all the changes that have come to mobile and social media it comes as no surprise to look back and see how much email, and email marketing, has changed. I used to be a big Hotmail fan, setting my email address up about 11 years ago when I first ‘joined’ the world wide web. However, I’ve had exposure to so many email clients working for Sign-Up.to that I’ve now opened up a new email account using Gmail (though perhaps I’m just a bit late to this party!). It’s taken a long time to transfer those important subscriptions over but it was a really valuable exercise for me – especially as I’m now really cautious and conscious of where all the emails I receive come from. Plus Gmail ties in nicely with Google Docs and Reader, both of which I use on a daily basis. Sending emails to my friends has certainly declined, but I now use email to find out about the latest news, products and offers from companies I’m interested in hearing from.

Email platforms are hot on the heels of spam emails and we’ve seen the likes of Hotmail and Gmail introduce tools to keep their users’ inboxes clean. As well as this spam levels are now at an all-time low, so for email marketers it’s crucial that they’re smart about the emails they’re sending and who they’re sending them to. For marketers, email activity can’t be looked at independently from other channels – and that’s what I think has changed the most since 2009. In my job I work with clients to develop their online marketing strategy and really believe the best results come from integrating their email, social, online and mobile activity and promotions. As well as this, having an email render correctly in all platforms (including mobile) is more crucial and arguably more difficult than ever before.

What about Sign-Up.to?

From new faces to system developments, a lot has happened. The team has grown considerably; when I started we were a team of 13 and now there’s 24 of us. Plus, my old manager Brenden has now opened up an office back in his home town, Brisbane, Australia! It’s a great place to work and I’ve made some fantastic friends in my time here. My role has developed too; I started as a Support Assistant and since then have become an Account Manager. I look after lots of interesting accounts and, from restaurants to retailers, I’ve certainly learnt a lot. I also get to explore social media channels and write a lot of Sign-Up.to’s documentation, so it’s safe to say that my role is varied and busy.

What about the Sign-Up.to platform? The biggest two developments were our Share and Create sections and months of hard work went into developing those sections. Share allowed us to respond to the changing world of social media, making it easy for a business to manage their Facebook and Twitter page all in one place. The Create project developed a brand spanking new email creation tool that still impresses me a year and a half after launching. We’re always looking to improve our offering and I’m quite excited about where we might go next.

That’s it, the last two and a half years in a nutshell. Here’s to the next 100 posts!

Under the account management cog, we’ve made it much to easier to manage your:

• Sub-users
• SMS, email and inbox testing credits
• API access
• Salesforce, Facebook and Twitter integrations
• Invoices and payments

We’re also releasing a revised target subscribers by action tool, which will allow you to easily use your email campaign results to segregate and contact those subscribers you’re most interested in.

The extra good news for all our customers who are on one of our monthly tariffs is that from this Tuesday we’ll be giving you access to our industry leading business class social marketing tools completely free.

With just your Sign-Up.to login, you’ll be able to manage all your email, SMS and social marketing; find your most valuable fans, measure how they respond, keep notes on your contacts and view detailed reports that show you how to get more from your social activity. Let your Sign-Up.to account put Twitter and Facebook to work for you.

If you’ve already upgraded to our business class social marketing, you’ll continue to enjoy the service but won’t be billed for it again. Bonus! These changes will make their way into accounts from 7pm BST on Tuesday 24th April 2012.

Sending a re-engagement email is a great way to reintroduce yourself to your recipients, ensure that they’re expecting to hear from you, and if needed, confirm that you have permission to contact them.  Email marketing is fundamentally about building and maintaining relationships with your subscribers; to inform, remind and persuade.  Setting out with the right attitude is key to building strong, positive relationships with your subscribers, and ultimately encouraging repeat purchases!

