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Posted in Technology

The power of email marketing and social media marketing

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

Email is used by almost everyone and it is continually growing and evolving. Email marketing is a drip marketing technique that is a direct marketing strategy. It involves scheduling promotional messages with relevant and specific calls to action sent via email. It is a campaign that spans 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 should have best practices in place prior to any social media integration. If your email campaign is bad, no matter how much social integration you have, it just won’t work. Therefore, here are some basic guidelines.

#1 Start with a clean database
Make sure your contact database is clean and complete, as this determines the success of your email marketing campaign.

#2 Keep it personal
Always make your emails personal so your readers know you are human and feel like you are addressing them personally. Instead of starting ‘Dear Friend’ or ‘Dear Customer’, use the greeting ‘Hello John’ as this will be very helpful.

#3 Write a catchy subject line
As soon as the email arrives in the recipient’s inbox, the subject line will be highlighted next to the sender’s name. Make sure the subject line is eye-catching and will compel the reader to open the email. It’s the subject line that will make or break your email.

#4 Educate and Captivate
Never sell hard on your email. Remember, your readers signed up to receive email communications with valuable content, not sales pitch emails.

#5 Design your emails for mobile devices
Mobile phones and smartphones are now indispensable for both personal and business users. More and more people use their mobile devices to read emails and browse the web. Make sure your email is designed correctly for mobile users.

Benefits of Social Media and Email Marketing
Social media has exploded in recent years, with more and more people using sites like 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.

3 Ways to Combine Social Media with Email Campaigns
Social media can be integrated into your strategy in a number of ways. However, the method you choose depends on what you want to achieve. For example, if your goal is to distribute your content online, you’ll 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 in order to ask readers to send the email to their social media followers.

The top three tactics for implementing an integrated email and social media strategy for sharing 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 to combine social media with email marketing. It’s also a great way to encourage your readers to share content. Most websites have a share button to make it easy to share. Five tips to keep in mind:

1. Identify the most relevant social networking sites.

2. Integrate ‘share’ icons into your newsletter templates.

3. Test the new newsletter template with a focus group.

4. Implement the newsletter template to the rest of your database.

5. Track article sharing metrics.

2. Increase your social following through email campaigns
In addition to including ‘share’ icons in your email newsletters, it’s equally important to include links for your subscribers to follow you on social networking sites. Add calls to action 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 on social media platforms
Be confident and cross-promote your email marketing and social media. Just as you inform your subscribers of your email marketing list about your profiles on social networks, you can do the same on your social networks by informing your followers of your newsletter.

Remind all your Facebook followers, 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 to start online conversations about your brand.

conclusion
Email marketing is the least expensive marketing method, yet the most measurable, effective, and easy 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 improve your brand reputation.

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