Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Pinterest, Linkedin. The list of social media networks will not stop to grow, and it is easy to know why. According to research, there are more than 2.2 billion active social media users in the whole world, and this means that your audience is reasonably on some sort of social media right now, and that can improve your company’s growth. Social media can promote communication between you and your customer, improve your brand awareness, and improve your sales.
There are lots of things, strategies, and tactics that you could use to take benefit of your social media followers, but today we will focus on how to combine email marketing and social media with helping your marketing strategy to succeed.
Firstly, Plan Your Social Media Strategy
Like all the good things, getting the word out takes some time. This means you have to create a social media strategy to reach to your goals. The first and essential step is to search where your audience is. Find out which social platform is the most suitable to reach your market, take some time to study the platform, and, when feasible, create targeted advertising on the selected channel.
After determining the desired platforms, be certain to create the right content for all of them. Do not make the typical mistake of creating one type of content, and posting it onto all social platform: you need a social media channel plan, a plan for each one of them. Keep in mind that your goals are different on every social platform, so the content you develop for the chosen platform must be different as well.
Are you getting started with your social media strategy? Check out all the components that you need for your social media channel plan.
- Channel: Which social media channels will you use?
- Persona: Who is your audience? Try to be really precise at this stage!
- Goal: What type of results are you expecting? Brand awareness?More sales? Improve the customer experience?
- Content: Which type of content are you going to focus on? Infographics, text, images? Be certain to know what your audience is searching for.
- Structure: How the components of your post are going to be structured?
- Tone: In what way you are approaching your community? Formal, Casual, funny, sarcastic?
- Desired action: What kind of reactions you are expecting from your followers?
- Editorial plan: Do not forget to build your own editorial calendar. It is essential not to forget important dates that would be meaningful for your company or holidays, for example.
Now that you have made your plan of action, it is time to start posting and promoting your content. And the most reliable way to start it is by combining it with your email marketing strategy.
All right, but Why Should I Use Email Marketing?
Once you have made your social media strategy and channel plan complete, you are all set to use your social media to build successful campaigns, and engage with your audience. But that is not all: it is time to integrate your email marketing to your social media platforms.
Although fifty-six percent of marketers already integrate their social media with email marketing platforms, it is always beneficial to remember that emails reach its intended audience ninety percent of the time while Facebook posts reach only about two percent. Enough with that “email marketing is slowly dying” nonsense. The latest researches shows that email marketing is going away anytime soon. Here is a fact to confirm that:
Seventy-two percent of American adults prefer communication with companies to happen through email, and sixty percent of marketers say that email marketing is making a significant ROI for their organization.
Email marketing and social media are two different channels with two different purposes. One is targeted to build brand awareness, and the other is directed to build a more direct communication channel between the customer and the company. Briefly, social media can be classified as top-funnel, whilst email marketing is a mid-funnel. Still, the great way to integrate them is by finding a way to get your followers’ contact info through social media.
Effectively Integrate Email Marketing and Social Media
When talking about using your email marketing together with social media, I am certain that the first ever thing that comes to your mind is adding the links to your social network accounts at the header or the footer of an email. Although it may be a good idea, that may have very little influence on your email performance. The only links that lead to social connection, which meant that your customer might become your follower, but while thinking about your whole marketing strategy, it is important also to target the social sharing.
But what is the difference between social sharing and social connection?
- Social Sharing: as the word tells, is when a follower shares one of your social contents, for example, share a post on Facebook, retweet one of your blog posts, etc.
- Social Connection: When your customer connects to your company’s Facebook page, subscribe to your YouTube channel, follow your profile on Twitter, etc.
The question then emerges: how can you actually engage costumers, connect them in your social network and, most important, make them share your content with their followers and friends? Fear not, we are here to give you a few ideas to integrate email marketing and social media for a great engagement strategy:
1. Include Social Networks Links on Your Email
The easiest and simplest way to communicate with your customers that you are present on social networks is to provide them the link to these pages. For instance, give them the link to a recent and interesting post on your Facebook page or to a recent tweet, etc.
But if your aim is to get social sharing, you will need to work a lot harder. After all, you expect action from your contacts: share your content with everyone they know. And there is nothing more satisfying than an effectual CTA for social sharing.
All the thing that applies to a common call to action applies to a call to action for social sharing too. Firstly, gain the attention of your customer with a button that stands out, easy to click, and easy to see. You have to give them a legit reason to click, so do not forget to appeal to their emotions. And here is the last tip: you can also attempt putting more than one CTA.
2. Send the Email Newsletter Dedicated to one of Your Social Networks
The best way to create an integration between your social media and email marketing strategy is to send dedicated email campaigns to promote your social networks. For example, you can create a newsletter to promote the most engaging Facebook post of that week, showcasing to your subscribers what is on the post and asking them to like or follow your page:
3. Share Your Newsletter on Your Social Network
Why not using your Facebook fan page or Twitter profile to get more and more subscribers and feasible opportunities to your mailing list? You can share an fascinating content of your newsletter on Facebook and ask your followers if they already receive your email marketing. If not, provide them with a link to a subscription form where they can sign up instantly.
Another way to do this is by using the Call To Action feature from Facebook, a signup form, to inspire your fans to opt into your email list. So you can utilize your Facebook fan page to tell your fans about forthcoming emails and content on their inbox.
If recipients sign up for your newsletter through social media, they anticipate to receive an email and will take care to make sure it does not accidentally fall into the spam folder.
4. Create the Content According to Your Customer’s Needs
Your customers are more likely to spread the word if the content of your emails is interesting and relevant. Think of content that provides value to potential customers and concentrates on information that is useful for them or their friends.
If they are likely to share events, have them updated about upcoming seminars and workshops. On the other hand, if they are more interested in insights and tips about a particular subject, send regular emails with quotes of great minds from the industry. Once again, the keyword is knowledge. If you know your customer likes, dislikes, and habits, you have more chances to create relevant content.
5. Give Some Sort of Incentive
Discounts and giveaways are always a good type of incentive, but you can also be creative and creating a campaign that combines email marketing and social media. Take a look at the example below:
The company proposes a chance to win a gift card if the customer try to use a particular hashtag in one of their social networks. By this, the customer spreads the hashtag around the web, which helps to build brand awareness. The company is more credible to get more followers while its content is shared.
6. Personalize Your Subject Lines
Pay specific attention to your subject lines to reach higher open rates. It may be exciting to create different subject lines to different lists; after all, each social media audience has its own particularities.
For instance, if you are using a list with contacts who came from your Facebook company page, study what kind of topics and tone are more interesting for them. High-performance subject lines can make best headlines for Facebook ads. They also make excellent opening lines for Facebook posts.
Try to think of email marketing and social media as pieces of gear. They can be absolutely used together to give a boost to your marketing strategy. Your social media accounts can assist you propagate your message to an uncountable number of potential customers, and email marketing can turn your communication with these potential customers much more lucrative and intense.
Integrating email marketing and social media will take your customer relationship to the next level. Keep your mind and eyes open to new social media tools and never underrate their capacity to reach a new audience and how you can use them to grow your email list and, therefore, your sales.