The Integration of Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing

I was reading an article that claimed email marketing is dead. Surprised, I read it, and the gist of the article is that social media marketing has taken over email marketing. To which I thought, can’t they both co-exist and integrate to perform better?

Yes, they can, and in this era of digital marketing, they should.

Email marketing and social media marketing both have the potential to increase brand loyalty, enhance customer experience and elevate engagement. So, where do they intersect, and how can they work together? First, let’s have a look at what these marketing processes entail.

What is email marketing?

The use of emails within your marketing efforts to lead prospective customers down the sales funnel by sending marketing emails and content is called email marketing.

An example of this, a user of Mailmunch might sign up for their newsletter to keep an eye out for promotional offers as soon as they arrive.

When it comes to email, there are 4.9 billion active email addresses and 4.037 billion active email users. Did you know that 3.8 billion people start their day by checking their email? And 60% of that three billion people prefer to receive marketing and promotional content through email.

So why is email marketing that popular? It leads to sales. About two-thirds of customers make purchases as a direct response to marketing emails. With every $1 spent on email marketing, you get a return of $44, which is a 4400% ROI (Return on Investment). Some other benefits of email marketing are an increase in revenue, easy audience segmentation, access to an already engaged audience on a global scale.

Then why is there a need for social media marketing? More on that later.

The Role of Social Media Marketing

Promoting your content and brand on social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or other social media is called social media marketing. Content for social channels is tailored to the specifications of each channel to boost lead generation and increase brand awareness.

3.2 billion people around the globe use social media. It’s an essential medium for businesses to increase their reach and put their brand in front of prospective customers. Almost 51% of the world’s population has at least one social media account. Facebook has 2.603 million monthly active users, Instagram has 1,082 million monthly active users, Twitter has 326 million monthly active users while LinkedIn has 250 million monthly active users.

But what’s the challenge? The organic reach on social media is getting harder to come by. One example of this is — the amount of people using Facebook to search for new brands is down by 11%. Social content should also meet the needs of the audience on that medium. For Instagram, high-quality and engaging visuals with short captions are the way to ensure instagram growth.

Then why put so much effort into social media marketing? It’s one of the best ways to engage with prospective customers directly, build brand loyalty and trust, and strengthen your brand community.  Some other benefits of social media marketing include improved inbound traffic, higher engagement, higher conversion rates, improved customer satisfaction, development of a reciprocal relationship with customers, and higher rankings in search results. Social media is so remarkable that 43% of B2B businesses have acquired a client through social media.

The Integration of Social Media and Email Marketing

How many times have you received an email from a company and then gone on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to check out that company? And how did you feel after seeing they have pretty much an inactive social media presence? Or they are not on some social media platforms. This is why it’s important that social media and email marketing co-exist and integrate with each other to yield the best results.  

Social media marketing puts your brand in front of people who are unaware of you, people who may be aware of your services and products but hadn’t considered your businesses or people who actively engage with your brand. It gives a definition to your brand and makes your customers easily associate specific content with your brand. Email marketing, on the other hand, focuses on already existing customers and strengthens those relationships. These both can work together to create a stellar marketing experience for your audience. Ultimately, email and social media campaigns are stronger together. Over 306.4 billion emails are sent every day, with the average internet user spending 2–4 hours on social media daily.

So what are the ways you can integrate email marketing with social media marketing?

Newsletter Sign Ups

For starters, you don’t have to just post your email link in hopes you will get sign-ups. You need to leverage social media platforms to create engaging, eye-catching visuals and videos to integrate both marketing strategies to appeal to your customers.

Social Media Profiles

When sending out your marketing emails, you should add all your social media profiles in the email. This gives subscribers different ways to engage with your brand and your content. Your emails should always entice your audience to know more about your brand and your products. The links to the company’s social pages encourage subscribers to check them out and connect with them there.

Building Brand Consistency

Every brand has subtle elements that make them stand out and communicate its brand ethos. Elements like brand voice, colors, graphics, that help differentiate your brand from the competition.

When your email and social media marketing teams are not working together, there can be a lack of harmony. Let’s consider an example. If you send out a fun and informal email to your customers, but your social media feeds are not showcasing the same energy, your customers can see a serious disconnect between your social media and email marketing strategies. This implies a lack of consistency and sends the wrong message. With proper integration of social media and email marketing, brands have a higher chance of standing out and highlighting their consistency. It also allows them to double down your message.

Doubling Down Content on Both Platforms

Content is king, and you need high-quality, engaging content on social media and email campaigns to attract customers. With proper integration of both, you can reuse social media content in your emails and vice versa.

Doing this saves you time and resources that would otherwise be spent on coming up with new content ideas and crafting that content. It also tells your customers that you have other channels on which they can engage with your content. With regular content exchange across both social media and email, you can further improve brand consistency and build a steady and loyal engagement with your customers.

Use Cases for Email and Social Media Marketing Integration

Let’s look at some of the ways companies integrate their email and social media marketing efforts to provide a more holistic experience for their audience.

Everyone affected by #bowelcancer needs us more than ever right now. Let’s build an active and powerful community this #BowelCancerAwarenessMonth. The more people who join, the stronger we’ll be.

Sign up to our newsletter here: https://t.co/CBAH7N2QPR pic.twitter.com/RuQW0JTRln

— Bowel Cancer UK (@bowelcanceruk) April 12, 2021

This tweet by Bowel Cancer UK uses Twitter to encourage customers to sign up for their email newsletter to build an active and powerful community. They give a heads up to the kind of content subscribers will receive after signing up and urge the audience to sign up to the newsletter to show their solidarity and strength. This method will not only boost newsletter sign-ups but will also build a relationship with the customers.

Let us look at another example of a marketing email this time.

The Residential Communications Network (RCN) sends emails to their subscribers to inform them of the weather conditions and give them update about the tropical storm. At the same time, they are letting people know that the audience can keep in the know by liking the page on Facebook and following on Twitter — both providing minute-by-minute updates and alerts.

Brands can integrate both social media and email marketing to elevate their audience engagement. The next time you are compiling your newsletter or crafting your promotional email, think about how your audience can receive similar content from your social media accounts as well. By leveraging social media and email marketing, you will be able to reach more prospects through a variety of channels.