Email and Social Media: Why Marketers Need Both

Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing

Why social media marketers should focus on email marketing

DJ tells a story of when he heard Jeff Pulver talk about his famous quote, “You live and die by your database.” DJ explains how it’s a phrase that he probably says at least once a week. The reason it’s so important is because when it comes to marketing, email is your database.

You have a virtual database of social media followers, but your database is your email contacts. Email is the glue that binds everything together.

Email is your database. Image source: iStockphoto

DJ doesn’t discount social media, and he uses it a lot. But he explains that if Facebook decided to change their terms of service, then the connection with your friends and followers could disappear. Email addresses stick with you.

With Facebook, there are over 100 different email notifications. Even if you turn off most of the notifications, Facebook still messages you through email and Twitter does the same.

You’ll discover how all social networks use email marketing.

Listen to the show to find out why DJ encourages people to log out of Facebook or Twitter and go back to these sites for the first time.

Why social media marketers should work email into their social media activities

DJ explains how he has heard “social media folks” talking more about email.

You’ll hear examples of how Chris Brogan and Amy Porterfield focus on how to grow their email lists.

You can take the loyal followers you have on social networks and bring them over to your email list. You’ll find out the advantages of bringing your social media connections over to your email list and why it’s easier to sell via the email channel versus the social channel.

Listen to the show to find out how at Social Media Examiner, we have about 500 new people every day come to our content.

Where email is heading in the future

DJ shares how a lot happens with email behind the scenes that the average person doesn’t necessarily see.

There has been innovation around filters impacting email deliverability. From a consumer standpoint, there is a new app called Mailbox that helps you manage all of your marketing messages in one place.

Mailbox is an app that lets you put your email in one place.

DJ has started to see a lot more integration of email into social and can see it play out in a couple of different ways.

One of his favorite plugins for Chrome and Gmail is Rapportive. It sits on the side of Gmail and as you hover over somebody’s email address, if that email address is used publicly to tie to different social networks, it will pull in all that information.

You can use Rapportive to find out information about your contacts right inside your inbox.

You’ll hear an example of what information it will show about that person and how salespeople can use it.

DJ explains that the advantage of this plugin is that it shows a little bit more about where he sees email going. The lines are starting to blur between social networks and email marketing.

Listen to the show to hear stats from ExactTarget on the number of people who check their email on a daily basis and the number of people who prefer to get marketing-related messages through email.

Some ways marketers can grow their email lists using social media

DJ says there are many different ways for marketers to grow their email lists using social media.

At a very basic level, if you have a strong following on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, he believes it’s important to let your community know how they can get onto your list.

You’ll hear DJ give examples of social updates you could use to get people onto your list. DJ also reveals how Chris Brogan and Pat Flynn get people onto their lists with the use of video.

On Facebook, you can build a tab that has an opt-in form and a lot of email providers will make it easy for you to create the form directly in their system. You can then drop the code into a tab on Facebook. Although DJ has seen this work, he thinks the problem is that you still put a lot on the potential subscriber.

You’ll hear what DJ recommends if someone is following you and they’re engaged on Facebook.

Listen to the show to find out why DJ would rather have people on his blog than on Facebook.

How can email be used to move your blog readers to action for social campaigns?

DJ has tried lately to practice what he preaches. Now when you opt into his list, you’ll see automated messages as well as some more personal things.

DJ Waldow's opt-in form for the "Waldow Social Weekly" newsletter.

People forget that you have to build your list first, and then build trust with your audience and community. You can’t expect somebody who just opted into your list to do something for you. You have to earn that trust over time.

DJ believes that a combination of both email and social can be really effective, once you have built sufficient trust. One way DJ has seen this work is to create a call-to-action link within your email. You can easily take that call to action and put a link next to it that says “tweet this” or “post this on Facebook.” Prepopulate the tweet or Facebook post with the exact message you want it to say.

DJ gives an example of what he does in his newsletter and where and what your call to action should say.

Listen to the show to hear how at Social Media Examiner, we used our email list for the launch of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

Once someone opts into your email list, what is the appropriate frequency for contact?

DJ advises if you start to do anything that is less frequent than monthly, your audience is not going to remember who you are. He thinks daily is great if you can manage, but a couple of times a week is probably better.

You’ll discover what the sweet spot is for DJ and when he does a sales-type email.

Listen to the show to find out why the frequency question is one of DJ’s favorites.

DJ’s top tips on email marketing

DJ shares a great service that he uses called JA.TXT. It’s an SMS-to-email service, which provides you with a dedicated SMS number.

JA.TXT is a great SMS-to-email service.

You’ll discover how this is a great way to add email addresses to your list and why it’s really effective when you’re in front of an audience.

The second service that has been effective for DJ is LeadBrite. It’s a plugin for WordPress called Welcome Gate.

