Blogs

The power of social media to engage and influence customers and prospects is obvious; and direct marketers have been challenged with learning how to leverage this new channel in a way that can be tracked, measured and integrated with other programs. By integrating social media into their email programs, marketers can shift from broadcasting their messages to collaborating with their audience, ultimately driving recipients to speak on their behalf within social media. If executed successfully, email marketers can convert consumers into brand advocates that will exponentially market on their behalf.

Today, StrongMail announced that it has acquired social media marketing leader, PopularMedia. This landmark acquisition will enable marketers to leverage the combined power of their email and social media marketing programs to better collaborate with consumers. Email marketers will be able to identify who their key brand advocates are and re-market to them as an exclusive, powerful segment. The combined technologies will also provide them with the ability to measure social media marketing performance beyond the email campaign for in-depth analysis.

It is clear that companies are starting to monetize social media in the same way that they monetize other direct channels such as email and search marketing. According to a recent StrongMail/Zoomerang survey of 511 marketers, social media is indeed emerging as a direct channel, with 36% of respondents stating that social media is owned by the direct marketing department within their organization. Shared ownership was the second most popular response at 29%, while only 9% stated that social media was owned by their public relations team.

Further, many businesses are turning to the email marketer to leverage this channel, with 66% of marketers planning to integrate email marketing and social media in 2009. Email and social media are a natural fit, given that email already drives engagement in social networks by alerting members to new content and user updates. In turn, social networks drive communication through email. Providing email marketers with the ability to easily identify their key brand advocates will allow them to design and execute truly viral campaigns and track the impact in multiple digital channels.

StrongMail is proud of the leadership position that it has taken in this space and stands ready to help you develop a strategy for effectively leveraging the two channels together. Contact us today.

Social media is hot. Consumers and business buyers alike have flocked to the channel in recent years for information, advice and recommendations, circumventing traditional marketing channels such as television and print media. The eyeball shift is affecting online marketing as well... according to Alexa, Facebook and YouTube have replaced eBay and Amazon as two of the Top 5 most trafficked sites on the Internet. So how can a marketer best capitalize on this shift?

Since the emergence of social media, there has been a wide-spread land grab for ownership of the channel within the various facets of marketing. Public relations was the first department to jump at the opportunity to monitor awareness and “listen” and “engage” in dialogue with customers. However as time passed, direct marketers started to leverage the channel to drive response, using tactics such as exclusive, Twitter and Facebook-only promotions of special offers. In fact, Mashable recently reported that Dell’s Twitter program has been so successful, that it has resulted in over $2 million in sales to date.

Today, StrongMail announced the results of a recent survey that sheds light on who’s winning the land grab. According to the survey of 511 marketers, social media is clearly emerging as a direct channel with 36% of respondents stating that social media is owned by direct marketing within their organization. 29% of respondents report that responsibility is still shared between multiple divisions, and surprisingly, only 9% of respondents claim that social media is owned by their public relations department. A paltry 5% have a dedicated social media department.

Based on these results, it is clear that social media is emerging as a viable direct marketing channel. In order to effectively capitalize on its potential, marketers must start leveraging social media in the same way that they monetize other online channels such as email marketing, online advertising, and search marketing. While it’s important to continually monitor for brand perception, StrongMail believes that social media should be leveraged as a direct channel and has introduced a framework to help marketers do just that.

Watch this space for more insight into the convergence of email marketing and social media… there are many exciting updates and developments to come.