Cross-Promote to Build Your Audience Email marketing and social media have a symbiotic relationship. When marketers incorporate links to social media in their email campaigns, they can help increase follower count and engagement across social platforms. Similarly, tweeting or posting links to email sign-up forms can help build mailing lists. It’s become a standard practice for brands to incorporate share icons for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn into their email headers and footers. These make it easy for audiences to share links to articles or follow a brand on social media with a simple click. More creative ways of integrating the two forms of communication include uploading email subscriber lists to Facebook and Twitter, or creating sign-up forms within social media sites to collect email addresses directly from social media pages. Another fun way to encourage customers to follow brands’ social media pages is to offer an incentive — for example, creating a private, password-protected Facebook or LinkedIn group for “top tier” members. Each channel can, and should, serve as a referral source directing existing consumers to additional channels for continued engagement. Back to Basics: Use Social Media to Catch Users’ Attention and Reach New Audiences Consumer attention spans are shorter than ever before, and marketers should always look for new ways to stay relevant in today’s cluttered, fast-paced and oversaturated market. Personalizing email lists through segmentation based on demographics or location is one great way to catch customers’ attention. Marketers can also use snappy social media posts to capture the interests of those not subscribed to their brand’s mailing list, whether it’s through interactive Snapchat filters, witty Tweets or Instagram giveaways. The key benefits to marketers using social media are expanded reach and heightened brand awareness. Every demographic has different preferred ways of interact- ing with their favorite brands. A survey by Campaigner found that 44 percent of millennials still prefer receiv- ing information about brands through email. However, there’s no denying that social media has a large presence in consumers’ minds. By using social media platforms to extend email marketing reach, marketers have a better chance of connecting with prospects more often. Find the Right Fit: Use Platforms That Best Match Brands’ Content Using the right platforms for a brand can help skyrocket the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. Companies with more visual products will benefit most from taking advantage of Pinterest’s layout. For example, florist shops can use the platform to showcase displays of the day, and photographers can use Tumblr or other visual blogs to present their portfolios. On the other hand, airlines or other customer service-focused businesses can capitalize on Twitter for sharing rapid-fire responses or updates on delayed flights. Leverage each platform’s strengths to drive home messaging points your brand wants to get across. Remember that email allows for bigger pieces of content to be delivered to a user’s inbox, while social media can be used for sharing smaller, bite-sized snippets in the form of teaser pages, links to articles or sneak peaks. Set Realistic Expectations: Remember that Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight One hurdle marketers face when integrating social media is setting expectations too high or too low. Some view it as a tool that will dramatically increase revenue, while others fail to see the value in adding it to their marketing strategy. The real answer lies somewhere in between. Social media programs need time to be cultivated and exist as part of an overall marketing strategy, but to succeed expectations must be set correctly and efforts must be applied based on those outlooks. Don’t underestimate the power of integrating social and leveraging different platforms for different content, and remember to keep brand consistency in mind. Think of social media and email marketing as two different — but complementary — tools to use, as opposed to two siloed channels. By using a variety of social media platforms that align with the brand, marketers can expand their brand’s reach to new audiences and stay connected with loyal existing customers as well. Keep these tips in mind to create a stronger and more effective marketing strategy. Article from: https://www.websitemagazine.com/blog/integrate-social-media-into-email-campaigns
Are you just getting started with a social media strategy for your business? Not sure what you should be posting about in order to generate followers and engagement?
How to Turn a $500 Budget Into a Successful Facebook Ad Campaign When done right, Facebook can be a key tool in promoting your small business—even on a limited budget. With new updates on a nearly daily basis, it can be overwhelming trying to take advantage of all the features Facebook offers. Through its Ads Manager program, you have the ability to gain more followers, likes and impressions on a post, and even direct people right to your own homepage. While traditional advertising avenues are limited for the budget-conscious marketer, social media advertising can stretch even a $500 budget a long way with some careful thought to these four considerations: 1. Know your audience You can get a thousand likes on a post, but if none of those Facebookers care about your company, was that ad successful? This is where quantity vs. quality comes in to play. While both have their time and place— to drive real sales and profits from these ads, you need quality engagement. This starts with building the right audience. One of the most powerful tools Facebook Ads Manager provides you with is its targeting capabilities. Your company has a specific demographic and your targeted Facebook audience can reflect those details. Narrowing all the way down to age, gender, job title, zip code and even what kind of pages they already like are all ways Facebook gets your post where it needs to be. Before you even begin boosting posts, take a look at your existing audience. If your follower count is lacking, consider using $100 out of that budget toward getting new followers that meet your target demographics. 2. Thumb-Stopping Visuals The next time you’re going down your Facebook feed and your thumb stops scrolling, take note! Why did that specific post jump out at you? Maybe it was an eye-catching video or just a cute baby picture. Whatever the reason, that post got you to stop and look at it. Keep these visuals in mind when creating your own ads because we usually look at a picture before reading the accompanying description. Avoid stock photography if possible as it can make your ad appear generic. Try capturing your own compelling images or videos, or consider creating original infographics with a program like Canva to get noticed. 3. What’s the Point? With a smaller budget, it’s necessary to be a little picky when it comes to choosing the content you want to sponsor. Upcoming promotions/events, fun pictures and original resources/infographics are all great options to put some dollars behind. Once you settle on that post, it’s time to choose what you want to get out of it— Post likes? Clicks to your website? Video views? When you’re building your ad, keep these options in mind. 4. Test & Measure This final step is the most important when it comes to maintaining and improving the success of your ad campaign. Keeping an eye on what you’re promoting, what you’re spending and the results you’re seeing can help you evaluate how to move forward. See that infographic you boosted for $30 is getting a ton of likes? Add another $20! If it’s not broke, don’t fix it— there’s a reason why people are responding, you have an awesome post, spread it around! See a post isn’t doing so well? Scrap it and make a new one. Social media is all about trying things out and adjusting in real time— don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment. Social media advertising can appear intimidating at first, but it provides marketers with great opportunities. Learning how to make the most of advertising on social platforms like Facebook can help truly elevate your marketing efforts, no matter the budget. Article from: https://www.websitemagazine.com/blog/get-some-bang-for-your-social-buck
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