Last week we discussed the differences between social media and email and threw them in the ring for an epic duel. Turns out, they are both beneficial to marketers who are maintaining and growing an audience. Now that we can appreciate the value of each platform let’s look into combining their strengths to create a marketing strategy that is undefeated.
Display Social Goodies in Email
Alert your customers when you are hosting social media giveaways or special promotions. If there are multiple prizes involved, add suspense by teasing a few of the goodies and sending them to your social page to discover the big prize. Put some of your current customers on display, by showing off their comments about your promotion or contest in a secondary section of the email.
Reap Insta-Benefits in Email
According to a 2015 infographic released by Curalate and Movable Ink, Instagram produces 58 times more engagement than Facebook and 120 times more than Twitter. Regardless of these stats, Instagram content is used less than three percent of the time, so why aren’t we taking advantage of this highly engaging content? Consumers enjoy seeing products in use and feedback from others who have already made a purchase. Instead of using a picture from your site, shock your audience with one from Instagram, and they won’t know what hit them.
Cross-Promote Between Social Media and Email
When you use the benefits of each platform to promote the other, your subscriber and follower list can significantly increase. Highlight the incentives you use to entice customers to join your mailing list, like free shipping or a 25% discount across your social profiles. Customize a simple graphic that mimics the theme of your site—which adds value to your post—and share it using different captions for each social platform. When promoting your social pages, send out an email that lists the platforms you’re on and blurb describing the contents of each. If there is a specific platform that is struggling to grow or isn’t receiving much engagement, focus on building an email that convinces your audience to show it some love. Do you offer helpful tips, generous discounts or feel-good content? Highlight these perks in your email, with compelling copy and vibrant graphics to rack up more followers.
Email Test Results = Social Content
Even though social media can be limited for performing A/B tests, this should not stop you from reaping the benefits. Use the results from your subject line tests to decide what kind of posts will initiate the most clicks amongst your audience. The same can be done with the body copy of your emails. Pay close attention to what type of content your audience engages with the most and share it on social.
Even though the two platforms have their own strengths, the inbox and social media don’t have to be in competition with each other. When you integrate their powers, you’ll find that the two can compliment each other and produce incredible marketing strategies.
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