Social Email Marketing

Forrester Research released its “Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Providers Q4 2009” report and that means that the companies that rank well (‘Leaders’) in this ESP report have sent or will send press releases.

One of the ESPs that already did it (on December 23) is ExactTarget that says “ExactTarget and one other vendor are ‘at the front of the Leader pack’ with perfect scores in product roadmap, vertical strategy, strength of management, executive vision, employees, campaign automation, data security and customer satisfaction”.

The company also seems to be the only email service provider to score a perfect score in the customers category, noting “with high satisfaction scores and online community, ExactTarget can successfully meet marketers’ complex business needs.”

I co-founded a community called Engagement Marketing Experts. Now I regret the name, especially the ‘expert’ part. But it’s too late.

We are all experts. Being an expert is a matter of thinking, learning and seeing the reality through the hype. Experts exist because many companies THINK they need them. I know many experts and “gurus” myself. Some are really great people that know what they’re talking about. But some are living in a world on their own. Narcissism.

I write this because I just read something on Twitter that drives me mad. I hope it’s a joke but I’m afraid it’s not. It has something to do with certifications for social marketing experts.

Social media are great but narcissism is beginning to invade social media. From ultra-friendly Twitter profiles that talk about nothing but themselves to ridiculous celebrity cults, the world of social media, Twitter particularly, is packed with one-upping, patently sycophantic discussion, and profiles that are simply embarrassing when looked at with any semblance of self awareness.