MARCH 25, 2010
Maximizing the
E-Mail / Social Media
Connection
Presented by:
Debra Aho Williamson
Senior Analyst

What’s it all about?
Webinar Attendees
Why All the Fuss About E-Mail and Social Media?

Two clues

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

Digital communication has become more
open and social
1998
2006
2010

E-mail is
NOT dead
But social
network
usage is
growing
quickly

Millennials are just as likely as most
older generations to use e-mail regularly

There are
chinks in
e-mail’s
armor,
however

Text
messaging
is more
likely to
challenge
e-mail
than social
media will

Key Takeaways: Consumer Usage
 The death of e-mail has been exaggerated.
 Communications are more open and
increasingly involve social media.
 Consumers want to share opinions about
brands.
 Social may not be as big a threat to e-mail as
text messaging.

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

The impact
of social
media
weighs
heavily on
the minds
of e-mail
marketers…

…so they are investing in both

Spending on social media marketing to
rival e-mail spending in 2012 (Forrester)

2010: The year social media makes
e-mail even stronger
 37% of marketers already use e-mail to
promote social networks and another
31% are planning to (Econsultancy and Adestra).
 55% of retailers who use Twitter link to their
Twitter account in their e-mail campaigns
(Email Data Source and Goodmail).
 Integrating the two channels is the fourthmost-important e-mail marketing initiative
for 2010, business executives say (StrongMail).

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

Sharing is shifting
 5 billion pieces of content shared every day
 Users send more traffic to news sites than
Google News does (Hitwise, March 2010)
 86% of sharing activity still takes place via e-mail,
with 10% on Facebook and Twitter
 Twitter offers enormous reach potential, but e-mail
leads in conversions (Q3 2009)
 Among social media sites, Facebook leads in sharing
 44% used Gigya widget to share on Facebook;
29% shared via Twitter (February 2010)

Creating
links
between
social
media and
e-mail
marketing
provides
more ways
for people
to share

How to multiply the sharing opportunities
 Add “share with your network” links to
e-mail messages.
 Use analytics to understand:
1. Who is sharing?
2. How are they sharing?
3. What happens next, after message is passed along?
 Customize/segment your e-mail AND social media
messages to encourage your best advocates to
share even more and extend your reach.

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

Personal
connections
and social
network
connections
are trusted
sources of
information

The No. 2
reason
people
become
fans on
Facebook?
They are
already your
customers

How to give a broader platform for
advocates
Court your best e-mail customers and
encourage them to become fans or
followers in social media.
Then provide them with the tools to share their
knowledge and their passion.
Use analytics to segment lists and send targeted
communications that inspire commenting and
sharing.

Wilton designs communications
to match its audience
E-Mail Subscribers
 Know more about
product
 More savvy and more
experienced decorators
 Receive newsletters
with expert advice and
tips
Source: MarketingSherpa
Facebook Fans
 Relatively inexperienced, but want to
show off their work
 Looking for “how-to’s”
 Communications strategy includes
sneak peeks and new-product
promotions

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

Internet users have little time for
irrelevant newsletters or promotions

Consumers use multiple ways to interact
with a company or brand

Once upon a time, Conan might have
used e-mail to market this …
Instead, he used only Twitter.
The results:
 Most shows sold out within hours.
 Twitter followers felt special.

Shift the control to the consumer
Use the combination of e-mail and
social media to provide multiple ways
for consumers to interact with your
company.
Brand interactions in social media may be less
likely to be perceived as spam.
“The great thing about social media is it’s completely
permission based. Consumers can just unfollow or unfan
you and they’ll never see you again.”
—Kristin Hersant, StrongMail

Agenda
 Consumer usage patterns: Is e-mail really dead?
 Marketer usage and spending: Social + e-mail
 Four ways to maximize the connection:
1. Multiply
the sharing opportunities.
2. Provide a broader platform for advocates.
3. Shift the control to your consumers.
4. Use e-mail metrics to enhance social ROI.

Marketers
are far more
confident of
their ability
to measure
ROI from
e-mail than
from social
media

Success
metrics
for e-mail
marketing
are well
established

But the No. 1 metric used to track
social media success is site traffic

Few marketers are looking for hard
metrics from integrating social & e-mail

Experienced social media marketers are
more likely to measure leads and sales

Key Takeaways:
Consumer and Marketer Usage
 E-mail remains a powerful way to reach
consumers, even as they spend more time with
social media.
 Younger Internet users still use e-mail, but
their communications are spread across
several channels, making it more challenging
to reach them.
 Marketers are increasing investments in both
e-mail and social media.

Key Takeaways:
Maximizing the Connection
 If you haven’t started integrating e-mail and social,
now is the time.
 “Share with a friend” is only the first step.
Marketers must also analyze sharing behavior,
find their best advocates and understand how their
e-mail and social media lists compare.
 Give consumers multiple avenues to interact.
Some may want discounts via e-mail, others via Twitter.
 Bring e-mail marketing rigor to social media
metrics.

Learn more: eMarketer Reports
“Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection”
http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000643.aspx
“Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook”
http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000621.aspx
“Getting and Keeping Customers: Search and E-Mail Tactics”
http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000573.aspx
COMING SOON: “Social Network Users and Usage”

Get the Power of Email
and Social Media
Free 60-Day Trial of Social Studio
• Launch direct-response campaigns into
social media
• Reach and identify who your brand
influencers are across blogs, Twitter,
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• Analyze and track campaign
performance all the way through to the
conversion so you can truly understand
the business impact of your social media
efforts.
Visit www.strongmail.com/socialstudio
Or call 1 (800) 971-0380

Thank you!
Debra Aho Williamson
Senior Analyst
dwilliamson@emarketer.com
twitter.com/debrawilliamson
www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/author/dwilliamson

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