You’ll find out what happens when you’re a first-time visitor to DJ’s site and how Welcome Gate has helped him grow his list.

Listen to the show to learn why you should give visitors an opportunity to opt in right away.

Discovery of the Week

At Social Media Examiner, we have an awesome free service called the Networking Clubs.

We have made a significant investment in hiring one of the best developers on the planet to put together a social network that lives independently of all of the other social networks.

The Networking Clubs are a great place to connect with other social media marketers.

There are almost 12,000 social media marketers who belong to the Networking Clubs. With the click of a button, you can join using LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. It’s a place where you can lend a helping hand, connect with your peers and get help.

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Purpose: How Facebook Built an Empire

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

Ekaterina shares her knowledge about Facebook’s purpose and how it helped them build an empire. You’ll learn why Facebook has been so successful and what it means to have a purpose.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Zune, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

The Facebook Empire

Ekaterina’s Facebook story.

Ekaterina shares her story of when she started using Facebook for personal reasons and found what it could do for her. She discovered connections she was able to make with people who have shared interests, whether she knew them or not. She talks about how she uncovered interesting stories that she may not have found through other channels.

Facebook helped her understand her connections better and by following them, she could see what was important to them.

From a business perspective, about 4 years ago, Intel looked at engaging with its customers on Facebook. They first started with a Facebook Page and shared messages there like other brands, without thinking about creating a two-way dialogue.

They quickly realized this wasn’t the right way to approach relationships with customers. But they also understood that this was a goldmine: the ability to build relationships right there on the digital platform.

Intel quickly realized that Facebook allowed them to build relationships.

Twenty to thirty years ago, Intel used to go into computer clubs to find tech-savvy people and trendsetters in user technology, because these people would then go on to tell the mainstream audience and their friends or relatives.

Back then, if you talked to 50 people at a time, either face-to-face or over the phone, you were lucky. Today the Facebook platform allows Intel to connect with almost 15 million fans on their global Page and over 2o million across multinational Pages on a daily basis.

It’s a place where they can truly engage with their fans and understand them. Before Facebook, this would never have happened. This is the biggest community Intel was ever able to build globally.

Over the past 4 years, Intel has been building their communities and engaging in the conversations.

Listen to the show to find out why Facebook is exciting for a brand person or marketer.

Ekaterina’s role within Intel.

Ekaterina’s role within Intel is to figure out what social means to Intel. She felt lucky that she was able to paint a blank canvas for a number of years and help lead Intel in the right direction.

Back then, they tried to figure out the basics: Should they do it internally or outsource, what should they do, how should they build the strategies and what networks should they use?

Back in 2009, her role was about looking at the community Intel had built. Since then, it’s been about trying to dig deeper and engage in conversations. Ekaterina was managing Intel’s community and engaging with fans. She spent a lot of time having conversations with fans, finding out who they were and what kind of content they wanted from Intel as a company.

Over a number of years, Intel has grown their communities organically and has recently implemented bigger programs that have a paid element to them.

Intel now has solid community management effort, which they’re doing internally. They have a good sense of how to measure engagement and what success should look like.

Right now Ekaterina is focusing on what innovation looks like for Intel going forward and what other parts of the company need to become social-savvy.

Intel’s goal is widespread adoption of social throughout the company, and although they have had success, they’re still not over the finish line.

Listen to the show to find out why it’s important to get executives on board.

How Facebook created a movement.

The whole purpose of Facebook and the passion of Mark Zuckerburg is to make the world more transparent and connected. This is what drives everything. From every single decision made to every strategic decision by both Facebook’s leader and by Facebook as a company.

They created a movement that inspired many economic, political and nonprofit organizations, with people rallying behind ideas. Facebook allows people to search for and draw attention to their own issues.

Ekaterina explains how Zuckerburg goes really deep with his passion. He talks about more open and transparent governments and cultures, and how that will actually benefit society as a whole, making the world more connected and peaceful. It’s this internal belief that drives everything that he and his company are doing.

For example, when the News Feed launched, a lot of people were against it because they feared the lack of tight privacy control. However, it was through the News Feed that people learned about the launch of the News Feed, which showed how people were able to rally around and express their opinions.

Listen to the show to learn more about how the launch of the News Feed was proof that it does work.

The stated purpose of Facebook.

The official stated purpose of Facebook is to make the world more open and connected. Facebook’s latest mission statement is that people use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, discover what’s going on in the world and share and express what matters to them.

Facebook knows exactly what they are striving for and what their purpose and mission statement are.

When it comes to mission, goal or objective statements, Ekaterina feels that if you ask many executives “Why does your company exist? What is your single purpose in this world?”, you’ll find that they stutter and are not able to express their point of view.

