What are Social Network Websites and why are they an opportunity to marketers? 
Social networks are web based communities and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. Social network sites represent the newest gateway to the Internet. The latest studies show that internet users spend more time on social networks in an average day than they do on major portals like Google and Yahoo. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people to communicate and build and maintain relationships.  The most popular are Facebook, Linked In and Twitter. 

Integrating social media into your broader marketing program should be an ongoing effort. Those of you looking to expand your email programs through social media in the months ahead should keep this top of mind. While most of our clients will undoubtedly see success by simply enabling subscribers to use social sharing tools, the larger opportunity is to start leveraging existing email subscribers to help build out online communities.  Once those communities start to take root, you can communicate key brand value propositions to the community and drive traffic to your site or store.

For more detailed information, GO HERE for the Whitepaper: "Expanding the Reach of Email Through Social Networks".