Social media and email marketing are an incredbile waste of money! That is a harsh thing to say, especially since I make a  significant portion of my living with these tools.  But the truth its, if you don’t have a plan to integrate them into a comprehensive marketing strategy, using Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are an incredible waste of time!

In Part Two of our Small Business Facebook Study, we saw that less than 50% of the companies we studied had any type of Facebook strategy.  This is unfortunate, because these companies are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to fuel  their marketing with the right doses of social media mixed with email and traditional marketing.

What should your plan contain? Carissa Newton, director of marketing, Delivra wrote a terrific article for B2B Magazine in which she outlined several of the steps I think should be the foundation of your strategy as you tie your email and social media together.    She recommends:

  • Reinforce the opportunity to sign up. From your fan page and web page to the top of every email you send out, invite people to join your list.  Make it easy for your fans to pass on your content to others.
  • Beef up your call to action.  It must be something stronger then just “sign up for our newsletter”  Lets face it, we all have enough of newsletters we did and didn’t sign up for.  Carissa suggests the offering a The call might be to download a white paper, enter a contest, etc. Make sure to use unique URLs or special landing pages to help you track where your new recipients are coming.
  • Offer incentives to share. One company offered a gift to subscribers who shared content and enticed 10 friends to sign up for their newsletter. With incentives like this, it has grown its list by nearly 15% in just a few months.
  • Design your emails for multiple platforms. Heavy social media users are likely to read your email on a smartphone, so keep your call to action short and at the top of your email. We’ve found that emails with minimal content and only one call to action perform the best.
  • Take care of your brand advocates. Tailor special emails targeted to your “power sharers.” Bring them in early to review new products and services.

Want to learn more?   We are finalizing details for a  seminar in early December about social media planning.  Would you like an invitation to the program?



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