A while back, I wrote a post that talked about the FOX show Glee, and the tips email marketers could learn from it. Little did I know that I was tapping into not only an audience of email marketers, but also a passionate Glee fanbase. I wanted to share with you some of the comments we received from Glee fans and also some lessons we can learn. 

 

Lesson #1: Fans want to share ideas with you

One of the reasons we got so many comments on this post is because if you Google email and Glee, one of the top results is our blog post. So obviously, Glee fans are looking for a way to reach out to the show creators to give them feedback. Here are a couple of comments:

Why do you completely ignore the instrumentalists that back up the singers on Glee? Every high school usually has a Band Director, why is there no character playing this role? At one point one of the singers actually referred to the pianist who backs them up, all the time, as "Furniture." How insulting to the fine musicians that make these kids sound great! There are other musical instruments being played besides the guitar and it takes top professional musicians years to learn their craft. As much as I enjoy your show I find this slight of instrumentalists appalling.

 

Glee should do a song from the movie Rent. Seasons of Love. That song would be really cool to see the cast of Glee performing.

 

These people are highly-engaged with the product, and want to share their opinion with you. For email marketers, this means encouraging product reviews, and letting people know how they talk to you and to other fans, such as on Facebook, Twitter, or your own online community.

 

Lesson #2: Fans want to give you their opinion (good and bad)

People who use your product or services have a relationship with your brand. You are part of their lives, and that means there are emotions attached. This can be positive or negative. For example, this strongly-worded comment on the racial make-up of the show and the sexual activity on the show:

I am so mad at Glee this season. First you only have one black person on the show, that makes it unbalanced. So what you have a few in the back ground. You have two Asians, hella Whites and one Black, we make up more than 1% of the nation. And let Rachel and Finn get together. She never had a boyfriend, now you are making her a geek again. Third why is Curt still on the show ? He is at another school, you give him a man but not the girls. These are school girls they are having a lot of sex and this is a high school. You’re making them whores before they get their wisdom teeth. Finally you will lose me if you do not change. You guys are making me sick.

So, as marketers, you need to acknowledge this emotional connection and find ways to promote a positive relationship, as well as responding to a negative experience. In email, this can be done with simple "Thanks for being our customer" emails, or emails that ask customers to take a quick survey to let you know how they think you're doing. Here's a great example from Art.com that thanks customers and talks about ambitions for 2012.

 

Lesson #3: Fans sometimes want to be part of the show

Because Glee is a show with lots of singing and dancing, we did get a few comments in which people said what an awesome dancer they were, and wanted to know how they could submit an audition tape! Here's one comment that made me smile:

Hey Glee cast my name is Simon. (age12) I live in Ontario, Canada. I am a huge fan of your show ;-) I mean who isn't. But I am a competitive dancer and a closet singer. Anyone who has heard me in the shower says that I'm very good for my age. I'm also a decent actor and I was wondering if you could send me an e-mail with a script to an new character so I could give you an audition tape. much love -Simon

I replied to Simon to let him know that unfortunately, this blog was not the way to contact producers and wished him good luck. So how does this connect to email marketing? I think one thing for marketers to keep in mind is that there are probably people who are customers who would also like to be employees. Here's a nice example from Christmas Tree Shops:

 

 

So while Glee is no longer one of my favorite shows, I do still think it has lessons for us a marketers. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz