Companies that choose to stay in touch with their customers via social media have a great advantage over their competitors. By posting information to popular sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, a company will reach a bigger audience and, in all likelihood, attract more visitors to its website. These efforts, combined with the strategic measures of email marketing, can spell great success for a company.
Email marketing offers a number of ways for a company to connect with their customer base. Options include sending out newsletters, press releases, and incentives that will attract web traffic, like discounts on services. This public relations outreach can be expanded by taking the news to a platform like Twitter – one that will likely see an email newsletter distributed beyond the company’s mailing list. A newsletter can certainly reach a number of people via email and even be forwarded to key associates; however, its message gains true momentum when a company’s followers retweet the news to their followers. This ripple effect is theoretically endless.
Social networking and email marketing can also be combined on a site like Facebook, where many companies have set up business accounts. Items of interest, including videos of company events, links to blog posts written by the CEO, or even news about changes in personnel can be shared across what is arguably the most popular social networking site in the world. Using Facebook is a great way to get detailed feedback from those who ‘like’ the company. Where Twitter is a “quick glance” platform, Facebook invites fans to linger and learn more.
Using sites like Facebook and Twitter are good ways to attract new blood to a company’s website. People might not necessarily expect to read company information on a site that is not directly related to business networking, as is the case with LinkedIn. Or course, it is still prudent to take full advantage of the audience that LinkedIn attracts. Stepping outside a familiar environment breathes new life into a company’s message and makes people – especially potential customers – take notice.
Marrying social media to email marketing is also a good way to distribute information without unintentionally email bombing customers. Where it would probably be frustrating to come into work and discover 10, 15, or more emails from the same company in one’s inbox, social media followers want to know what a company is up to. Posting several tweets throughout a day is typical, as is sharing items on your Facebook wall. Variety is especially important on these sites; linking to a number of different items – within reason – will pique the interest of different groups of people and help spread the word about a company’s latest news.
Social media sites continue to be rolled out, giving businesses the chance to connect with their target audiences from multiple avenues. Key to a business’ success is awareness of their audience’s needs. While one organization might benefit most from sharing their news on Twitter, another might have the best response from Facebook.
No matter the medium, it’s paramount for a company to create a symbiotic relationship between email marketing and social media; together, these two marketing methods will foster a strong awareness about the company’s products and services while keeping the company connected to both existing and potential customers.
Undoubtedly, social media is the great way to promote the business while keeping in touch with their customers and spread their message to mass. It is the right way to beat up their competitor, and this method of promoting business also gave birth to the profession SMO (Social Media Optimizer) who are very keen towards promoting any company’s product or site while using different social media techniques to attract more visitors.
Yes, social networking and email marketing is all about building the customer base and developing business…
Integrating the two also works in a way that anything you post in social media equate to email notifications. In this manner, the marketer can save up on time when getting in touch with followers and consumers.
As obvious as it seems, many people choose to keep their campaigns separate. With all the new social media outlets, it’s important to remember to use all your tools to your benefit!