This past year, Microsoft announced the launch of Outlook social connector, a new feature for Outlook 2010 that will link social network feeds directly to your Outlook inbox. The first to partner with this new feature was LinkedIn, but Microsoft promised other social networking sites would soon follow. Microsoft recently fulfilled that promise by announcing that Facebook and Windows Live Messenger have now been integrated into Outlook. Right now, this integration is only for Outlook 2010 beta, but Microsoft plans to release the plug-in for Outlook 2003 and 2007.

This new feature will not only will pull Facebook profile photos, but will also pull the latest newsfeeds of your contacts directly to your inbox. While you are reading your e-mails, you will be able to see photos, latest feeds, wall posts, and various other content. Microsoft also announced that this info will work on a live feed so there will be no need to refresh anything. Microsoft did say that Outlook social connector does have it limits though. Outlook will only be able to pull data fromFacebook. The ability to “Like” posts or update statuses will not be available…for now.

Microsoft is hoping this new feature will be useful in the business world by making e-mail more sociable. Being able to know exactly what your clients are thinking will be a major asset in the marketing world.

Read the full article to learn more about the announcement.

If you have ever used Facebook, you are well aware of the “Like” buttons. This simple feature allows users to “Like” something they read and post it directly to their Facebook page. In fact, nearly 65 million users are “Liking” things daily. This feature is incredibly popular among content creators and online marketers, and soon they will have another way to access “Likes.”

A recent article explains how MailChimp, an e-mail marketing service, will be releasing a new version of its application that will integrate “Likes” into e-mail campaigns. This means that marketers will be able to add a “Like” button directly to their e-mails. These like buttons will work exactly like they do on the web. When a subscriber clicks the “Like” button the campaign will be posted directly to their Facebook page. All the “Like” behaviors will be tracked by MailChimp and be accessible through a campaign social stats section.

This new “Like” feature will require e-mail recipients take a more social and long-lasting roll, rather than simply following a link. MailChimp is hoping this new feature will greatly enhance user engagement, especially with e-mail marketers. Read the full article for more info and a video walkthrough.

Email marketing is a simple, cost-effective tool which helps build ongoing, interactive dialogues with your customers. Social media marketing is quickly becoming the easiest way to reach a large audience including your customers. What happens if the two are combined? Microsoft, Google and even possibly Facebook have plans to integrate email and social media. If they are successful, the consumer’s view of email and social media will become vastly integrated. As email marketers, it is important to prepare for this shift by developing an integrated strategy for both channels now. In his article, Integrating E-mail and Social Marketing: Do’s and Don’ts, Simms Jenkins, highlights four points to consider when merging these email and social media:

• Don’t Be the Cut-and-Paste Social Marketer
• Do Share Content and Value
• Do Open a New Door if Another One Closes
• Do Build Lists Strategically

Get ready for your viral marketing programs to become significantly more influential.

Did you hear? Google has launched Google Buzz . Be sure to check out this great  new tool to have conversations with people you already email and chat with via Gmail.  Let us know what you think, post a comment.

One of the best ways to communicate with your audience is through eMail marketing. eMail campaigns are:

•  cost effective
•  timley
• allow for quick response cycles

Download these white papers on the Best Practices for eMail Marketing, from L-Soft. They explain time-tested techniques to help you succeed in your eMail marketing efforts.

Here’s an example: on the web, if you are presented with the image of a person and that person is looking away, rather than straight on, where does your eye/attention naturally go? You would be surprised to know your eye will focus on where the person is looking, not the person’s face.

Check out Smashing Magazine’s article 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines by Dmitry Fadeyev, for some useful tidbits and ways to improve user experience on websites.