Customized Multi-channel Marketing - hosted by L2

Session 4 was on Demystifying and Deconstructing RSS. The most interesting part of this discussion to me was the comparison of RSS to SMTP (email transport). The gentleman contended that RSS should not be compared to email because the content was similar, just the delivery changed, and as RSS gets incorporated into email client software and desktop software, the line between RSS and email will virtually disappear. I liked that analysis. Additional analysis of RSS vs SMTP revealed the following contrasts:

• Currently, RSS is not greatly subject to viruses or spam but this is mostly because the hackers and spammers haven’t spent the time to try to hijack RSS feeds.
• RSS is great for anonymous subscriptions and favored because of its easy opt-out, but it won’t replace email because it is nowhere near as easy to personalize.
• RSS tracking, measuring, and personalization tools are light compared to email campaign tools.  They may eventually catch up but due to the largely anonymous nature of RSS, they will probably never be quite as robust.

The final take-away from this session was that, "it’s about the content, not the channel." Make your content interesting, relevant, and sought-after and then give your customers channel options.