Social Media Can Turbocharge Email Marketing

In the golden age of social media, email marketing remains one of the top ways to reach out to consumers. But for marketers to make the most of email campaigns, they need to use social media pages to enhance consumer relationships.

To encourage engagement in emails, marketers need to use social media to find the right followers, use brand ambassadors, solicit customer feedback, and post testimonials, writes Sundeep Kapur of ClickZ Marketing.

Social media sites should be used as places to discuss brands, he says. This is how marketers can find new consumers to target in emails.

“Your articles and discussions on social media should feature information about your brand,” Kapur advises. “In doing so, you tend to attract those who are interested in your brand versus those who have just signed up to receive a free gift.”

According to Kapur, the forward-to-a-friend links in emails aren’t effective when it comes to ROI. Instead, he suggests targeting people on the email list who have shared the brand’s content on social media sites.

“If they like what I am sending them and they feel that I have treated them with exclusivity, they will share my offer with their network of friends,” he writes.

Strengthening relationships with the brand’s top fans is always a good idea. Meteor Solutions reported that 1% of a website’s audience “can directly influence 30% or more of overall end actions on brand websites by recommending the brand’s site, products or promotions to friends.”

Tracking dialogue between consumers on social media channels will give marketers insight on what methods are working and what content is most likely to be shared. Company representatives should engage in conversation with consumers to show that they care what customers have to say and then reflect that in email campaigns.

Image courtesy of Flickr