So what’s the buzz for March 10th, 2010? The buzz is our daily collection of must read articles we’ve found from multiple sources around the web! We’ve reached out to gather them all together and bundle them up for email marketing newbees and ninjas!

Next Web

The CMO’s guide to the Social Landscape
There’s nothing like a good a cheat sheet and thenexweb.com has posted a great visual guide map to leveraging social media for marketing.

Takeaway: The social media landscape can be tricky. Having a map such as this handy will keep you on the right path to reach your goals.

The Email Wars

Black and white or white and black?
After reading a post from Anna Yeaman, Dylan Boyd at Email Wars began pondering what works best when putting things into “black and white” for email marketing layouts.

Takeaway: Maybe what we should all test in content heavy email newsletters to let the copy and content do the work, as that is what we are all really after right?

AWeber

Newsletter 101: Conquering Structure
You have 51 seconds to get to the point. That’s all the average email gets, according to the Nielsen Norman Group. In those seconds, readers determine the email’s value and decide whether to act.

Takeaway: Don’t try to convince your subscribers – instead, clearly present them with an appealing offer.

email experience council

A Click is a Click by Any Other Name, But Click-Through Rates Are Not the Same
Research done by the eec’s Measurement Accuracy Roundtable shows that ESPs use several different methods of measurement for the Click-Through Rate (CTR) metric.

Takeaway: It’s in the best interest of email marketers and ESPs to come together to standardize metrics.

CampaignMonitor

Where did I come from? Providing meaningful permission reminders
Letting the email recipient know how they joined the list may seem really simple and straightforward, however unless you give it a little thought, it can go all circular.

Takeaway: Making it clear and visible in your email as to where your recipients signed up is best practice, especially if you don’t send email on a regular basis. The result: Less spam complaints and more trust towards you as an email sender. Like with a lot of email techniques, one line can make all the difference.

If you’ve got something juicy to share via The Buzz, just tweet @TheeMailGuide or drop us a comment!