6 Social Networking Tactics for Email Marketers

6 Social Networking Tactics for Email Marketers

Posted by Marc Kline

There are plenty of people writing about how to leverage social networks for profit, so I won’t waste your time rehashing them.

Instead, I’d like to share some tips about what I know best – email marketing – and some ways to bridge some social networking tactics to your campaigns that can make a real difference in the results you see at the end of the day.

Take a look and see if you can implement some or all of them to your campaign today.

How to Make Your Email Campaigns More Social

1. Place a small headshot image next to your signature

Every social networking site has a place for your picture. So does your email! Show those pearly whites right next to your signature to infuse some more personality into your email.

It may seem like a minor change, because it is, but subtle changes like this (like creative personalization, geographic targeting, and other subtle tricks) can contribute to a waterfall effect when used together.

2. Start a group on a social networking site (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) your subscribers can join

Email, by nature of it’s technical specs, is a one-to-one communication tool. Even when you send to thousands of people, it’s usually important to write your copy as if you’re talking to one subscriber personally.

Social networking, on the other hand, is a many-to-many communication tool, which differentiates it from the conventional web and email experience and contributes to its popularity.

Would your subscribers be even more engaged with your content if they could discuss it with one another? Would they then share it with their friends on the social networking sites they use?

Hint: Having your subscribers communicate with one another may get them more interested in your content without you having to do any more work.

3. Interact with your subscribers

Just because email is one-to-one doesn’t mean it has to be one way. Remember that people can always hit reply to anything you send them. Take advantage of that fact. Ask them for feedback.

You can also use polls and surveys, and include the results and subscriber feedback in your future messages. TV and radio programs do this sort of thing to keep you tuned during commercials.

Even though the time between our emails last at least a little longer than 30 seconds (or at least it should!), this is a great way to keep your subscribers “tuned in”.

4. Write like a real, live person

You are real and live, right? You aren’t a robot like these guys over the on the right, are you?

Well, don’t be afraid to write like it! Remember to connect and relate with your subscribers, and be approachable. Of course, you can overdo it with the personal information, but too often I see email marketers underachieving on this front.

5. Network with other content providers

Networking with others with similar interests, of course, is natural on a social networking platform. It’s not necessarily so with email, when we’re focused on getting our newsletter out on time with relevant content.

Still, there are many potential benefits to linking up with non-competitor authorities in your industry. Think: ideas for content to fill your newsletters with, possible guest writing opportunities that help build your list, and a word of mouth campaign that builds your authority and rapport (with real live, humans… and robots…really, like Google).

6. Link up your social networking profiles

Are you a social networking addict yourself? Do you Twitter, have a Facebook account, or share pictures related to your website or business on Flickr?

Unless you have some serious skeletons in your closet, try making use of your email newsletter’s sidebar, signature, or footer and throw in a few links.

If you write your content like someone your subscribers can get to know and trust (see #4), and someone they want to be associated with, you just might make some new friends (and get exposure to friends of friends, and friends of their friends, and so on).