Inbox Insider: ExactTarget partnership makes e-mail more social

E-mail has always been a social medium. People use it to communicate with their friends, co-workers and with brands. This is why e-mail is always part of the conversation when people talk about social media marketing. After all, to have a Facebook or Twitter page, you have to have an e-mail address.

It came as no surprise a couple of months back when firms like Microsoft, Yahoo and even Bebo began offering consumers a social inbox to keep it all organized in one place. Sos it follows logically that because this is now on-board for consumers, it would be available to e-mail marketers.

That is what ExactTarget is doing with its new partnership with social networking site ShareThis. Under the terms of the partnership, the two firms will offer a joint widget product focused on uniting e-mail marketing services and the ability to share content across networking platforms.

The widget lets users share content to all of their social profiles on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg and MySpace, as well as on blogs and to contacts. This will give brand advocates a louder voice to share a communication from their favorite brands, beyond just forwarding the e-mail.