Social media and email are two of the most powerful marketing channels, but most brands view them as two separate platforms. In fact, they’re more effective when used together as part of a holistic omnichannel marketing strategy.
This article will cover a few ways to build campaigns that take advantage of both channels. The right combination of social media and email marketing could significantly increase your outreach and sales.
#1. Building Your Email List on Social Media
Finding new email subscribers is one of the most challenging aspects of email marketing, and social media is the perfect way to grow your list. You can increase subscriptions simply by adding a signup link to your social media profiles or including it in your posts. This makes it easy to move new leads from a one-time social media interaction to long-term engagement.
Keep in mind that too much promotional content will turn your social media followers off. In general, you should post about 80 per cent organic content and no more than 20 per cent marketing. Social media clicks could be responsible for a significant percentage of new subscribers, especially if you have a strong web presence.
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#2. Run Giveaways and Contests
Some businesses offer targeted content via social media that’s only available to existing readers. This gives your audience an additional incentive to subscribe to your content. At the beginning of the sales cycle, the main goal is to sustain engagement and keep first-time readers interested in your brand.
You can turn contests into growth opportunities by requiring entrants to fulfil certain conditions. If you’re interested in building your social media and email lists, for example, you could ask them to share your post and subscribe to your newsletter. Social media shares can significantly increase the outreach of your giveaway and make your brand visible to new users.
#3. Import Your Email Contacts on Social Media
Keep in mind that this process works both ways—you can also import your email list back into a social media platform in order to retarget those users. Interacting with subscribers on multiple channels is an incredibly effective strategy for increasing customer retention and lifetime value.
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms make it easy to upload your contact list and use that information for audience targeting. Thoroughly segmenting your subscribers helps you provide more relevant content and avoid sending the same thing twice.
#4. Distribute Social Media Content via Email
You should generally create unique content for both email and social media, but you can also use high-performing social media posts in your email newsletters. If you run a Facebook giveaway, for example, you could market it via email and send a follow-up email to announce the winner.
Integrating social media and email content contributes to more streamlined interactions with your customers. Rather than being distribution channels for the same basic content, each platform offers a unique way to engage with your audience. You’ll also gain both subscribers and social media followers through cross-channel touchpoints.
#5. Work with Influencers
Audience trust is one of the most important factors in email list growth, and it takes time to build positive relationships with your subscribers. Influencers give you the unique opportunity to tap into an existing audience that already values the influencer’s opinions.
Influencers are one of the hottest trends in digital marketing, and you can find well-known influencers on a variety of social media platforms. That said, it’s critical to find influencers who align with your brand—look for someone with an audience that has similar demographics and interests to your own.
Rather than reaching out to influencers cold, start interacting with them on social media to develop a more organic relationship. Influencers are much more likely to be interested in your brand if they already think of you as an authority.
The success of an influencer campaign is highly dependent on the fit between the influencer and your brand, but this is one of the most powerful ways to drive traffic and subscriptions. Keep in mind that more well-known and successful influencers typically charge higher fees. You should be prepared to negotiate the details based on your needs and budget.
#6. Include Social Media Links in Emails
In addition to marketing your email list on social media, you can also increase social media traffic by including links to your pages in each email. Most subscribers won’t connect with you on social media unless you offer a convenient link—only a few will search for your profiles on their own.
It’s easy to set up social media links using most email marketing services. These should be present in every email—this gives subscribers a chance to prolong the interaction and learn more about your brand. Most marketers include these links at the bottom of each email near the unsubscribe link.
#7. Target Lookalike Audiences
It can be difficult to identify new email subscribers who may be interested in your brand, but Facebook and LinkedIn give you the tools you need to find social media users who fit your criteria. These leads are significantly more likely than the average user to engage with your content and subscribe to your newsletter.
Facebook Lookalike Audiences, for example, allows you to input an existing audience and receive a list of similar leads you haven’t previously targeted. It uses demographics and other information to identify cold leads who closely align with your customer personae.
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a similar tool that asks for your ideal customer profile. After existing customers, lookalike audiences are some of the most valuable leads in digital marketing. Targeting the right leads will have a substantial impact on your subscription rate and increase interest on both email and social media.
Conclusion
Social media and email each offer unique opportunities, and it’s important to develop an approach that lets each one complement the other. These tips will help you integrate your email and social media strategies more effectively and generate more sales in future campaigns.