Email Overload? Google unveils Priority Inbox

What tools do we tend to really appreciate today while managing our workflow? To mention just the most "appealing" ones: optimisation and time-saving solutions. No wonder: the reason lies in - data overload.. Are you feeling overwhelmed with the amount of data received via email inbox? Too many letters to read - and thus..quite a lot of them - to skip?
Google has come up with - Google Priority Inbox = a tool designed to:

1. filter out your spam (bad news for spammers!) - this promises to become more efficient than before: it uses some of the same algorithms used for Gmail's spam filtering, but for the opposite purpose: to triage, to see just how important each email is..

2. filter by importance: the Priority Inbox tool will be an item in the left-hand column, right above Inbox, and will be divided into three sections: Important Unread, Starred, and Everything Else.



Worth mentioning:

- Important and Unread emails will include correspondence with people you always respond to right away, as well as
- Emails that include keywords that usually grab your attention (quite an inovative approach, based on Google's search principles). Also,
- Email sent specifically to you, and not to others as well, will receive preferential placement.



This system is a thoughtful one, - a simplified way to quickly see what needs immediate responding and what can wait--provided the algorithms are effective...

What's Google's strategy behind this tool? Google is positioning it's new product as your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules (which we're now used to with MS's Outlook).

I'd say well done for now and let's see the usability of the new tool when it comes to complex issues - such as filtering emails per personally selected categories (say product types - if you're a manufacturer, clinets' list - if you're an agency/supplier or other channels)..

Hope that helps:)

Always positive,

Yours,
@Digilunch

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How Blogs Can Become Public Relations Tools?

This post has been written by a guest contributor - Kristin Gabriel, Social Media Professional at MarComNewMedia.com.

Marketing and PR has morphed into a combination of old school traditional media, and the latest social media marketing strategies. I have been blogging for a variety of different clients over the last eight years. Some of the first tricks that I first learned still apply.

Many are forming all over the Internet, and blogs increase the search visibility for online audiences. The following blogging tips to work very nicely for our clients including:

1. Use newsworthy topics that tie-in to local, national or industry news if possible. Always include these key words in your headline and body copy.

2. Link your key words and phrases in blog posts to a page on your website with relevant content.

3. Use about three links per blog post -- beginning middle and end. Also always link towards the beginning middle and end of each paragraph and/or sentence if possible.

4. Research and use statistics, site studies, and science when you can to lend authority to each blog post.

5. Add photos, diagrams, charts and videos, which should all be uploaded with names that include your keywords.

6. To be clear about a process needing an outcome, use steps or numbers.

If you are a company that is trying to get covered by the media, you have to be all over the Internet so the media will find you. The press room on your website must have everything they could possibly need to begin writing about your company right away.

The items in a press room should include:

a company backgrounder,
press releases,
a frequently asked questions document (FAQ),
product profiles, and
photos, videos, etc.
Plus today's press rooms also might have RSS feeds or links to Twitter and Facebook fan pages.

If you have a blog but need help writing and performing the right search marketing strategies and tactics for better visibility, look for someone to can ghostwrite your blog, or train you on how to get the best return for blogging on the Internet.

Most businesses that are using Facebook already know about the little "Like" feature, which enables you to click on something someone posts that you like and then share that with your Facebook friends. Facebook wants you to share your likes from other places on the Internet, such as blogs and other websites. Start watching for other web publishers to begin installing the FB Like button everywhere. More than 1,500 Type Pad bloggers installed Like buttons on their blogs when the widget first launched.

More than 2,400 bloggers added this feature soon thereafter and started enjoying a 200 percent growth spurt in their referral traffic from Facebook according to Type Pad. We test out most all of the revenue boosting social media tactics that we hear about. We have also seen some good results with Facebook ads.

These are Facebook's pay per click (PPC) revenue center, but the ads usually work and are low cost.

Hope you'll find it useful. For further post ideas and contributions, don't hesitate to get in touch!

Yours,
@Digilunch

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How to Schedule Your Gmail/Outlook emails?

Have you heard so far of Boomerang for Gmail? The service claims to be able to help you schedule the exact time and day for sending your emails. Say you'd like to set a recurring task for certain days, to be able to notify your colleagues or maybe clients (in which case that could be an add-on to your e-mail marketing campaign), or just to send a greeting card to your friends on a Birthday occasion? Would be a nice idea,wouldn't it?

Since Gmail doesn’t allow you to schedule your emails - there's instead a third-party application claiming to be able to do that - Boomerang for Gmail, which is an extension for Firefox and Chrome browser (also available for Mac).

I've found about its existance today and here're the benefits & drawbacks I learned from:

1. Benefits:

- You can schedule when to read/answer on your incomming emails:




- You can set and automatic delivery of your draft emails at any time in the future



2. Drawbacks:

- There may occur mistakes while scheduling emails containing attachments:



Possible mistakes - the email body may disappear, while the attachment may be duplicated. Obviously, not a welcoming occuring.

- Lack of data integrity (the email may be sent with or without the intended attachment).

Whether it was just in my case or it's more of a common issue Boomerang is currently facing - we don't know, as there hasn't been any official statement on it so far. Anyway, you're more than welcome to check it yourselves and decide if this free app would be useful for yourselves: http://www.baydin.com/boomerang4gmail/

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LinkedIn - Enters Social Recommendations' Market

The 75-million subscribers-rich professional network LinkedIn has acquired social recommendation technology mSpoke. Although the terms of acquisition were not yet made public, place your bets - LinkedIn is heading towards greater relevancy and more engagement. Apparently social recommendations' trend is skyrocketing (e.g.search engines have already started to integrate social features to be able to leverage "community wisdom" - more on: Google Star Ratings article)

mSpoke is a provider of an adaptive personalization engine which aligns machine learning technology with consumers implicit and explicit feedback to deliver relevant content. The result is that consumers see content relevant to them personally, as well as advertising on related products/services (great news for e-commerce vendors) as the reccomendation algorithms are individualized to the user. An other curiosity is that the individualized algorithms are constantly adapting and improving over time. You can see an example by checking out on Feedhub.

"mSpoke and LinkedIn's shared focus on generating relevant content make this acquisition a natural fit for us," says Jeff Weiner, chief executive officer of LinkedIn. "We're actively investing in solutions that help deliver valuable professional insights to LinkedIn members"

Note: mSpoke is based in Pittsburgh and was founded by chief executive officer Sean Ammirati, chairman of the board Dave Mawhinney and chief technology officer Dean Thompson.

Your Social Recommendations Spy,

@Digilunch

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