Many have wondered whether you can combine email marketing and social media.
The answer is a definite yes!
As consumer behavior is becoming more omnichannel, businesses need to adopt a more holistic approach to digital marketing that incorporates multiple channels. In this case, using two of the most popular channels will help you create the ultimate formula to boost your conversions and promote your growth.
To do that, I’ll show you 6 simple yet effective tactics to integrate email marketing and social media for better results. But first, let’s take a look at the differences between these two channels.
Table of Contents
Email Marketing vs Social Media
While email marketing and social media focus on delivering exceptional messages to people who are interested in your business, they both have a couple of main differences.
Interaction
When it comes to the interaction between your audience and your channel, emails offer a more limited response. This means that when a subscriber receives your email, they will open it and decide whether to click on your CTA or not. If they do, then you can send them either a thank you email, a cross-sell campaign or any other post-purchase message. Social media, on the other hand, will allow you to open a discussion with your followers and give solutions to their pain-points through comments and direct messages. Social media, in that respect, is a more personal channel to communicate with your audience and show them that you are a real person who cares about them.
Personalization
One of the advantages of email marketing is that you can personalize your subscribers’ experience based on their interests. This personalization is possible through segmentation, a process that allows you to group your subscribers according to specific demographics like age, gender, location, and interests. Apart from that, this information will let you come up with different email campaigns for your segments, maximizing your email open, click-through and conversion rates.
According to email marketing statistics, personalization can help you increase your open rates by an amazing 29%. For social media, though, segmenting your messages is not possible. Once you make a post, your social media followers will see the same message regardless of their age, gender and interests.
6 Amazing Ways to Integrate Email Marketing and Social Media
1. Create a Signup Call-to-Action on Facebook
As of the third quarter of 2019, Facebook had 2.45 billion active users per month, making it the biggest social media network worldwide. Due to its massive audience, businesses usually include Facebook in their social media marketing strategy.
Through sharing and commenting on your Facebook posts, your followers help you increase your brand awareness and expand your reach. Now, what if I told you that you can use your Facebook page to expand your mailing list as well? What you need to do is to turn your main Facebook CTA into your newsletter signup button and voila! By doing this, you will show your target audience that you want them to join your mailing list, offering them an easy way to do it through their favorite platform.
Here’s an example from Airtable:
To turn your CTA into a signup button you need to click on the “Create Call-to-Action” button found on your Facebook page and select the “Sign Up” button from the dropdown menu.
The next step, which requires a bit more of your time, is to link your online signup form. To do that, you first need to create your amazing online form. If you want to save time, then you should choose one of the best online form builders out there to help you create your newsletter signup form fast and easy.
Now, it’s time to link your form and start expanding your mailing list!
2. Add a newsletter signup tab
Another way to add a newsletter signup form on your page without sacrificing your precious CTA is through your Facebook page tabs.
Especially for eCommerce businesses that want to use their Facebook CTA to promote their products, adding a separate tab on the left side of your page will help you boost your sales and your signups at the same time.
Here’s an example from Moonpie’s Facebook page:
As you can see, the brand has both an email signup tab and a “Shop Now” CTA.
This tactic is great for businesses that want to give emphasis to different CTAs but also give their social media followers a simple way to join their list and enjoy its benefits.
3. Insert social media buttons in your email campaigns
A large social media audience will, undoubtedly, help boost your signups and grow your list.
However, what about expanding your social media reach through email? Is this even possible? Well, if you’ve seen as many email campaigns as I have, then you might have noticed that the majority of them include various social media buttons.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Adding social buttons is the most common email and social media integration practice that every business out there does.
So, when you add them to your emails, your subscribers will automatically know that there are multiple channels they can communicate with you.
Sending them directly to your social media accounts will incentivize them to follow you and engage with your posts.
However, the most important thing is that you’ll lead them to a place where they’ll be able to create valuable user-generated content and share their experiences with their peers.
What this means for you is free content to increase your brand visibility, credibility, and social media follower count.
4. Turn your emails into social campaigns
Social buttons are great, but their power is limited to a simple icon at the end of your email campaign.
If you want to skyrocket your social reach, then you need a powerful social campaign to make a statement. These campaigns don’t need to be complex or too fancy, but rather focus on why your subscriber needs to turn into your social media follower.
Here’s a great example from Handy:
Handy’s campaign promotes its three social media accounts through six images that draw attention to the account and the reason why subscribers need to follow them.
While the copy is limited, the visuals and the captions “follow to win prices” and “Handy saves time” give their subscribers all the right reasons to follow the company’s accounts.
5. Create a Tailored Audience with your mailing list
The best way to leverage the power of your mailing list is to convert it into a file, upload and create a tailored audience.
To create a Tailored Audience you need to go to your Twitter Audience Manager and find the “Create new audience.” option
When you click on it, you’ll get the option to upload your own list.
Uploading your subscriber list will give you the opportunity to personalize your contacts and add a face and a name to them.
As your subscribers like to share their favorite things throughout social media, you’ll manage to gather valuable information about their interests and preferences.
Then, you can use the data to create personalized campaigns that will engage them better.
Having a tailored audience will also give you the opportunity to retarget your disengaged subscribers through social media ads and discover which social media influencers are best your tailored audience.
6. Enable social sharing for your emails
Depending on your industry, email marketing will allow you to create campaigns that will incentivize your subscribers to click on your CTA. While your email audience might be enough to land the conversions you desire, expanding the reach of your message through social media will let you achieve more. That’s where social sharing comes in. This practice will give you the opportunity to make your messages shareable and give you extra visibility and conversions in return.
Here’s what social sharing looks like:
When your subscribers share your email content, you’ll get access to their industry-related peers and increase your email CTR in the most cost-effective way. So, when you start integrating your email marketing and social media, don’t forget to make your emails shareable on social media.
Takeaway
Adopting a more holistic approach to digital marketing will give you access to some of the most powerful marketing channel combinations. Email marketing and social media might be different by nature, but when you make them work in tandem you’ll get an incredible tool to boost your customer lifecycle marketing endeavors.
So, what are you waiting for? Start integrating your email marketing and social media and enjoy the benefits of their collaboration!
Author bio
Marilia Dimitriou is a Creative Writer working for email marketing software Moosend. Her passion for writing has made her find new ways to combine the art of Creative Writing with SEO Copywriting. When she’s not writing articles, you’ll find her enthusing over marketing tech and automation.
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