Almost every break out time slot had a speaker sharing insights and ideas for email campaigns. There were also a few really great content marketing sessions. I made note of a lot of great tips: some we implement already and a few we can’t wait to explore.

Emails are being read first on mobile devices. Now, this obviously depends on your industry, and individual results may vary, but by and large, people are reading email, especially outside the hours of 8am-5pm, on their mobile devices. That being said…

(Michael Barber)

• Emails should be glance-able
• No scrolling left to right
• Large calls to action (thumbs are bigger than mouse pointers)
• Large font, too – at least 16pt

(Justine Jordan)

• Remove “Click here.” People do not “click” with their thumb
• Personalize your emails – they perform better to the tune of +26% open rates
• Send emails based on birthdays, purchase history, or any other data you have

And if you need any inspiration for emails, check out reallygoodemails.com.

If you finish this blog post with one nugget of advice, I hope it’s this: be authentic. Twitter itself suggests that the best tweets share meaningful moments — big and small. People follow companies (for a variety of reasons, including) to get a look behind the curtain, and see who you really are and what you’re all about.

Here are a few easy-to-implement tips to get you started and to keep in mind as you grow your Twitter base.

What is it they say about pictures?
Tweets with images result in more engagement whether you measure Retweets, Favorites or Replies. You have a limited number of characters to work with. Including an image uses a finite number of those characters, but you know what they say: A picture is worth a thousand words.

First is better than third.
Even if you’re tweeting as a company and not an individual, use first person language. Say “we,” not the name of the company. Never include your own handle in a tweet. Twitter is all about conversation. If your Twitter account seems boring and sterile, your company may seem that way, too.

Oreo is a great example of a lighthearted and personable Twitter account.

Be a tease.
Twitter is practically designed to help you be coy; take advantage. 140 characters are all you have to intrigue people and entice them to click on your content. While teasing your information, also be clear with your wording as people are more likely to click on your link if they know what to expect.

Tweet around.
If you tweet around your industry and about the things that you find interesting, it’s likely that your followers might also find it interesting, even if it’s not directly related to your products or services. Not every tweet is going to close a sale or gain a new follower. You’re trying to promote conversation and engage with your followers.

For example, Nike has built a very successful and recognizable brand. Some of their tweets are about the fitness industry without pushing anything they sell. In the example below, they do include their tagline as a hashtag, but this tweet doesn’t tell you anything about their products.

Peak time.
Have you picked up on any trends in engagement among your followers? Do you get more retweets or mentions on certain days of the week or even at certain times of the day? Pay attention to engagement by day and time and see if you pick up a pattern. (By the way, you should also be checking out your Twitter Analytics for other great stats on your account!) For B2B companies, we typically see peak engagement on weekdays after 11am ET, and it’s pretty quiet between 8pm and 9am ET as well as on the weekend.

#ButNotTooMany
Hashtags are a great way to extend your reach. You probably have a goal to increase the number of your followers, and an easy way to reach potential followers is to include hashtags in your tweets. Be sure to search and include hashtags that already have a strong presence. New, custom hashtags can also be included in your next campaign to promote conversation and engagement.

And remember, one or two hashtags per tweet is ideal. Any more than that, and well…

1. Spread cheer!

Share good wishes for your clients to enjoy the holiday season. Keep it general enough that no matter what your customer’s religious or cultural practices, your message will apply and not accidentally offend.

2. Show your personality.

This is a great opportunity to be creative, light-hearted and fun. But that’s not to say that I’m not advocating dancing elves a la Jib-Jab for every company.

Pretty photos or images are a nice way to convey a personality or feeling. One way we’ve done this is sharing images of how our client companies’ hometowns celebrate and bedeck themselves for the holidays.

For Metrics, located in Greenville, NC, we shared a photo and information about how many White House Christmas trees have come from North Carolina. (This year’s is the twelfth.)

For OsoBio, located in Albuquerque, NM, we included photos of the nearby Sandia Mountains and talked about the winter recreation OsoBio employees enjoy there.

These personal touches make a connection with your readers.

3. Thank your customers and look forward to another good year ahead.

It’s a simple formula, really, for what should be a simple message. I just have one don’t, and will hope that common sense and the do’s above will lead you down the right path.

Don’t make a sales pitch.

Don’t talk about your business. Don’t make it educational or informative. Don’t talk about your products or services. The only time this is ok is if you are offering customers a discount or gift of products or services. Otherwise, just don’t go there.

I do think that it’s okay to give folks a reminder of office closures or special holiday hours you’ll be keeping. Otherwise, this email has one purpose: spread holiday cheer and show your gratitude.

Starting the agency’s Pinterest account wasn’t a lot different than starting to browse Pinterest in your PJs from your couch. First, create a company account with Pinterest. You can create the account using your Twitter or Facebook accounts, or simply create a unique username and password. From there you can upload a picture or company logo and fill in other specifics on your profile. After that, all that’s left is to create a few boards and add some pins.

We’ve set up a number of different types of boards: by client, by project type, etc. Some boards showcase a recent project we’ve completed while others have a range of clients shown, but all one particular service.

We’ve also created some just-for-fun boards, like our Holiday Favorites board. Here we’re spreading holiday cheer and sharing our favorite holiday recipes. We’ve incorporated the pins into blog, Facebook and Twitter postings.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your company’s visual representation, Pinterest is a great place to start. Pinterest boards leave a lasting impression on your new business meetings and are a great tool to incorporate into your overall marketing efforts.

If you look at the date of this blog post and the previous blog post, you’ll see that somewhere along the way, we lost some of our Sinclairity. So when we caution our clients that a blog is big commitment, we say so while shamefully remembering our neglected blog.

