Social media is currently seeing a steep rise in user sign-ups, and people spend many hours browsing their posts.
If you want to dig deeper into this channel, we have a dedicated guide on SMS marketing.
On the other hand, another large group of users tends to prefer receiving advertising in their inboxes. That makes it worthwhile to combine both strategies, since they complement each other very well and deliver better results, that is, a complete and highly profitable marketing strategy.
Every day, in countless offices around the world, digital marketing strategies are planned for social media only, without realizing that they are missing out on excellent opportunities they could seize by combining those strategies with a complementary email marketing plan.
Using social media in your digital marketing strategies brings many advantages: it increases brand exposure, it is a channel for distributing the brand’s content, it builds customer loyalty, it helps you attract potential customers and measure results, it encourages participation and communication among professionals, it can help improve the company’s image, it is an excellent channel for customer service, answering questions and giving advice, it lets you get to know and analyze the competition, and it also lets you create a blog.
As for the drawbacks, there are really very few compared to the benefits: they require an investment of time and budget, and you may receive bad reviews and attacks or provocations from trolls.
What are the keys to integrating your social media and email marketing strategies?
Follow these guidelines to integrate your social media and email marketing strategies:
1. Consider and use retargeting
The reports generated by your email marketing tool will show you which users clicked on the links in your campaigns. In other words, you can get lists of all the users who showed interest in your products or services, and with this information you can create retargeting campaigns on different media and platforms, including social media.
There is a wide variety of retargeting apps and services that you can add to your websites and marketing campaigns. With them you can try to win back many of the users who did not convert or buy on your website. It all depends on what you do to capture the interest of those potential customers.
Keep in mind that Facebook and Twitter work very well for this kind of practice, and through them you can create specific ads aimed at the subscribers on your lists. It is worth noting that this is a very simple and profitable strategy.
2. Make the most of your brand’s or company’s social profiles
People who work in marketing every day know that the main goal is to gain as many followers as possible through their brand’s services and products.
However, before launching a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that combines email marketing with social media, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first step is to make the most of the company’s online profile, relying on the information you have gathered from your customers.
A social profile should include more than information about the product or service you offer. It should convey the essence of the company, its values, its mission and vision, and show closeness and the human face of the company in an image. The goal is to stir emotions that create an affinity between the person viewing it and what the brand offers.
Obviously, without going overboard and coming across as heavy-handed, egocentric or narcissistic. Emotional marketing is a very interesting strategy, and a great way to show the warmth of your company on social media.
Strike a balance in the content shown on the profile: most of it should be relevant information about the company, with a smaller but still noticeable share devoted to products, services and their benefits.
3. Put social media to work for you
By spending just a few minutes a day, you can create and keep active multiple groups, using highly engaging and creative content.
This way you will be opening up a hub of interaction for your customers and contacts, where the main topic of conversation will be your brand or company.
Within a few days you will see results, as the notifications from these groups land in the inbox of every participant without you having to do anything else.
You will stay on your subscribers’ minds as the days go by, since emails remain in the inbox for several days, and best of all, you don’t need to spend anything extra to achieve it.
4. Make your email marketing subscribers part of your social media
Most social networks let you import contact lists in several formats, very easily. For example, on Twitter you do it from the Find Friends option, while on Facebook it is through Friend Requests.
It is a smart move to identify your subscribers, get to know them, and sync all the information so you know their names, tastes, trends, passions and preferences. To do this, connect your email marketing lists to your social networks, follow their accounts and show an interest in learning from them.
Later you will be able to make effective use of this information and create successful, high-performing and profitable email marketing campaigns, while growing your followers on social media and expanding the reach of your marketing strategies.
5. Attract new subscribers through social media
Your followers have their own contacts, and they are very likely to check out your profile, whether out of curiosity or on someone’s recommendation. That is why it is a good idea to include opt-in forms, such as Facebook Tabs or Twitter Cards pinned to your Twitter profiles.
There are many online tutorials on how to do it, and keep in mind that the leading email marketing tools include sign-up forms among their basic features.
6. Bring your social media into your email marketing campaigns
You should include share and follow links in your emails.
It will be very important to label them correctly. You can offer incentives so that your followers and customers use these share and follow links. Offer discounts, shout-outs, giveaways, or even games.
7. Find the right promoters
Find and select promoters or influencers that suit your brand, so they include your message in their posts.
To start, you can organize exclusive campaigns, offer them discounts and reward them for their loyalty and support. These strategies will benefit both parties.
8. Segment and put personalization into practice
By this we mean tailoring your message to your target audience and addressing each person by name. It is a great advantage that should be used to the fullest.
All you need is up-to-date contact lists with as much information as possible about each person on them.
You can look for professional support from experts in the field and hire one of the best marketing agencies you can find in Spain, which will give you all the support and advice you need to choose the best strategy for your campaign.
If you want to dig deeper into how these channels complement each other, we have a complete comparison guide to email marketing, social media and SMS.