Marketing channels are not mutually exclusive. You can’t solely rely on one marketing channel to build and grow your brand. It’s like putting all your eggs in one basket and we all know how that can end.
In this article, I’m going to talk about the two most powerful marketing channels — social media and email.
While social media marketing can help you attract new customers and increase brand awareness, email marketing plays an integral part in building loyalty and strengthening relationships.
The good news is that you don’t have to choose one over the other. What you should do is capitalize on both their strengths to reach, attract, and engage your target audience.
Here’s how you can integrate your social media and email marketing efforts.
Promote your social media accounts in your newsletters
From promoting new products and promotions to delivering informative content and sending useful reminders — email newsletters are a great way to inform, entertain, and engage your audience.
But did you know that email subscribers are 3.9 times more likely to share your content on social media?
So, start with promoting your social media channels on your email newsletters and encourage your subscribers to follow you.
Here’s an email template example by DIYODE. The brand has dedicated the entire newsletter to promoting its Instagram channel.
If you don’t want to use the entire space, you can always add your social media icons at the top or bottom of your email newsletter the way Moment does it below.
Another tactic to get your email subscribers to be part of your social media community is by giving them a glimpse of some interesting social media posts with a clear call-to-action that leads them to one of your social media accounts.
Here’s an example by Urban Outfitters that features user-generated content with a strong call-to-action button that directs readers to their Instagram page.
Use social media to grow your email list
Your email list is a valuable asset and there’s never an end to growing it. The way the above example spoke about leveraging your email subscribers to follow your social media accounts, this point asks you to do the reverse — use your social media community to grow your email list.
Here are some practical ways to grow your email list through social media:
- Add a call-to-action button or link to your opt-in form on your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles
- Host a giveaway or run a contest that involves collecting email addresses
- Promote your newsletter on your social media channels
- Run social media ad campaigns to increase email newsletter subscriptions
- Promote gated content such as eBooks, whitepapers, and other lead magnets
- Link to your email newsletter sign-up page on Instagram Stories
Look at this example by the Washington Post. They’ve added the ‘Sign Up’ button on their header which leads users to their newsletter subscription page.
Cross-promote campaigns
The easiest way to combine your social media and email marketing efforts is by cross-promoting campaigns across the two channels.
A study revealed that when customers received outreach in two or more channels, levels of engagement were 166% higher than a single-channel rate.
For example, let’s say you’re running a contest on social media. Why not send an email newsletter promoting the same? The idea is to leverage your community, helping you maximize reach and awareness.
The first step is to improve collaboration and ensure the respective teams are aware of what the other is working on.
You can create a content calendar to keep track of platform-specific campaigns and cross-promote them across your email newsletter and social media channels.
Here’s an example of an email newsletter by ATD Attractions. It promotes a giveaway they’re hosting on Facebook Live.
Retarget email subscribers on social media
An email list doesn’t only give you direct access to your audience’s inboxes but it is also a goldmine of data that can be used to inform your ad targeting strategy on social media.
You can retarget subscribers on social media by uploading your email list on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The idea is to use different channels to reach your target audience, reiterate the communication, and persuade them to convert.
For example, let’s say you send a cart abandonment email to a subscriber but they fail to take any action. Instead of dropping the ball on it, you should retarget them on Facebook or Instagram with a personalized creative, reminding them of the abandoned product(s) in their cart.
Here are the respective selections to upload email lists on the different platforms:
- Facebook: Custom Audience
- Twitter: Tailored Audience
- Google: Customer Match
LinkedIn: Matched Audience
Repurpose content across the two channels
We can all agree that creating content from scratch is a time-consuming process. This is why it’s wise to repurpose content across your marketing channels. This helps you maximize the potential of the content and expand reach while saving time.
Here are some smart ways to repurpose content across your social media channels and email newsletter:
- Feature user-generated content in your newsletter
- Post your most-liked social media posts in your newsletter
- Share customer reviews and testimonials in the newsletter
- Repurpose email infographics and post them as mini-infographics on social media
Paravel does a good job of curating their user-generated content and highlighting them in their email newsletter. It provides social proof and keeps readers engaged.
The takeaway
The question should never be email or social media. Instead, you should focus on how you can make both channels work together by leveraging their respective strengths.
These five tactics will help you combine your social media and email marketing efforts to grow your brand and generate better results.
Adela Belin is a content marketer and blogger at Writers Per Hour. She is passionate about sharing stories with the hope to make a difference in people’s lives and contribute to their personal and professional growth. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.