Marketing used to be so traditional that magazines, posters, and newspapers were the primary means of selling a product or service. However, the high costs of each of these medium force brands to make a tough call in choosing one platform and run the risk of limiting their reach.
Today, with everything going digital, business owners not only get to enjoy huge savings in their marketing budget. They also have the power to use as much digital marketing tools and platforms like social media and websites to increase brand awareness, generate sales leads, and ensure customer retention.
What’s good about it is that these tools don’t have to work in silos, albeit the uniqueness of their functions. In fact, when done right, social media and email marketing, in particular, can go hand-in-hand in helping you cascade your campaigns better and create incredible sales leads.
Why Should You Integrate E-Mail Marketing With Social Media?
Email marketing has been around for ages, and while it has seen a phasing-out in recent years, it still proves relevant especially in terms of marketing.
In fact, Adestra’s 2016 Consumer Adoption and Usage study gauged the effectiveness of email marketing relative to various demographics.
It revealed that about 68 percent of teens and 73 percent of Millennials prefer to receive communication from a brand through email—proving that this channel remains powerful for today’s largest demographics.
Couple this with the ubiquity of social media and its ever-growing user base, then you have a one-two marketing punch up your sleeve.
If you’re still skeptical, here’s why you should blend email marketing and social media:
- Widen your reach
Email marketing is beneficial to organizations, as it acts as a direct marketing channel to current customers and prospects.
Merging it with your social media pages opens a lot of doors in targeting potential and existing customers who are in a different location worldwide, but are not yet in your existing mailing list.
2. Generate better sales leads
Email marketing still dominates the marketing playing field with a 3,800% ROI (that’s $38 for every $1 spent).
It can help you lead prospects down your sales funnel and encourage customers to spend more time getting to know your brand. Pair this with content marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, as well as social media efforts, and you can boost even more traffic and generate more sales leads.
3. Create mailing lists more efficiently through social media
Make sure that your social media followers are also subscribed to your newsletter to draw engagement back to your website.
If you are still building your mailing list, stay on top of what’s happening on your accounts and target audiences who might be interested in what you have to say.
One effective strategy is to use your pages to build a list of high-quality subscribers. Then, post content that they will find interesting, entertaining, or valuable. Just remember to keep your content in check at all times to stay relevant to your target audiences.
4. Use Email to expand your social reach
Email marketing can be an effective tool for you to let your fans know where else they can get in touch with you. This is your opportunity to ask your subscribers to follow you in all your existing social media profiles by adding buttons to newsletters.
Another way to entice them to follow is to create interesting content that may only be found in your social media account, so your customers would know it’s worth the engagement.
Can’t-Wait To Get Started? Here’s A 5-Step Plan To Merge Email Marketing And Social Media:
Step 1: Embed sign-up forms on your social media accounts
Use your growing number of social media followers to your advantage by drawing traffic to your email. One way of doing this is to ask your followers to subscribe to your mailing list with the help of opt-in forms.
Step 2: Don’t forget your social sharing/follow buttons
Just as you are using your social media platforms to get more email subscribers, you can also use email to increase your number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other account that’s relevant to your brand.
You can spice up your email marketing content with a little creativity than merely adding small social media icons at the end of your email. Doing so will open more options for customers to reach you through channels that are most convenient to them. Check out how Handy integrated their social media platforms in their email marketing content:
Step 3: Invite subscribers to engage
Never miss out on your calls-to-action. Ask your followers to also share your email with their friends or retweet your posts, so their own followers can also stay up-to-date with your latest happenings. If needed, provide incentives to loyal subscribers and followers in the form of discounts.
Step 4: Run dedicated campaigns
Just including your social media buttons in your email is not enough to increase conversions.
Since social media platforms are each created uniquely, make sure that all the accounts you are using have their own running dedicated campaigns. This way, you’ll catch your customer’s attention and encourage them to follow you wherever you are present.
Then, let your subscribers know what you are doing across all your social media platforms, so they will have an overview of why you are worth the follow.
Here’s an example:
Step 5: Promote and run social contests
Another way to entice your followers to be a part of your mailing list is to create contests or giveaways that will require their email addresses.
Announce your gig on your social media accounts along with the photo of the prize, the hashtag to track your campaign, and the link to a landing page that will require their email address to join the contest.
Here’s how it looks like:
Takeaway
The key to successfully merging the capabilities of email and social media is to know why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for. While email marketing and social media marketing have very distinct functions, it is noteworthy that these two platforms are the most sought-after platforms in executing digital marketing.
If and when done right, merging these two channels can help you reach your business goals and address your biggest branding and customer experience problems even before you know they existed.
Social media concept– stock image
