New Social Tools from iContact

Email marketing firm iContact has introduced the latest version in its growing line of social media marketing solutions. I Contact Social Tools gives small and medium-sized businesses a powerful and effective means to reach existing and new customers through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

The upgraded version of iContact Social Tools builds on the foundation established earlier in the year when the company started blending email marketing and social media marketing into a single conversation focused on small business success. Following are a few of the expanded features and functionalities:

-    Social Tools Tracking - Users can insert, edit and track Like and Tweet buttons in every message for recipients to easily share with their friends, colleagues or followers on Facebook and Twitter. This feature splits up the tracking of Likes and Tweets by source so marketers can see how the numbers break down across viewers coming in from Facebook posts, Twitter posts, direct email recipients and other third-party sources.

-    Facebook Like Buttons - Contacts can now "like" a vendor's emails from their inboxes to further extend their reach.

-    Tweet Buttons - Users can add a tweet button and contacts can tweet from anywhere in the message.

"It is easy to share information with friends on Facebook," says Chris Regalado, revenue manager for Miami's Beacon Hotel, which uses Facebook to encourage fans and previous guests to sign-up for its email list and take advantage of promotions for future visits. "We have found that incorporating social media with email makes each approach more powerful, and helps us expand our marketing efforts and grow our brand awareness. iContact's Social Media tools are very straightforward to use, and we can see great results in a short period of time."