Is it time to ditch the Inbox and focus on the buzz surrounding social media? There are social media trends popping up left and right and marketers are jumping at every opportunity to reach their audiences using Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Snapchat. It’s time to reevaluate your audience’s relationship with email and decide whether you should break it off, or if the fire can be rekindled.
Develop Dynamite & Dynamic Content
Personalize emails with dynamic content; this allows you to send one email to a mass audience, which changes based on each subscriber’s information. Gathering information such as a subscriber’s address, gender, past purchase and interests can help to provide customizable emails to their Inbox. Emails that include a reader’s first name, or a reminder that the items in their cart are still available, are ways that you can make a significant impact on your audience. With the setup of public profiles in social media, your posts are released to everyone, which means the Inbox owns this type of segmented content.
Allow Your Customers To Talk Back
Although email won the last round with its segmentation skills, social media has it beat when it comes down to drumming up a conversation with customers. Social platforms make it easy for customers to engage in conversation with their favorite brands. They can comment on content posted to Facebook, express their emotions with a simple double tap on Instagram, or send a private concern in a message. With email, you would need to include a section requesting feedback regarding the relevancy of the email to your reader. These surveys sometimes take you to a separate page and aren’t as convenient as social media.
Share It On Social
Consumers are more willing to share posts rather than emails. Why? Social media provides one-click icons that allow users to share posts instantly. With the quick click of a button, they can send a promotional code to anyone on their friend’s list in seconds. Even though email gives you the option to forward an email or share it on social media, this option is not used very often. More subscribers may open your email or click on links, but there is a good chance that more followers have seen the same content after it was shared on social media.
Own Your Inbox
Unlike social media, there is no one to answer to in the Inbox but your customers. Sites like Facebook and Instagram own the content you post, and you have to play by their rules. Whether you’re releasing a promotional contest or pushing the boundaries with a bold post, your content needs to be in line with that platform’s policies. When you release an email, it’s done on your terms. You choose its aesthetics, its content, and the audience receiving it.
Even though social media seems like the cool better half, email is still a strong platform for marketers to reach their audience. Rather than giving up on the inbox, invest in its abilities. With the right strategy, you can create emails that your subscribers can’t help but open. If you want to really push boundaries, integrate social media and email to create an impressive marketing strategy.
We can’t promise more battles, but you can find more insight on creating effective social media strategies on Facebook.