When the going gets tough due to busy schedules, unexpected changes or a lack of focus, a blog is one of the easiest things to let slide. So how do you regain that focus? Here’s what we’ve done.

1. Review where you were.

Read your previous posts and see what you think of them. Use the distance and perspective to think about what you’d like to do differently.

2. Document where you want to be.

The big takeaway from our blog review is that we didn’t always focus on our four core competencies: marketing strategy, creative, digital and PR. We meandered a bit from our strengths and how we execute on them on a weekly basis. So our plan is to take a more introspective approach to future blog posts and share our perspectives on these areas.

Another idea that we’ve helped our clients with is to brainstorm a list of potential topics and put them on paper. These could be evergreen topics that you can pull from any time to quickly write on a topic you know well. These are good supplemental materials to the day-to-day work you’re doing or current events in your outside world – from your local community to your industry.

3. Repurpose!

The time it takes to put together a blog post seems like a better use of time when you’re using that content multiple ways. We will strive to integrate our Pinterest, Twitter, blog and our newly updated website to tell an ongoing story in a few different ways.

Since we last left our blog in 2010, a lot has changed in the social media world. Many of us at the agency are more involved in Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and LinkedIn for ourselves and our clients and have been integrating them in interesting ways. We’ll talk more about that in another post.

4. Don’t go it alone.

We are a team of authors who hold each other responsible for generating new content. That’ll help.

If your blog has a single author, then reach out to your network, audience or colleagues for inspiration. Sometimes blogging can seem like shouting into a black hole, but knowing that you have a support network that is listening to what you have to say can add purpose to your posts. And it’s never a bad idea to keep your audience in mind for anything you’re writing.

5. It happens.

I recently heard from one of my favorite blogger friends who had slowed the pace of posting to his own blog. He shared that he was taking some time to reassess his material. I liked hearing this for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s a great idea to proactively take a step back and review your content and see if it is speaking to your own perspective and adding to the conversation. How are people responding to your posts: which ones draw the most comments, which the least?

Second, it is comforting to know that even a very good blogger who is an author and has a strong, unique perspective struggles. It happens.

Since that conversation, I’ve been thinking about how some of my favorite movies from my teens would be different if social networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube were part of the story.  With a nod to John Hughes:

Imagine getting a text message saying “Save Ferris! Donate $5 now by texting “Ferris” to 12345.”  Or consider how much more complicated Ferris’s cover-up would have to be if his Danke Schoen performance were a YouTube sensation?

It certainly would have been nice for Grandpa Howard to Tweet that Long Duk Dong was coming to Jenny’s wedding in Sixteen Candles so Sam could have been prepared.  Farmer Ted’s FaceBook page would have hundreds of out-of-focus pictures of the prom queen in a Rolls Royce.

If Clark W. Griswold had been following the Wally World Twitter feed, he would have known about their scheduled maintenance before hauling the family truckster across the country.

Besides being an entertaining thought, it’s made me see how much social media is changing the story of our lives.  It’s not about Farmville or tweeting which breakfast cereal you chose today.  It’s about sharing bits of ourselves to make connections to help each other out — and isn’t that what marketing is all about?

(The answer in the comments.)

Its use at a panel discussion on social media last week caught my attention.  In a response to a question about using social media outlets for consumer marketing, the panel urged transparency in social media campaigns.  They encourage you to be clear to the audience about who you are and your intentions.

Isn’t that the transparency we seek in all the other ways the term is currently being used?

I used Google’s Trends tool to see how the term’s search pattern in the United States has trended, which you can view here: http://www.google.com/trends?q=transparency&geo=usa&sa=N

Its search volume has increased slightly so far this year over last year.  But what I found most interesting is that occurrences of the word “transparency” in news articles for 2009 are up significantly and steadily over last year.

Google Trends is a tool that we use in our interactive planning. And it’s also cool to check out for cultural trends like this.

I’ve had several friends sell houses lately and move into new ones, and it made me think about how a Web site is online real estate.   And that your home page is like your front door: it’s the portal through which all your visitors pass and where they form their first impression.

A friend from Oklahoma says that she wants the front door of her home to say “Howdy! Come on in.”  as only an Oklahoman could.  That sentiment should apply just as much to your Web site’s home page.

So what will that mean for our home page?  I’ve outlined three criteria that our updated home page should meet:

1. At a glance, visitors will understand who we are and the services we provide.  More than just with the copy on the page, we have some ideas for how to showcase recent work that should give a strong first impression.  Not to mention flexing our Web design and development skills.
2. We’ll tell visitors what’s new with frequently updated copy, including links to this blog.
3. The “Howdy!” welcoming factor will be there through those cheery, brightly-colored dots.

I don’t want to give away all the features of the new design, so I’ll charge you with this:  Visit your Web site.  It seems silly to say, but honestly, how often do you objectively critique your company’s Web site?

Look for that warm welcome and clear explanation of what you do. And make sure that your Web site’s front door looks like an entry to where your customers want to be.

The recipients’ experience came to mind when I received an email notification that my auto insurance premium is due at the end of the month.  Here’s a screenshot so you can see what they sent:

My insurance carrier could make this notification a much more pleasant experience for me by moving away from a black and white email with a paragraph of all-caps.

I wish that I could have our designers create a nice branded email template they could use to remind me again who insures my car (something that’s too easy to forget).  I would include a prominent, stylish button that connects me to a login to my account to pay my bill.  The amount due would be in a nice font and a nice color that would make it stand out from the paragraphs of legalese.

Please, make it easier for me to see what matters most.

Every email is an opportunity to continue building your relationship with your audience.  Even the most routine message shouldn’t be overlooked.