Whereas with Facebook, we know exactly where Mark Zuckerburg stands, what Facebook is striving for, and what the purpose and mission statement are.

Listen to the show to find out why your purpose shouldn’t be overly complicated.

How Zuckerburg’s purpose helped him decide to turn down multiple high-profile acquisition attempts.

Ekaterina states the reason why Zuckerburg turned down the billion-dollar offer from Yahoo! was because he didn’t believe that someone should step in and have a say about where Facebook should be heading. He didn’t believe that the mission and the purpose would stay the same. He’s passionate about his company’s purpose and that’s why he controls most of the voting rights and shares.

Since the early days of Facebook, Zuckerburg has been under pressure to fill Facebook with ads and make money. Mark feels that Facebook’s purpose is to exist for the users and to make the world more open and connected. He stated in his IPO that he makes money to support his cause, not the other way around.

Ekaterina feels that Zuckerburg has turned down offers because he had a vision: he wanted to build a platform around Facebook much before it happened. He carries around a book—the “Book of Change,” as he calls it—where he jots down his strategy. He is a rare leader: one who focuses on the long-term because he has a purpose and wants to stick to it.

Listen to the show to find out why it’s so important for companies to have a purpose.

How one of Facebook’s slogans, “The journey is only 1% finished,” drives the culture of the company.

Ekaterina describes the meaning of Facebook’s “the journey is only 1% finished.” There is always somewhere to go with your product and your service. Facebook is not going to rest on their laurels. It’s a constant process of iteration that continues to make the product better for its users. This slogan creates agility and a sense of urgency.

Even Facebook’s buildings are intentionally not finished. It reminds employees that they have to collaborate and continue to come up with great ideas, continuously trying to improve the service all the time.

Mark is adamant about keeping his team relatively small, around 4000 people right now. Although they are growing, they are not growing as fast as some other companies. With their focus on making their product more amazing, their non-engineering staff is the minority. They have more engineers and developers than any other operational support staff.

Facebook, as with other great companies like Dyson and Zappos, doesn’t look at their perceived competition. Great leaders drive their companies with awareness while looking forward. Ekaterina feels that this is what really distinguishes these companies. They have a purpose and they know where they are going.

There are lessons to be learned from knowing your environment and market; however, the true success is knowing you are on the right path and constantly evolving.

Listen to the show to find out more about why Facebook knows their work is not yet done.

“The Hacker Way” and how it helps Facebook employees

Ekaterina describes the principle of “The Hacker Way”: never be done, never be satisfied, always iterate and always innovate.

One of Facebook’s signature features is hackathons. Every now and then, engineers get together and code, working through the evening and night on a new product. Zuckerburg or an employee will initiate a hackathon by sending a message to the whole engineering department. And prototypes are the result of these hackathons.

Facebook's hackathons are where their prototypes originate.

The whole purpose of hackathons is that at the end of the event, there has to be a prototype. Features like Chat, News Feed and Timeline all came out of hackathons. Instead of celebrating, they focus and ship.

They also have hackacups, which are larger external events, where any coders from around the world can come in and participate in challenges and be rewarded with money and recognition.

Facebook hackacups create events to encourage coders from around the world to participate in challenges.

Facebook’s human resource page says, “If you want to work for Facebook, here’s a small challenge. If you solve this challenge, you’ll get an interview.”

Listen to the show to hear where Ekaterina thinks Facebook will be in 8 years.

What marketers and business owners should know

Ekaterina shares three takeaways for marketers and business owners:

• Passion: Be passionate about your customers and how and where you connect with them. You are there to serve them and help them.
• Action: Take matters into your own hands. If nothing is happening, innovate. Even if you feel like you are not in a position of influence, you are. All you need to do is take a little bit of risk and do what you think is right for your customers.
• Agility: Do it in real time. Ensure that all the processes that you have in place are aimed at satisfying your customers’ needs in real time and bring your stakeholders along.

Listen to the show to hear about what you should do if something doesn’t work.

Discovery of the Week

Are you looking for sound effects to add to your podcast or recording? Check out The Music Bakery. It’s a really cool website where you can buy thousands of soundtracks.

Once you find a theme, you can purchase a 3-minute version of it in 5-, 10- or 25-second segments. These professionally crafted sound effects can make whatever you are doing sound much better.

The Music Bakery has an amazing selection of sound effects that you can buy for your podcast.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know if you give them a try.

Other Show Mentions

Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner’s latest mega-conference—taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.

As you’d expect, Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you! 

There are five separate tracks:

• Two social tactics tracks—learn everything from Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn to Google+, Pinterest to YouTube and how to best use those for your networks.
• A social strategy track—understand the strategies that work with social media.
• A community-management and business-building track—all about developing communities that you can ultimately use to help grow your business.
• A content marketing track—about how to use blogging and podcasting to drive more people to your business.

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