Back in the day, social media meant dealing with Facebook only, or maybe MySpace. These days, there are so many different social media outlets – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit – it’s difficult to keep up. However, social media has become an essential element of online marketing.
In fact, you may be tempted to believe that email marketing is passé. While it may be tempting to downplay or even eliminate email marketing, such a strategy is short sighted, to say the least.
From day one you should be building your email list.
A smart online strategy integrates email marketing with social media outreach.
The result can strengthen your company’s presence in both areas, in addition to generating greater online traffic and boosting sales.
So how do you integrate email and social media to increase your marketing effectiveness?
3 ways to integrate email and social media
Here are three key ways to increase customer engagement by integrating email and social media.
#1. Generate interaction with emails
If you are experienced in email marketing, you know that getting readers to actually open your messages is half the battle. That battle is much easier with email subscribers who are expecting your messages, but even they sometimes simply passively read your messages and discard them.
Here are some tips to generate more interaction.
- To make your email messages more effective, encourage interaction by inviting readers to provide feedback
- Pose specific questions within your messages
- Solicit comments about recent product buying or customer service experiences.
Here is an example of an email asking for “interaction” or “action”.
This approach has the added bonus of motivating your readers to “white list” your messages so that they land in their in boxes rather than their SPAM folders.
#2. Use email to inspire social media interaction
You have a loyal email subscriber following, and you’re establishing a pretty decent presence on social media. Keeping your two audiences separate is a missed opportunity to boost both your email readership and your social media “fan” or follower base. Instead, use your email messages to increase interaction with your social media profiles.
- Include “share” buttons within your email messages to encourage readers to share excerpts or the entire message with their friends on their social media profiles.
- Come right out and ask your email subscribers to “like” you on Facebook or “follow” you on Twitter or Pinterest.
Your competitors are already doing this. Here is an example of how Exact Target integrate social and email.
Another way to tie your email messages and social media outreach together is to mention an interesting discussion thread or popular posting in your email messages – curious readers may well click through to see what’s going on for themselves.
#3. Use social media to boost email subscriptions
Just as your company’s email messages can enhance the social media outreach efforts of your business, the reverse is true. There are several approaches you can use to boost your email readership through social media
- Provide a link or subscription button to your email list on your social media profile pages.
- Post snippets from your email messages on your social media pages as teasers
- Post offers on your social media pages for perks such as free products or loyalty discounts that are exclusively available to your email subscribers
Here is an example of one method on Amy Porterfield’s Facebook page using a custom tab to boost email subscriber list with your social networks.
The idea is to get you social media “followers’ or “fans” to opt in to your email messages – which improves the odds that your emails will actually land in the recipients’ in boxes where they will be read rather than languish in SPAM folders.
What about you?
How are you integrating social media and email? Is it working for you? Have you increased your email list building rate?
Written by Jennifer Watts. To read the full article, click here. For more information on creating your own online brand, custom WordPress website and social media strategy, please visit us at www.mydigibrand.com and follow us everywhere @mydigitalbrand.