As the CEO of a digital marketing and technology agency, I find innovative social media campaigns to be very exciting. To me, the network isn’t what’s important, but rather the successful execution of customer engagement through whatever channel is used. At the same time, I can’t help but become frustrated when I see marketing budgets go to waste on uninspiring campaigns; this explains my frustration with email marketing.
Each day I receive countless emails from retailers offering me “free shipping” or “20% every purchase over $100,” and I delete almost every single one. Yet if I see the same deal “shared” by a trusted friend on one of my social networks, I tend to take a second look. Apparently I’m not the only one. CNN recently released a study revealing that people who received news content from a friend via social media were 19% more likely to recommend the brand that advertised around the story to others, and 27% were more likely to favor that brand themselves.
If this is true, why are email campaigns so reluctant to enter the social circle? I realize that many retailers include social network buttons in their emails. But make it easier for me! Don’t take me to your corporate Facebook or Twitter page and leave me stranded. Instead help me share the same deal you sent me with one click of a button.
In a typical CRM strategy we challenge our clients to provide consumers with an incentive to join their online communities. Brand-consumer relationships, just like any other relationships, need to strike a balance of give and take. This same philosophy should be applied to email marketing. Imagine if you were provided incentive to “share” content from retailers; you’d probably be a lot more likely to post an offer in your status than you would without any motivation. For a merchant, content “sharing” means third-party validation in the eyes of thousands of “friends,” “followers,” and “connections.”
Implementing email campaigns can be an expensive undertaking, which is why we encourage merchants to get consumers to do the work for them. If you offer your audience something worth sharing, your campaign will be worth much more than you paid for it.
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