Social media can be integrated into your email marketing strategy in a number of ways. However, the method that you choose depends on what you want to achieve. For example if your goal is to syndicate your content online then you will want to target your campaigns to encourage readers to share your content on their social networks.

In 2010 Aweber conducted a survey. The results showed that 36% integrate social media into their email marketing with the purpose of asking readers to send the email on to their social network followers.
The three main tactics for implementing an integrated social media and email marketing strategy to share your newsletter content are as follows:

1. Include ‘Share’ buttons in your newsletters

Including social sharing links in your email newsletters is a great way of combining social media with email marketing. It is also a great way of encouraging your readers to share content. Most websites have a share button on them to make it easier to share.  Five tips you should consider:

1. Identify the most relevant social networking sites.
2. Integrate the ‘share’ icons in your newsletter templates.
3. test the new  newsletter template with a focus group.
4. Roll out the news letter template to the rest of your database.
5. Track shared article metrics.

2. Increase your social following through email marketing

As well as including the ‘share’ icons in your email newsletters, it is equally as important to include links for your subscribers to follow you on social networking sites.  Add call to actions including ‘Follow us on Twitter‘ and ‘Like us on Facebook‘, even ‘Subscribe to our YouTube Channel’.

Also change your email signature to include these ‘follow’ links.

3. Promote your email content in the social Media Platforms

Be confident and cross promote your email marketing and social media.  Just like you inform your subscribers to your email marketing list about your social media profiles, you can do the same on your social networks informing your followers of your newsletter.

Remind all your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Linked In Followers and YouTube subscribers that you have a great email newsletter and encourage them to subscribe. Email marketing should be used as a catalyst for starting conversations online about your brand.

Conclusion

Email marketing is the least costly method of marketing but the most measurable, most effective and easiest to implement as part of your online marketing strategy.  More importantly, by incorporating social media into your email marketing strategy you can boost your business, keep your audience engaged and enhance your brand reputation.

The main lifeline for a company to survive is generating new sales and repeat business from existing customers. Without existing customers staying connected and engaging with you and new leads entering your sales pipeline you company will stay stagnant and not grow.  However, implementing a well planned email marketing strategy can help your business generate new leads and nurture existing clients to ensure continued growth.

Nearly everyone uses email and it is continually growing and evolving. Email marketing is a drip marketing technique which is a direct marketing strategy. Email marketing involves scheduling promotional messages with relevant and specific calls to action sent via email.  It is a campaign spread over a period of time.

5 things to consider with email marketing

Everyone has heard the saying ‘don’t run before you can walk’, well the same applies to email marketing.  Any email campaign must have best practices implemented before any social media integration. If your email campaign is poor it doesn’t matter how much social integration you have, it just won’t work. So, here are some basic email marketing guidelines.

#1 Start with a clean database

Make sure your contact database is clean and complete as this determines how successful your email marketing campaign will be.

#2 Keep it personal

Always make your emails personal so your readers know you are human and feel like you are personally addressing them. Rather than starting ‘Dear friend’ or ‘Dear customer’, use the greeting ‘Hi John’ as this will go a long way.

#3 Compose a catchy subject line

As soon as the email lands in the inbox of the recipient it is the subject line that will stand out next to the sender’s name. Ensure the subject line is catchy and will compel the reader to open the email. It is the subject line that will make or break your email.

#3 Educate and Captivate

Never hard sell in your email. Remember, your readers subscribed to receive email communication that has valuable content – not emails that are sales pitches.

#5 Design your emails for mobile devices

Mobile and Smartphone’s are now indispensible for both personal and business users. More and more people are using their mobile devices to read emails and browse the web. Ensure your email is correctly designed for mobile users.

Benefits of Social Media and Email Marketing

Social media has exploded in the last few years and more and more people are using sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. This explosion has transformed the way people communicate online and more importantly how companies market their products and services to their target audience.

Ben is 18-years-old. What he lacks in cleverness he makes up for in enthusiasm, and is always looking to build on his rather empty CV in the hope of going to university.

Through his contacts – maybe his mother – he managed to get a job as the social media intern for Shippam’s Paste, a manufacturer of low-cost sandwich spreads, which have graced many a school lunchbox over the years.

He set up the company’s first Twitter account -@ShippamsPaste - and immediately began engaging with customers.

It worked. Ben was so effective that within three weeks Shippam’s Paste had over 7,000 followers. Ben’s boss, Paul, swiftly promoted him to social media executive intern. Ben and his followers were thrilled.

