Combining the forces of social media with e-mail marketing has been under way for some time, with savvy marketers using the two channels to complement each other rather than compete. As companies gain experience in the area, their choice of tactics may change.
A survey of small businesses by e-mail marketing company AWeber found the most common tactics implemented last year were tweeting e-mail newsletters and sending out blog entries to e-mail lists. Fewer than four in 10 small businesses were engaging in those activities, and only about one-quarter had e-mail sign-up forms on their social profiles or links within e-mail messages to follow them on social sites.
Many more small businesses have plans for the coming year, and more than three-quarters consider integration of e-mail and social at least somewhat important. A majority plan to allow users to sign up for e-mails directly from social media sites like Facebook. This tactic allows e-mail marketers to grow their lists—cited as the top benefit of integrating social and e-mail by one-third of respondents—by allowing consumers to use their channel of choice and sign up on their own terms.
Almost one-half of small businesses will include “follow us” links in their e-mails, and about 44% will include share options in their messages. Just 13.1% of respondents had such options last year.
According to a study by e-mail marketing company GetResponse, including a social sharing option in an e-mail increased their clients’ click-through rates from an average of 7.2% to 8.7%, and including as many as three different sharing options boosted the rate to 11.2%.
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Check out today’s other article, “Mobile Automotive Marketing Revs Up.”