7 tips to make social media and email marketing work together

Both social media and email have proved themselves as vital parts of any successful marketing strategy. Yet a lot of marketers prioritize one over the other , instead of focusing on making the two work in harmony. 

There are currently 20.35 billion devices connected to the internet, this is nearly 3x more than the current population of the world. A phenomenal statistic to highlight the importance of ensuring your multi-channel marketing is working in unity rather than competing for the limelight. 

Focusing your efforts on a single communication channel would be extremely ineffective, with the average consumer interacting across a range of platforms on a number of devices. 

It could be reasoned that email and social are complete opposites. Email being a controlled environment for the marketer and social often quite hectic. However, as the saying goes… “Opposites attract”. I mean where would we be in this world without salted caramel? 

With an abundance of marketing channels now at the reach of our fingertips, the smart marketer will use cross-promotional techniques to maximise the effectiveness of each channel. 

Tips to make social media and email marketing work together

1.Give your newsletter a shout out  

If you have an established social presence, promote your newsletter to your followers. Be sure to include an enticing image and a link to a sign-up form. If you have a vast reach it can be a great way of reaching potential subscribers. You don’t have to stop at just promoting your newsletter – tell your followers about exclusive email offers they could be receiving.  

2.Include social icons in your emails 

A commonly used technique, but one which is often done half-heartedly. 

When including your social icons think about them as you would any other call to action. Consider the design of the icons, their location within the email, will you have any accompanying text? Most importantly make sure there is a valid hyperlink for your lovely subscribers to click through to. 

Conducting a series of split tests adapting these factors will help you discover what works best for reeling in the clicks. 

3.Get dynamic and stream your social content  

Dynamic content is on everyone’s lips right now.  To keep subscribers up-to-date with your social content, a live social stream can be added to your emails. Want to find out more about the plentiful benefits of dynamic content? 

4.Create a social-focused email campaign 

Create a beautifully enticing email campaign directing subscribers to your social channels. When highlighting each channel make use of examples; show some awe-inspiring photography from Instagram, create a catchy gif from a YouTube clip, include your top tweets…etc.

5.Make the goodbye process sweeter with social 

If you have seen engagement levels trail off with a subscriber and you feel that your emails are heading straight to the junk folder, offer subscribers the chance to follow you on social instead. This way your reports will be more accurate and your customer will be receiving information the way they prefer. Or perhaps include the option to follow you on social media during your un-subscribe process or preference centre. 

6.Connect with your subscribers on social

Having a list of active email address is like gold dust on social media. Simply add your subscribers' list to your differing social channels and follow, chances are if they are an engaged email recipient they will want to follow you back.  Following your subscribers on social media can be an insightful way to learn more about their likes/dislikes, which in turn should allow you to craft more personalised emails. 

A great starting point on Twitter is to create a customer list – this way you can keep your eyes peeled on your most important members. 

7.Run retargeting ads on social to your clickers 

If you have the cash to splash on social media, an effective way to get your subscribers attention is through re-targeting campaigns.  By targeting customers who you know are interested leads to greater conversion rates than promoting to less engaged subscribers. 

Better off together 

As Jack Johnson sings so beautifully, email and social are ‘better together’. Well maybe he doesn’t explicitly say email and social, but I’m sure you get my gist. Both strategies have weaknesses and equally they have strengths, by using a multichannel approach you can increase your brand awareness with a consistent message. 

Are you interested in learning ways to integrate your email marketing with other marketing channels?