E-Mail and Social Media: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Editor's Note: The following is a useful and highly-educational blog post, which details how to effectively integrate of e-mail and social media communications, written by the outstanding editorial staff at MarketingVOX, an online publication which keeps marketers and media professionals abreast of industry news, trends, and culture.
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When Ben & Jerry’s announced this summer that it would exclusively market its products via social media – discontinuing its e-mail marketing initiatives – eyebrows were raised. While there has been much debate over the advantages of e-mail versus social media, few advocate entirely ditching one for the other. In fact, the best practice gaining traction is to integrate the best of these channels. Unfortunately few firms have done so, leading to siloed e-mail and social media marketing operations.

The benefits of this approach, though, are clear. A study by Emarketer, for example, called "Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection," found that joining the two approaches provide new avenues for sharing and engaging customers and prospects. "The two channels can help each other, offering the opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections."

12 Tips
To nudge firms along this path, CoTweet and ExactTarget, in their latest report, The Collaborative Future, offer 12 tips to integrate these channels.

1. Promote Facebook games, applications, and competitions in e-mail and on Twitter.
2. Feature winners of Facebook competitions in your e-mail newsletter.
3. Tweet about exclusive content that’s only available to e-mail subscribers.
4. Promote exclusive deals on Facebook and Twitter, but make it only available to e-mail subscribers.
5. Post links to Web versions of your best e-mails on Facebook and Twitter.
6. Include Like and Follow buttons in e-mail newsletters and promotions.
7. Include links to your Twitter and Facebook pages in e-mail newsletters.
8. Collect e-mail addresses at the point of conversion for consumers who link to your site from Facebook and Twitter.
9. Create an e-mail segment containing Twitter followers, and provide them with additional “insider information” through e-mail.
10. Include questions posted on Twitter and Facebook in your e-mails, and then answer them.
11. Encourage e-mail subscribers to post questions on Facebook and/or Twitter.
12. Host videos on your Facebook page. Include links in your e-mails and post links on Twitter.

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