A re-engagement email is often used for new subscriptions, particularly if there’s a notable gap between signing up and receiving first contact.  This is sometimes referred to as a welcome email.  However, other occasions where you might find it appropriate are if:

• You’ve collected email addresses from purchases rather than a specific newsletter sign-up process.
• You’re changing the way you send your emails, for instance design or schedule.
• Your company has recently undergone major structural changes resulting in changes visible to your customers such as branding etc.

The first thing you will need to do is create an email to send them. This should be created in a style that reflects your branding, particularly the location through which they will have initially signed up.  When creating your email you should include the following:

The first thing they read:

• Who you are.
• How you got their details (‘You are receiving this email because…’).
• A clear unsubscribe link – if they don’t want to hear from you, emailing them won’t make you any money, no matter how hard you make it for them to unsubscribe.

The main body:

• Why you are contacting them – opting them in to receive content, notifying of changes etc.
• How often you are planning to email the subscribers and the type of content you aim to send e.g. products, news, offers etc.

Don’t forget:

• Branding – colours, fonts and logos that subscribers will recognise as yours.
• Add a call to action – what do you want readers to do? How do they do it? Why should they bother? For example, click a link or fill in a form to register their interest.
• Stick to your guns – if you’ve told them they will receive monthly offers, make sure this is what you send them.
• Follow up on their response – using our unsubscribe functionality we’ll automatically take care of anyone who unsubscribes, so you don’t contact them again by mistake.

Ways the subscriber can respond:

The opt-in form

Creating a form is really straightforward using the handy tools within the Collect tab. Once you have done this simply get the link and add this as a text or image link to your email campaign.

The ‘Yes/No’ link click

If you don’t want your subscribers to have to re-submit their details on a form, you also have the option to use campaign links, tracking which option your subscriber chooses. For example, you may wish to have a ‘Yes, please keep me on your mailing list’ link which takes them to a thanks confirmation page, and a ‘No, I do not wish to hear from you’ link which can link to the unsubscribe page. You can then monitor the links clicked in Analyse for those who clicked ‘Yes…’ and create a new list from this. This will then form your new, neat and tidy, opt-in data.

This email will help to maximise your subscribers’ awareness of your brand. This should help start the relationship with your recipients on the right foot, paving the way for a high level of engagement and brand loyalty. It can even help you to filter out those who are no longer active or relevant as prospects for your company. This means that you avoid paying to contact people who are not going to bring any return. For more information on best practices for capturing new data, take a look at these previous blog posts on the hows and whys of permission marketing.

The longer version:

You’ve no doubt seen them cropping up on adverts and labels all over the place. The little square blocks of static that look like a barcode that’s been put through a blender.

In a marketing context, they’re commonly used as a call to action -  to direct a user to a URL.

This is, in my opinion, a terrible idea.

Why?

To use a QR code, a user needs to first understand what one is (only 19% of UK users have ever used one), then have a QR code reader app installed on their smartphone. Then open the app, take a photo of the QR code and wait for the web page to load.

Or you could just put a short URL on your advert, and let anyone use it.

One process is considerably simpler than the other, doesn’t require a custom app, and will work on any internet capable device.

I’ve also seen some really terrible implementations of QR codes. Why on earth would you make your call to action a QR code on a poster above a urinal in a gents toilets. In a pub. Not exactly a place you want to be seen getting your camera out (trust me, it was awkward taking that example photo…) – apparently no one told Surrey County Council that.

Don’t get me wrong, in the right context, for the right audience they can be a good way to drive engagement, but for most applications, I implore you to think twice about using QR codes for a marketing call to action. Use a short URL, or even a text-in shortcode service that texts back a link someone can look at later.

I’ve just returned from my first trip to the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas.

This trip was hot on the heels of a week in New York on the London 2 NYC program and two weeks in Australia opening our new Brisbane office, so I can no longer claim to truly know what time it is, but I wanted to reflect on my learnings from the trip.

Why SXSW?

If you haven’t heard of it before, SXSW Interactive has rapidly grown from an offshoot of the SXSW Music festival into what is probably the largest gathering of geeks in the world (I use this term truly respectfully as I count myself amongst their number) – I’ve heard the estimated attendance this year was 24 – 25,000 people. Yep, it was busy.