Ben would take to Twitter to engage (“whats your favourite shippams paste! retweet it to me!”), share tales of life in the Shippam’s office (“pauls got a keyring that makes spooky noises its really annoying it goes wooo”) and even offer advice (“theres no vegetarian pastes sorry but why not try the crab spread its only crabs”).

Ben was also completely fictitious. And absolutely nothing to do with Shippam’s.

But to dwell on that is to miss the point.  Last week came the news Ben’s followers had been dreading: “Account suspended”. Everyone knew he wasn’t real, but his persona was so endearing that people simply didn’t care.

The fans were up in arms, and calls for a boycott were only marginally tongue-in-cheek. Shippam’s just didn’t get it, fans complained, and soon #paste trended across theUK.

Using LinkedIn to Link Up

LinkedIn is great for corporate people.  It may not be the most visually appealing of the social media sites, but it is an excellent way to keep track of all the important contacts you will meet in your industry (and others).

Use it to:

• Keep track and keep in touch with all the people you meet in business. Whenever you meet someone new, find them on LinkedIn and connect.
• Showcase your skills, experience and education. Think of it as your online CV.
• Provide people with references. Ask people to recommend you and your work, then share them with the world on your profile.
• Look out for employment opportunities.
• Join and create LinkedIn groups that are associated with your industry. These are invaluable places to ask for feedback, request help or talk about the industry.
• Pull other important content into your linked in profile e.g. your blog, videos, presentations etc.

Some final advice on Social Media Marketing for your Company

• Be consistent with your brand and tone of voice
• Monitor your brand mentions on the internet using a free tool like Google iReader.
• Handle negative comments constructively and always professionally.
• Keep separate social media for your private use and keep it private.
• Unlike your personal profiles, make sure that your privacy settings for your business are all public so that everyone can see what you’re doing.
• Use Google Analytics on your website so that you can monitor and measure your social efforts.

Keep at it, using Advanced Google Analytics we can see that from social media visitors stay on our clients websites sometimes up to twice as long, and are three to four times more likely to buy or to do some other evidenced engagement like download a brochure etc.

Get the most out of Twitter

Nearly everyone who is anyone now has a Twitter account, when it comes to sharing information and networking, it’s THE social media tool.

The crash landing of the US Airways flight into the Hudson River in 2009 was broadcasted first by witnesses within minutes on Twitter, the death of Michael Jackson actually caused Twitter to crash due to the massive peak of traffic directly after the announcement of his death in the media.

Use Twitter to:

• Keep track of news and events within your industry and direct competition.
• Follow business related twitter lists.
• Tweet news about your success and latest products or services.
• Tweet images of your products or staff/services.
• Tweet about your latest blog posts.
• Chat to people about news or opinion.
• Tweet about events that you may be appearing at.
• Ask for feedback.
• Take online polls.
• Tweet about promotions or competitions.

Create a Facebook Page

Facebook has more than 500 million active users so is a fantastic marketing opportunity for any brand.  Set up a Facebook Page and use it to showcase your company, gain valuable feedback, share information and allow people to engage with you and your brand.

• Fill out ALL of the information on your page, including your contact details and location (if relevant).
• Link your blog and website to your Facebook Page.
• Upload images including your logo, products and service images.
• Post on your wall about anything that is relevant and interesting! Talk about your success, promote upcoming events, offers and competitions or ask for feedback.
• Engage with people on your page. Thank them for leaving comments, encourage them to leave feedback.
• Promote your page – make sure it’s on your business card and on your website. Tell everyone about it and encourage them to like your page.

Facebook and Twitter are the market leaders in Social Media and a must for you business, so start now before you get left behind! In Part One I discussed the basis for your campaign and in  Part Three I discuss the potential of LinkedIn for your business……

Meet WSI Franchise’s newest group of Digital Marketing Consultants!

Last week, WSI welcomed another outstanding group of entrepreneurs to our global network of WSI Consultants. This group comes to us from the United States, Mexico, Spain, as well as from our Master Franchise Office in Brazil. On behalf of WSI staff and the Consultant community, I’d like to welcome them all to the WSI network.

For 7 straight days, this group was focused on mastering online solutions for local businesses. They each contributed to some outstanding discussions about digital solutions geared to boosting any business’ online presence. Areas of expertise include: search marketing, ppc advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, online reputation management and much, much more. Congrats to the entire group!

Our new WSI Consultants are:

• Luis Javier Calderon Taracena, Mexico
• Floria Maria Teresa Greene Temblador, Mexico
• Josefa Jean Garcia, Spain
• Marcos Paulo Pereira Perfeito, Brazil
• Jessica Eisner, USA

To see more class photos of our new WSI Franchisees, check out our photo album at www.facebook.com/WSIWorld.