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3 tips for combining social media and email marketing

Email marketing and social media are powerful marketing tools by their own rights – but when they come together, that power increases tenfold. It makes sense: Today's buyers generally make decisions based on information from multiple channels, so when marketers focus all their energy on just one, they risk missing their prospects at key stages of the customer journey. Plus, Salesforce confirms that combining email with other marketing channels can deliver better personalization and customer experience, with the three biggest benefits cited as improved awareness, higher rates of customer engagement, and improved customer acquisition. That said, here are three ideas for combining your social media and email marketing to deliver better, more effective online experiences.

1. Use your social channels to grow your email list.

Did you know you can use lead generation ads to collect email addresses directly in social ad units? For example, you can send ads to users who’ve sent your Facebook page a message in the last 30, 90, or even 365 days.

Foxwell Digital uses insights from Facebook to define custom audiences with which to create targeted social ads. Owner Andrew Foxwell reminds marketers: “Your Facebook page fans are one of your best audiences to advertise to, and they are more likely to make a purchase than a non-fan.”

Your social audience may not be online long enough at the time to consume all the content they are actually interested in, so collect their email addresses, follow up, and send them the content they want to read later.

2. Target your email audience on social.

You can do this by uploading your audience list to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. A few reasons you might want to target email subscribers with social ads? • Reinforce messages they might have missed in their inbox. • Re-engage with subscribers who have stopped opening your emails. • Encourage existing customers to make a repeat purchase. • Run targeted promotions for specific groups of people, like people currently in trial, or prospects who have yet to make a purchase.

3. Test ideas on social, then use what works in email.

If your business has an engaged social media presence, take advantage of it. Social media is great way to test creative and messaging, and it can be an untapped source of potential new email content.

If a particular piece of social media content performs particularly well organically, it’s a good candidate for your email marketing. By including successful social content in your emails and driving readers back to those original sources, you are likely to get even more social engagement – which in turn affects social algorithms and increases additional reach.