Is your library using email marketing to reach your patrons and future users?

18-34 Year Old Responds to Email Marketing Over Social Network Marketing

Social networking is popular, but how to target consumers through
them is a mystery that has plagued marketers since social media's
inception. Now, a new study from ExactTarget is showing how tough it
can be.

The report showed that 18-34 year olds say they're more likely to
respond to marketing efforts via email or direct mail than they are
social networking campaigns.

Here are more key findings from the study:

• 20 percent of Wired consumers have subscribed for marketing
  communications via SMS, more so than any other group, but they want to
  receive texts only for urgent customer service issues such as financial
  alerts or travel updates.
• More than 50 percent of Young
  Homemakers use social networks and SMS during the day, but direct mail
  and e-mail are their two preferred marketing channels.
• 81
  percent of Retired consumers have purchased online and 94 percent have
  been influenced by some form of direct marketing to make a purchase.
• College
  Students are very spam-savvy and believe private communication channels
  such as SMS and social networks are off limits for marketers.
• Teens
  use social networking more than any other group but are more likely to
  make a purchase from direct mail, followed by e-mail, SMS and social
  network sites.
• Women are more likely than the men in the
  Established Professionals group to use new digital media channels such
  as IM, SMS and social networking to communicate with friends and
  family, but men and women alike shop online with 92 percent of the
  consumers in this group having made an online purchase.