Many marketing experts predicted that social media would explode between 2015 and 2018. No one would argue that it has continued to play an amazing role in the political arena ramping up with the 2016 elections, straight through to today. But, is it still producing productive marketing campaigns for everyone else? Can the everyday internet start-up company hit their target goals?
Yes, online advertising is great. But, when a mobile app development company wants to expand brand awareness, then social media is still the key go-to strategy. Better yet, it will make or break upstart app development companies. The beauty of social media is that it is proactive, as well as interactive and it brings in the target audience even before they know they have something to search for.
A better question is, “Is email marketing still the go-to strategy for a productive marketing campaign?” Email marketing has struggled to redefine itself over the last few years. Even more marketing experts have expressed an opinion that email is dead. Now among the most forward-thinking market analysts, the buzz is that the most successful marketing plans combine social media and email.
Although social media tends to be the focal point of many people’s lives today, the professional who is most often the target of a new mobile app development company is checking their email several times a day. Embedding social media share into a well-directed email marketing campaign will open up a wide range of brand awareness expanding opportunities. Keap can help in this endeavor.
Here are a few more reasons for combining social media share with email:
• Embedding social media share immediately extends the reach of the current campaign.
• As the targeted audience opens their email, likes what they see and shares their wonderful new find on social media, the email list expands, rolling over into the next email campaign.
• The social media share allows for additional analytical metrics to be gathered, enabling the production of a directed short list of most effective emails for the next send out.
In order to maximize the success of a directed social media and email campaign, it is helpful to be clear on the difference between social sharing and social connections. Social sharing is when the email marketer includes a button so the recipient can share the email or a specific block with their network of friends or followers. Social connections, on the other hand, is when an email marketer, blogger or website asks for their subscribers to like their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter or subscribe to their YouTube channel.
An email marketing suite alone may be the answer for the average internet business plan. On the other hand, current marketing research concludes that an integrated all-out social media and email campaign will produce a solid return. Run a search on any search engine and over 140 million articles on social media marketing strategies will be found. The following is a streamlined list of ways to integrate email marketing and social media for maximum impact:
• Embed Social Share access prominently within the email once, possibly twice, depending on the length of the email, especially if it is directed towards subscribers.
• Emails sent out to subscribers should specifically ask that they share the content.
• Depending on the targeted action response desired from the email campaign, it may be beneficial to add an incentive for the recipient to share with their social media network.
• On the other side of the social media marketing question, if a well-established social network has been developed, it should be used to ask for email subscribers.
• Another technique is to highlight a tweet and ask for your recipients to re-tweet.
• Integrate an email sign-up form in a promotional Facebook page.
• Create an exclusive social group for your email subscribers.
Sometimes it does not matter how targeted the integration of email and social media campaigns are, and looking beyond these confines is necessary. For example, if the goal is an Android app development, then a marketing plan may include the use of an SMS app to extend the branding of the target android app development. Defining the success metrics at the start of the project can never be overlooked.
During the development stages of a new marketing campaign, the target market profile must be defined and sometimes an even narrower view may be needed. This helps to establish the metrics that can measure the success in relation to the defined marketing goals. When looking towards social media as a key element within a marketing plan, it can be helpful to realize that there is no one size fits all solution.
So, defining the target market is just as important today as it has been in the not-so-distant past. A startup may need to create brand awareness, while a company that has been around may need to revitalize a stagnating image. Not every business model would support interaction on every social media channel.
Narrowing the number of social media networks would help improve overall success, as well as listening to the exchange that is taking place. Social media is a conversation with other like-minded individuals. This interaction will take on a life of its own and shape the marketing plan. What are they doing and where else are they going?
Having a keen understanding of the social media experience is crucial to developing a plan. Talking face to face in a sales appointment may become an activity left to historians to discuss, but we can still see how the goal of these two types of communication can fall into alignment now.
When considering social media and email marketing, keep an open mind. The intent of social media is to produce fresh and interactive content. The use of a mobile app development company may enhance the end user experience. For long-term social media market interaction, it may be advisable to consider the use of a social media monitoring service.
A direct hit that takes a campaign viral may not be as advantageous and it seems. Viral responses will burn out quickly. Ultimately, social media marketing is a going to remain an integral part of a digital marketing strategy for a long time. Integrative efforts with email content marketing will continue to provide for a broader perceptive. Online marketing can be overwhelming at first glance, but with an integrated social media and email strategy, your campaigns can be managed with great success.
Harnil Oza is the CEO of Hyperlink Infosystem, a mobile app development company based in the United States and India with a team of the best app developers delivering solutions mainly on Android and iOS platforms. He regularly contributes his knowledge on the leading blogging sites.