I decided to head out there this year for a few reasons:

1. To learn – about what’s new in tech, best practice, new concepts and to generally broaden my horizons.
2. To promote Sign-Up.to – well, it was a business trip after all, and I’ve got bills to pay.
3. To see what it’s all about – I have to admit, I was really, really curious.

As a SXSW virgin, I decided to go as part of the UKTI / Chinwag organised UK Mission, rather than completely solo. I’m very glad I did as this gave me access to a host of pre- and mid- event briefings, roundtables and other events and made it much easier to get a handle on what is an event of epic scale. I can’t recommend the Chinwag and UKTI teams highly enough. In addition the other mission members were a really great bunch and I look forward to catching up with many of them back on home shores.

Observations

I’ve heard this said a few times by others, and I don’t have previous visits to provide the context but I’m inclined to agree that the conference is now too large. There were so many panels on at once that it was nearly impossible to decide what to see and whilst some were excellent, a few were of dubious quality.

The queues for the keynote speeches were truly epic – not as epic as the 2.5 hour queue for registration on Friday though. I missed a few talks as they were over capacity and in order to get in to see Sean Parker and Al Gore I had to arrive halfway through the previous talk. That and the scale of the event (with talks taking place all over Austin) meant it was difficult to see more than 3 seminars a day.

The number of visitors also meant accommodation was an issue. I booked 5 months ahead and still had to stay 6 miles away, meaning a daily painful commute on a shuttle bus  which only arrived sporadically (and the occasional illicitly obtained taxi). The biblical rainstorms on Friday and Saturday did nothing to improve the transport situation.

The real value in SXSW lay in the networking though, the panels really just provided a backdrop to this. The great thing about a conference like this is everyone is on a similar wavelength and up for conversation. In the panel queues, at the bar, in the 2am shuttle bus home – great connections were available everywhere.

Interesting Seminars

A few of the seminars really stood out for me. Jared Spool’s talk on The Secret Lives of Links was an insightful and thought provoking look into how link structure and wording has a profound effect on usability. Did you know that if a user hits the back button twice in succession whilst browsing your site there’s a 98% likelihood that their site visit will result in a failure to find the content they were looking for?

As a keen photographer the demonstration of the new Lytro lightfield camera technology was phenomenal. Being able to refocus and alter the perspective of an image after it has been taken is a game changer. It’s really going to change the nature of photography once it gets into the mainstream and they can build the cameras quickly enough to meet demand.

As well as going to talks on subjects I regularly follow, I decided to seek out things I wouldn’t normally see and so started asking people for their recommendations. This lead to my highlight of show, which was David Eagleman’s talk on the Secret Lives of The Brain. A fascinating look into how we are controlled by our subconscious and unaware of the majority of our thought processes.

What Was Hot?

SXSW is known as the conference where Twitter and Foursquare broke out so everyone was looking for the hot new thing.

This year the talk was all about location-based services and social discovery tools like Highlight, Glancee and Uberlife, but the sheer scale has now made it pretty impossible to really breakthrough the clutter – another issue the event faces. To get real attention you need a massive budget (like the reputed $2 million Amex paid to get Jay-Z to play their private party).

My SXSW Tips:

If you’re looking to go to SXSW 2013, here are a few tips based on my initial experience.

Book early - Register early and get a hotel within walking distance of the conference centre. Or be prepared spending hours queuing for shuttle buses and taxis.

Talk to everyone - Some of the best contacts you’ll make will be in the most random of places. I ended up talking API’s at 2.30am in the back of a shuttle bus.

Don’t plan too much - Pick a few key things you want to do, then be ready to go with the flow. It’s huge, hectic and a haven for spontaneity and serendipity. Scheduling meetings is done at your own risk.

