Ask Emma: How do I use social media with my email marketing?
Dear Emma,
It seems I can't go anywhere these days -- the coffee shop, dinner parties or my balloon animal enthusiast meetings -- without hearing the words "social networking." I'm as email-savvy as they come, but I hear words like tweet and status update and I get overwhelmed. I know you added Social Sharing options to my email campaigns last year, so I've come to you for answers! How do I break into the world of social networking when I'm so much more comfortable with email (and balloons)?
Signed,
Hesitant in Hoboken
Dear Hesitant,
We share your fondness for email, naturally, but social media has also become a bit of a darling for us here at Emma. While you might not be ready to venture into this brave new world, many of your email subscribers are already there. And Emma's social sharing options let you empower your recipients to share your email campaigns with their friends, followers and networks. What better way to increase your marketing reach beyond your email list?
If you’re new to this whole social networking thing, take a look at the reasons we think it’s worth embracing:
+ To pave a road that’s already being traveled. Even if you haven’t seen it, your recipients might already be sharing your content. The Social Sharing icons simply give them a shortcut to doing it easily.
+ To share the idea of, well, sharing. You may have readers who are already active on social networks and haven’t considered how their followers and friends could benefit from your content. It’s a simple idea, but adding the Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn icons to your emails helps connect those dots for your audience members who just haven’t thought to share your campaigns with their contacts.
+ To grow your email list. This may seem obvious, but when your content is shared on social networks, it’s typically being shared with a group of people who have common interests, so it’s already likely relevant. With that in mind, we’ve made it easy for them to sign up to get future emails from you. So, not only might your email get shared, but you might also gain new subscribers.
+ To harness the reach of social media. A single share can be really powerful because of the number of followers that one email recipient can reach. How powerful could this be, you ask? Well, Facebook claims that the average user has 130 friends, so every 1,000 email subscribers represents a potential audience of 130,000 people! (Actually it’s exponentially more than that because shared content can be shared further once it’s in the network.)
+ To pinpoint your most loyal fans. Having your audience share your content is quite an honor, of course, so you may want to provide something special for folks who regularly share or help you spread an important message. With Emma’s enhanced reporting feature for social sharing, we’ve made creating that list of loyal fans simple for you.
The Social Sharing options are built into your account, and you can enable them while you’re editing a campaign. If you need a little more guidance, check out our help guide, which even has videos to help explain how it all comes together. And, as always, we’re here to answer any questions you might have. Go ahead, be bold and give social sharing a try. Your fellow balloon enthusiasts are going to be so impressed.
Cheers,
Emma