“Email and social media marketing go together like Batman and Robin” – D.J. Waldow, Social Media Examiner
These words, from Social Media Examiner’s D.J. Waldow, encapsulate the modern relationship between email marketing and social media perfectly. When brought together, the combined powers of these connected practices can be truly extraordinary; enough so that brands operating in the digital world simply can’t ignore the potential held within this pairing.This notion holds doubly true for small businesses on the web. With a smaller marketing budget and the need to carve out a spot in the digital world greater than ever, these organizations simply can’t turn the other way when it comes to the overlap between email marketing and social media. To ensure you don’t fall behind on this front, here’s five social media tactics that every small business can use to support and grow their social presence.
Place an Emphasis on Value
As Jeffrey Hayzlett of Entrepreneur magazine explains, the best place to start when it comes to boosting your social media standing as a small business – and thereby supporting your email marketing operations – comes in the form of rethinking the role of value in your postings.The big thing to understand here is that shoppers come to small businesses for enhanced value and a unique experience or service, so try to translate that to your social postings. Instead of spamming these accounts with pleas of “buy this now!” and “look at this product!” try and offer up content – think vlogs, behind the scenes photos, and notifications regarding exclusive events or happenings – that show why turning to your brand is a better option than going with the generic experience that comes with the larger competitors in your industry.
Invest in Paid Promotion
Of course, simply telling you to place an emphasis on value isn’t always good enough. Sometimes, you’ll need a little boost via paid promotion and advertising on social networks to help spread the word about your brand. For this reason, don’t be afraid to turn to the “boosted post” and “promoted tweet” functions on Facebook and Twitter.Even on the tightest of budgets, allocating a little bit your marketing funds toward these services can help garner new audience members and attract more visibility. From here, the return via contact list sign-ups, leads, and hard sales should more than cover what you’ve invested into this process.
Tell a Story with Images
If you’re at a loss for what to post, Forbes magazine’s Mario Armstrong points out that it’s hard to go wrong with falling back on the old adage, “a picture is worth a 1,000 words.” Today’s social communities simply can’t get enough visual content, so don’t be afraid to try and take the web by storm with an infographic or demonstration video. These offerings are exceedingly shareable on social media, as well as highly reusable for future email campaigns, so the time and resources invested in visual assets will rarely go to waste.
Test Your Posts Then Test Some More
Armstrong also explains that social media success requires a substantial amount of trial and error at times, so there’s nothing wrong with taking a page out of your email marketing playbook and relying upon extensive testing. Much like an A/B test for inbox content, you’ll want to track the reach and engagement of each post; something that the major networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn help out with via in-depth analytics. From here, adjusting and shifting the scope and direction of the content can allow you to hone in on each social segment’s needs and desires.
Learn to Love Social Tools
The final tactic worth your consideration comes in the form of the plethora of social tools out there at your disposal. To put it in simple terms, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be cutting down on your manual workload and automating posts via management platforms like Hootsuite, learning more about what’s trending with your audience on Socialmention, or analyzing your social progress with Quintly.Yes, small businesses can be at a disadvantage on social media when compared to brands with massive marketing budgets. However, just like the world of email marketing, the gap isn’t as wide as you think. With a few nifty social tools offering up a helping hand, as well as the other tactics covered in this post pitching in, there’s no reason why you can’t make the most of social media and reap all of the rewards that come with having a strong presence on these platforms.
