Social Media or Email Marketing? In order to answer this question, we analyze the characteristics of both media, concluding that the integration of email with Social Networks is a necessity for any ambitious communication strategy.
Many are the benefits to be gained by combining these two media, some of them are Win Fans or Followers, Increase Subscribers, Increase Message Reach or Identify key Influencers.
Intelligent strategies and skills are required to learn to complement these channels. We recommend 8 options to integrate Email with Social Media in digital strategies:
1) Social Sharing: Include Social Sharing Links in the newsletters
Every email marketing campaign that is sent, you can include links to share the mailing in different social networks. This allows you to expand the reach of emails, beyond the subscribers themselves, without additional costs or investments. The more subscribers share our emails, the more readings we will have, the more clicks, and therefore the greater conversion.
Shares also provide a chance for growth in our contact lists: the more people who see the campaign, the more people they can sign up to receive the communication. For this, it is important to have an easy-to-identify form, either on your website, social or external network, which gives new visitors the possibility of subscribing.
2) Social Connection: Include link or call to action buttons to our social networks
Although it seems simple, many companies still do not do this. Call to action links or buttons to our social networks must be included in the emails. This way we can get more Facebook fans, twitter followers and subscribers on our youtube channel.
Sometimes just placing the icon does not work. A small change that can make a big difference, is to add small words encouraging action, such as “talk to us”, “follow us on twitter”, etc. It is a more explicit and striking way to get closer to the users.
Send campaigns dedicated exclusively to encourage the follow in social networks, usually brings excellent results. Users can be encouraged with a gift or reward in exchange for being followed.
Social Subscriptions Forms: Implementing subscription forms in Fan Page
You can include subscription forms using Widgets or Apps, in the fan page to win subscribers.
Today some email marketing platforms like GestorB allow to create these forms directly from the platform, and that the subscribers are added directly to our lists.
Opt-in on facebook: Creating a subscription form in social networks
Facebook offers the option to create an email registration form, with the aim of giving the subscriber of this network, to receive even more content and promotions of our service through email.
Direct Invitations: Exclusive invitations to subscribe
Create updates or tweets directly inviting people to subscribe to our lists to receive our newsletter, counting the benefits that it brings, such as promotions, new products and offers, news, etc … since the Information shared on social networks should not be the same as the one that is sent in the newsletter.
Retweets & Shares: Put the Retweet or Share buttons in special parts of the newsletter
In the event that the newsletter has a note or an article. You can place the option of “share” on Facebook or on twitter simply for that article.
A new strategy that is being implemented in some newsletters, is to highlight a particular phrase and place the retweet button to be shared directly to twitter only that portion.
Segmentation & Targeting: Segmenting our contacts
One of the most exciting functionality that today have begun to implement email marketing providers is the ability to get data from the profiles of your subscribers’ social networks. Individual information of each subscriber, such as age, sex, location, networks on which he is.
This allows us to segment in a way never before seen and offers the possibility of, for example, sending a special email to all your facebook subscribers who do not follow you on twitter inviting them to action, Or use the sex or age segments to send them special promotions, increasing the loyalty of frequent consumers and bringing them relevant content that interests them.
Impact Measurement: Measuring the results of the strategies to take control
After having implemented each of these strategies, the impact and acceptability of the specific tactics related to social email marketing should be measured.
Some metrics to consider are: New subscriptions, Visits to the website, Visits to the Blog, Visits to the Web from the Social Networks and Visits to the Web from the Email.
To this day there are dozens of metrics that should be taken into account, Many of them should be able to see inside the panel of the system with which they make the shipments of email marketing. Others can be viewed from external systems like Google Analytics or the same control panel of Facebook.
We must be clear about what our business needs, and which of these techniques are most conducive to our goals.
The idea of adding fans to facebook or twitter followers just by increasing a number does not serve us. It should be accompanied by a subsequent strategy, such as getting new subscribers to email to send promotions and thus increase sales …
In social networks is where consumers interact, and email is where they do their shopping. As Tim Ash said, email marketing is synonymous with SALES. Let’s take full advantage of these two great channels, let’s start using email marketing to enhance social networks, and vice versa.
If we are looking to increase ROI, conversion and improve the user experience, Integration is the key.