While the email newsletter is a powerful and effective tool of online
marketing, you have to ensure that the content is both appropriate and
engaging in order to get the best results from it. It's no secret also
that email newsletters work best when employed as part of a
comprehensive online marketing strategy. The rise of social media has
made having a social media presence just as important as having a large
email contact list and a lively newsletter – imagine how much more
powerful both these tools can be when working in tandem.
When it comes to email marketing, it is a certainty that the larger the number of people receiving your newsletter, the more chance there is that they will spread the good word about your enterprise by word of mouth – and increasingly on their social networks. A good email service provider will take a lot of strain out of building your contacts list and ensuring the process of gathering subscribers to your newsletter is as organic and effective as possible.
If you have a blog, a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page you can help this process along too. Research has shown that by promoting your newsletter on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, you can boost email newsletter traffic to dedicated blog posts by well over 100%, as well as having a similarly dramatic effect on open and click through rates as well. By monitoring and analyzing customer actions regarding your social media, such as comments left on it, you can also better shape what goes into future newsletters, further honing their effectiveness.
If your social media is helping to build interest in and support for your newsletter, then it's only fair that your newsletter should reciprocate. Editions of the newsletter should regularly invite subscribers to follow your enterprise on Twitter and to become a Facebook fan, among other things. Special events on your social media and blog posts of interest should also be clearly flagged up in the newsletters, as well as adverts for any special offers or similar promotions that can only be accessed by your social media pages.
Even deeper integration can be achieved by including bits and pieces of posts from your social media in the email newsletter – such as tweets or Facebook status updates from clients, contacts and customers. Everyone still gets a slight thrill from seeing themselves in 'print', and your customers are no different. Other readers will be swayed by the knowledge that your enterprise likes to engage with its customers and community in a dialogue, and will be encouraged to engage with you themselves.
Building the base
When it comes to email marketing, it is a certainty that the larger the number of people receiving your newsletter, the more chance there is that they will spread the good word about your enterprise by word of mouth – and increasingly on their social networks. A good email service provider will take a lot of strain out of building your contacts list and ensuring the process of gathering subscribers to your newsletter is as organic and effective as possible.
Letting social media point the way
If you have a blog, a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page you can help this process along too. Research has shown that by promoting your newsletter on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, you can boost email newsletter traffic to dedicated blog posts by well over 100%, as well as having a similarly dramatic effect on open and click through rates as well. By monitoring and analyzing customer actions regarding your social media, such as comments left on it, you can also better shape what goes into future newsletters, further honing their effectiveness.
Letting your newsletter repay the favor
If your social media is helping to build interest in and support for your newsletter, then it's only fair that your newsletter should reciprocate. Editions of the newsletter should regularly invite subscribers to follow your enterprise on Twitter and to become a Facebook fan, among other things. Special events on your social media and blog posts of interest should also be clearly flagged up in the newsletters, as well as adverts for any special offers or similar promotions that can only be accessed by your social media pages.
Place social media content in the newsletter
Even deeper integration can be achieved by including bits and pieces of posts from your social media in the email newsletter – such as tweets or Facebook status updates from clients, contacts and customers. Everyone still gets a slight thrill from seeing themselves in 'print', and your customers are no different. Other readers will be swayed by the knowledge that your enterprise likes to engage with its customers and community in a dialogue, and will be encouraged to engage with you themselves.
