This week’s top conversational marketing stories:

Execs Dish on the Growing Importance of ‘Social Business’ – on Marketingprofs    

According to this MarketingProfs article with over 349 social shares, if you’re working in entertainment media and publishing, IT and technology, or telecommunications/communications, then the chances of social software being important to you is much higher than those working manufacturing or energy and utilities.  So why use it? “Execs say social software is helping their companies meet various challenges and cite the following as "important" or "somewhat important" benefits of social software: managing customer relationships: 80%, innovating for competitive differentiation: 74%, acquiring and retaining employees: 65%, responding to new competitive threats: 62%, growing revenue: 61%.” The article also touches on other factors of what kinds of companies value social software tools, size and the keys too adoption being among them. Does your company use this tool, what industry do you work in?

Email Marketing Tips - on Chris Brogan               

“To me, the hottest and sexiest social network right now is your inbox. Sure, I love Pinterest as much as the next guy (who likes Ryan Gosling’s abs), and I think it’s great that Zuck took the company public, made people angry for wearing a hoodie to Wall Street, and then got married. You already know I’m down with Google+. But if you want to know the hottest opportunity in the world? It’s the inbox. Your inbox.”  In this Chris Brogan post with over 781 social likes and argues that while inboxes don’t in any capacity replace blogs or social networks, that they are still play a vital role in reaching your audience. The other part of mastering the power of the inbox is content and layout. How are your email marketing efforts going? Are there any tips that weren’t mentioned in this post?

How to Use Press Releases to Create a Steady Social SEO PR Downpour - by John Jantsch  on Ducttapemarketing    

This Jon Jantsch post which garnered over 478 social like pertains to the topic of having an online presence and engaging your customers. “There was a day when the press release did a lot of the work in generating actual media coverage for a firm announcing a new product, acquisition, award or some other newsworthy milestone. Today a great deal of this kind of news is either delivered directly to audiences through social channels or carried by a PR professional as part of a broader pitch for coverage or advocacy. The humble press release, however, is not a relic of the past. The press release still performs a very valuable function in the online world that requires the constant care, feeding and gathering of keyword rich content, social signals and links. The article goes on to include 5 elements integral to using a stream of press releases as a process in your lead generation plan: publish, distribute, curate, amplify, and analyze. Do you think this is a solid process? Do you think press releases are a solid way to create a solid social SEO PR downpour?

Let's keep the conversation moving forward! How are you handling the social media aspect of your marketing plans? Are software tools useful for you? Are you already using them, or planning to adopt? How about your e-mailing efforts? Do you use the power wielded by an inbox to your advantage or can you optimize your technique? What about the art of the press release are these five elements used in yours? Are they helpful or are there some others that need to be employed?