We've all received the email from senior management stating we need more social in our b2b marketing efforts; but how can we do that? In our more familiar channel of email, we push our messaging, our brand and our solutions to a targeted list of leads who may ignore our email or, worse, mark us as spam. In the social sphere, targeting and strategy become even more critical as you may run the risk of negative exposure to your brand.
How can we as b2b marketers tap into this vast resource from our preferred channel of email marketing? Here are some tips on how to use email marketing for social media.
- Share, don't tell. Adding your social media links to the footer of your email is not sufficient to leveraging social media. Give links in your emails to allow leads to share the content of your emails.
- It's all about content. The right content sent to the right “mover and shaker” in the social sphere will amplify the touch of your content. Identify the loudest social media users in your space. Get them to opt in to your communications to leverage their long reach if they choose to share your content.
- Identify social watering holes for your industry. Are there industry specific groups that are very active on LinkedIn? Are there serial tweeters on Twitter? Find these watering holes and link content from your email to them. Syndicate your content there to reach the right audience.
- Realize that social is a channel. Treat social media as a channel to syndicate your content. For each campaign you launch, have a specific strategy to leverage the content of your campaign in social media.
Majda Anwar is a revenue engineer for revenue marketing agency Pedowitz Group. She can be reached at majda@pedowitzgroup.com.