Get ready to party network - The evening events are a huge part of SXSW, as are the breakfast events, and the lunch events, and the mid-afternoon events. You won’t need to buy much food or drink there. Get ready to jump in, explore and talk to new people about what they’re doing. Try and pace yourself at the bar.

It wasn’t that long ago Facebook forced its latest update onto the unsuspecting 800 million strong user base. I’m sure there were many tears and many hate groups started, but we learn to accept change and move on.

Now if you manage a Facebook page like I do, you probably saw that massive banner space and thought “What about my brand?”. Well it’s finally here, and I think they’ve done a cracking job on it.

On March 1st a preview mode of Timeline for pages was enabled. Admins have until the March 30th to get their pages ready before Facebook presses the go-live button for all accounts, globally.

So what do you need to know? The key points are:

• New large format banner image for page headers (851×351 pixels)
• Timeline format of page updates
• Private messaging between the page and fans
• A reworked admin section

So I’ve mentioned the large banner. This is the main attraction and should be an easy win for most. There are a couple of caveats from Facebook in that you can’t splash the space with ads, promos or call-outs – they want you to upload an image that really captures your brand.

Now I’m going to jump right to the juicy part now. The Timeline. This is going to be HUGE.

Not only will the changeover sort your existing updates into chronological order but you also have the ability to add brand milestones, right back to day one. You can have an interactive, media rich, brand biography; right on the world’s most popular social destination – Facebook. You can star updates and have them go full width; you can pin updates to the top of your page; you can hide updates from the Timeline, for those bits of history you’d rather forget; and if someone mentions your page in an update, you can have their posts appear as well (with the ability to moderate of course).

We have a client that I’m currently working with to pull in their entire back catalogue of albums, singles, tour schedules and media clippings from when they started 25 odd years ago. It’s going to be a walk down memory lane and the fans are going to love it!

I’m also working with another client whose venue has a rich history dating back to the 1800s. Imagine the treasure trove that could be their Facebook page.

Direct messaging is also sure to be a hit with those brands managing feedback (which is hopefully all of you). If you need to “take it offline” you can do so now with private messages. If you’ve ever wanted to handle a complaint or even contact a competition winner, this is certainly going to be a welcome feature. It’s not all green grass though, if you’re managing a page for a brand who has an established customer service system you’re probably still going to have to funnel the user through to them, but if you’re a small operator it’s going to cut down on the double handling.

Sadly not all changes are good for marketers. Default landing pages have gone the way of the ‘poke’, so you can no longer set a default page for your visitors to see. However you are able to directly link to the pages, so you can take advantage of this in your email marketing or advertising. The app tabs and sidebar items have been squeezed into 4 (3 use-able) boxes above the fold with a total of 12 once you expand the section. This may not be ideal, however Facebook are offering 2 sizes for apps now, 520 pixels and a huge 810 pixels, along with larger app icons which should make up for it.

There is a shift going on over at Facebook and it’s about interaction. Gone are the days of a fan count and making those interested in your brand jump through hoops to get that prized ‘like’.

If your page is interesting; if you post consistent, stimulating updates; updates that have your fans interacting with your page; you’re going to do well. The new Timeline is going to give your brand the opportunity to mark events and showcase those stand out updates.

Want to see what I’m on about? The Manchester United page is getting a lot of press but it’s worthwhile taking a look. Other honourable mentions have to go to Bulmers UK for being creative and Livestrong for really pulling at those heartstrings.

So if your brand page has been sitting there stagnating or you’ve tricked it out with the latest fan-gated custom app, it’s time to revisit as the game has changed again!

Have you seen any good Timeline examples? Let us know in the comments.

If you’re keen to make the switch but don’t know where to start, drop us a line – it’s kinda what we do.

It wouldn’t be SXSW without the parties (ahem, I mean ‘networking events’) and we’re proud to be one of the sponsors of Chinwag’s Great British Tea Party on Sunday 11th March – if you’re at SXSW come down and say hi!  You can find out more and RSVP for the party here.