Yesterday we posted the first part of this article about Email marketing, today we continue the topic.

4. Make sure your emails are designed to be read with and without images

Increasingly, by default, people are viewing their emails without viewing any images – unless they elect to download them.  This may be their choice or is more likely the default setting of their email client software. 

It is important therefore that your emails remain interesting and compelling even if the images are not displayed.  Use attention grabbing headlines and include compelling text in the first few lines of your email in order to capture the readers’ interest.

5. Integrate Social Media with Your Email Marketing

As with email marketing, social media marketing (SMM) has boomed in the recent past.  SMM is now the most widely used communications medium on the internet. It makes absolute sense therefore to integrate the two together to achieve ‘joined up’ online marketing and enjoy maximum online success. 

Social Media marketing requires a ready flow of good quality easy to read content that adds value to the reader – just the same as email marketing!  The difference is that with Social Media the content will be shared by the recipient in their online social networks – your content will ‘go viral’ and extend way beyond the original recipient.

Tips on integrating Social Media into your Email

a)    Incorporate one or more social media bookmarking tool into your emails.  This will allow the recipients of your emails to share your content with others in their various social networks.  Popular  social bookmarking sites include delicious, stumbleupon, digg and reddit

b)    Develop and maintain your own company profile on the relevant social media networks.  Use these profiles to encourage your followers to sign up for regular emails

c)    Promote your social media profiles on your emails to help build your following.  Start a company blog and also use this to promote both your email marketing and your social profiles.

 Social Email Marketing: Is this the future?

Web 2.0 created and continues to create exciting new social networks where people can interact and engage with each other.  Just as exciting for online marketers are the new engagement marketing opportunities offered by the combination of established (email marketing) and developing (social media) online communication channels.

Social Media Marketing has changed forever the way businesses, even large corporate businesses, interact with their customers.  Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace allow people to exchange their views and opinions with thousands of other people in an instant.  Latest statistics suggest that as many as 19% of all internet users log on to a social networking site at least once a month.  41% of young people aged between 12 and 21 years visit social networking sites daily! 

People using the social networking sites link to other like minded people – they will have  common interests and beliefs and are likely to have similar views about many things.  This means that people linked to your best customers online are likely to be good customers for you as well. Social Media offers you the opportunity to reach out to those people.

Tomorrow we will post the final article in this short series – please check back then.  If you would like to learn more about Email Marketing or Social Media please leave a message below or visit WSI IMS – Internet Marketing Services for UK Businesses.