How E-mail and Social Media Can Work Hand In Hand

Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 by Adam in Business, Internet, Websites

E-mail is at the same time a much loved and a much-maligned form of communication. It is one of the traditional methods of selling and has over the years produced great returns for marketers who seek to engage in a well thought out and structured communication strategy with highly targeted prospects. Social media, on the other hand, is an emerging infant in the world of marketing and is in many respects quite the opposite of e-mail as a communications tool. The concept of direct selling through social media channels is not acceptable. Those who try, find that they crash and burn rather quickly. Social media is a great way of getting your name, product, service or brand in front of the masses, but any attempt to directly sell is not appropriate.

If e-mail and social media are so far apart, how can we bring them together within our overall marketing philosophy and make each other complementary to our overall goal?

While it is true to say that the social media “infant” is barely out of the maternity ward, trends seem to point to its relegation to a soft marketing approach and it is very unlikely to replace e-mail or other marketing techniques as primary methods of communication. Social media can, however, be used to spread the word about the information that you are communicating via your e-mail newsletters.

We should remember that e-mail is essentially limited by the number of people who have opted in to receive your communications. This is permission-based marketing and we must ensure that we market only to those who wish to hear from us. On the other hand, we face no such limitation when it comes to making people aware of our existence through social media channels. Why not suggest to those to whom you are communicating via e-mail that they share your good content with their contacts through social media? You can use social media in this way to extend your reach.

For example, within your e-mail signature add your social network profiles. Don’t go overboard here and only include up to four profiles or run the risk of falling foul of spam filters. Incorporate those recognizable icons as links to your social media pages. Add links to all your social media profiles in all your e-mail newsletters.

There’s an emerging trend among e-mail service providers to include a sharing option within new program releases. Your e-mail subscribers will have the option to select a link within your e-mail message and share with their social media friends or followers. Thus, your informative content becomes the basis of a message displayed or sent directly from your subscriber on their own social media page. In turn, all their friends or followers will see your message and it has the potential to go viral.

Using the power of social media in this way should really enhance your e-mail communication initiatives.

Have you come up with any ingenious ways to link social media and e-mail?

Adam Toren

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