6 ways you can use social media and email marketing to grow your business

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I can’t tell you how many business owners tell me they don’t use email marketing because they already use social media.

It amazes me that they think it’s one or the other. Why not both? And why not in an integrated way that means one bolsters the results of the other?

Whether you believe it or not, you can get good at using both channels well to help you find new and repeat business. There are good reasons why you should, so let’s get on to those and then I’ll give you some ideas on how to do it.

Advantages of using social media and email marketing

Your target audience uses a variety of methods to view content. They’re scrolling through their newsfeeds; equally, they’re signing up to emails. They’re watching videos on YouTube and Instagram. You get the drift.

If they are present on social media and in their inboxes, those are two great places for you to reach them.

But here’s the rub. If you spend all your energies on growing your social media followers without converting them to email subscribers, you’re at the mercy of the social networks.

How? Well, imagine someone reports your Facebook Page. Facebook then decides to shut your page down. What happens? Your followers and all your content are gone. Woosh!

With an email list, you own the data. You can contact your subscribers on your terms. No danger of being banned. And, no algorithms. Think about that!

But, used together, really together, social media and email marketing are a powerful combination.

Ideas for you to put into practice

Here’s the lowdown on how to use email and social media marketing together. I’m sure you’ll have ideas of your own, but these six will get you started.

1.     Capitalise on your social media followers

They already love your content. You can see that from the comments, likes and shares. Now give your social media followers a reason to join your email list.

A carefully crafted post will help you share the value for your email subscribers. And, going back to the whole data thing – you’ll own their data, not the social media company.

Want more ways to grow your list? Read this post.

2.     Add a social element to your emails

Do you use the social share buttons in your emails? They are so easy to add and the benefit of using them is that your readers can share your emails on their social networks.

That means more eyes on your emails. I think that’s a win for your business!

3.     Repurpose your Facebook images

You created beautiful images to use on your Facebook Page. Why wouldn’t you use them more than once?

Of course, you can! Work out how to use these images in your emails. If you use Constant Contact, you can connect your Facebook account and easily import the images you want to use.

I know! How cool is that?

4.     Do more with your newsletter

You’ve hit send on your newsletter and that’s it, right? Wrong! If you share multiple items in your newsletters, why not turn them into a slide share or image carousel to use on social media?

Or you can simply take the URL for your email and share that. It doesn’t have to stay in people’s inboxes… It can be on people’s newsfeeds too!

5.     Figure out if social media campaigns will work

I always talk about testing your marketing. You can easily test your next social media campaign with your email list.

Social media campaigns can be expensive for small businesses. Especially if you’re going to use advertising. So, why not test your images, text, and call to action with your email list?

You can work out what performs best and move that to your social media campaign.

6.     Are your subscribers your followers?

Of course, you want to talk to your target audience in multiple places. If you send a monthly newsletter, wouldn’t you like your subscribers to engage with you more often?

You can use your emails to share your social networks and encourage people to follow you. I always have my social network links at the bottom of my emails. But recently, I dedicated a whole email to my YouTube channel and got a flurry of new subscribers.

In summary

My mantra has always been not to put all my eggs in one basket. That’s why I use email marketing, social media and a variety of other marketing tactics to reach my target audience. You should do the same too. It helps to have multiple channels just in case one suddenly becomes unavailable. (How many times have you seen posts on Twitter asking if Facebook/Instagram is down?)

As I’ve mentioned, whilst social media is great at helping you broaden your reach, you don’t control your followers’ data. That belongs to the social network. It makes sense for you to collect this information directly.

I’ll leave you with this one, final thought. Facebook posts organically reach about 2% of your fans. Email marketing done well has a 90%+ deliverability rate. For me, those stats speak volumes. And that’s why I think you should use both social media and email marketing.

Ready to make your mark?

Once you have your email list, a great way to engage them is with a Small Business Saturday offer. They are a great way to get new and repeat business. And you have time to put one together for your business.

If you’re not sure where to start, create an irresistible offer with my new eBook. At only £9.99, it’s the recipe you need for a stellar Small Business Saturday offer.

Here’s the BIG plus. You can use the process at any time of the year. Buy once and use again, and again! Get your copy today.