With hoopla surrounding recent changes to Facebook and bloggy-bloviation about newcomer Google+ the digital landscape feels more precarious than usual.
This persistent evolution may leave some marketers wondering how best to communicate with audiences. There’s a simple yet often overlooked complementary solution to this conundrum: email marketing.
Surprised that we’re bringing up one of the oldest tricks in the digital marketing book?
We’ve seen studies to email’s slow decline and we don’t buy it for a second. In the age of social media email is not obsolete; the parameters have simply expanded.
Think of email, social, content and mobile as forces that must be united. Still not sure what we’re babbling about? Here are some quick tips to point you in the right direction.
Promote your email marketing with social engagement
Send out a quick tweet or Facebook update letting your followers know what the upcoming topic of your email will be, then provide a quick call to action letting users know how to opt in for the email. Think of this as a teaser that reels people in with content and loyalty programs that are exclusive to email subscribers. Remember, you’ve got to say something worth reading or you’ll lose relevance to your social connections.
Conversely, promote your social media with email marketing
Connect the dots by inviting your subscribers to join the conversation on social media. Below, you can see how important online community is to the Threadless brand by counting the number of social calls to action. These guys aren’t messing around.
Make a tab of it!
Creating a Facebook tab for email sign-ups is fast and easy. Check out the lonelybrand opt-in tab to see what this feature looks like. Most modern CRM and email marketing SaaS platforms include a turnkey option to add functionality to other digital properties you own. Take advantage!
Optimize email for smartphones
Checking email is the most common web-based activity for smartphone users, so chances are your email message will be opened on a mobile device. Forgo fancy templates in favor of a header image with a white background. Keep those messages short and sweet to minimize mobile scrolling.
Email is no longer the only player in the game, but don’t kid yourself – it’s still a vital component in any digital communications program. That means making the six key areas of digital work together to produce meaningful results.
How do you incorporate mobile and social into email marketing?
