With social media trending towards character limitations, layout restrictions, and quicker feedback times, it seems that URL shortening services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL are becoming more and more ubiquitous every day.

So what exactly is URL shortening? In a nutshell, these services convert long web addresses into short, easy-to-use URLs that are convenient for sharing. If you’ve ever used Facebook’s status update tool or Twitter’s microblogging service, chances are you have come into contact with a link referring to a URL shortening service.

While I have yet to come across an email campaign that links to a shortened URL, I’d imagine that some email marketers will soon begin coordinating the links in their emails with the links distributed via Twitter and Facebook (to maintain consistency across channels). I also foresee email marketing messages occasionally incorporating tweets and status updates into the body of the email, which means that some URL-shortened links could be distributed via email.

So what should you know about URL shortening services before you incorporate them into your emails?

Read More »