by Ron Daly

As someone who has been in the business of marketing financial services for quite a while now (tomorrow’s my birthday, but that doesn’t mean you should know how old I am), I got a bit of a chill when the MySpace/Facebook movement came along: I stay in touch with the “new tricks” of the day as best I can, but how does one learn to market on a whole new wavelength?

As Jimmy discussed yesterday, users – even young adult users – are reluctant to purchase and deal on social network applications. Another article from eMarketer, seen here, shows statistics that prove what I’ve known for a while now: e-mail marketing works. People prefer to deal with businesses via e-mail, and that’s a statistic that goes across a number of age boundaries.

Numbers still remain low for telephone purchasing/level of appeal. I think the reason for this might just be the reason Jimmy outlined yesterday. Facebook, as I see it, is a lot like telephone. You like to hear from friends and family. Over the phone, however, you can’t find people that have the same interests as you and you can’t join “phone groups” of people who share said interests. That said, the purpose of the two mediums is mostly the same: keep in touch. You might be less than receptive in dealing with a telemarketer (see the “do-not-call” list as proof of that) because they’re taking phone time away from people from whom you’d like to hear. The same goes for Facebook – better to let it be a personal space, perphaps, and let the business be done in e-mail…where some 60% of consumers like to do business in the first place.