With so many ways to reach out and communicate with your members, are you faced with deciding which marketing channels to focus your resources on?
It can be a tough decision. Instead of just relying on one vehicle to communicate with your audience, focus on integrating all of your marketing channels together so that they all complement each other. No two channels work better together than social networking and email!
Follow these three easy steps to unlock enormous potential for your marketing programs.
1. Find out where your members "hang out"
The first step is to decide where your association should be in the social media realm. Is it Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a closed online community or all the above? Don’t just jump into social media because you think you “should,” make sure your members are there first and you understand how they want to interact with you on social media sites.
The easiest way to do this is to just ask them. Send a quick survey and have them identify which sites they are on and how they use social media. This will not only let you know what social communities members are using, but some insight as to what value you can offer them.
2. Grown and sustain friends and followers
Once you determine what social sites your members are on, it’s time to let everyone know where you're going to be! Email is a great vehicle to make this happen. When first launching your social media strategy, or if you want to try to revive these pages, send out an email or include an article in your enewsletter, featuring the value members may find if they visit these sites. Many members are already there, but they need to know the value of joining your group online.
When developing content, don’t re-create the wheel, but put a new twist on the information or offer something that your followers can’t find elsewhere, such as a video related to an email topic. Ask a question and then link to the article for explanation. All of these ideas will help your followers to stay engaged and look forward daily to your posts.
3. Email + Social Media = BFF
Email and social media go together like PB & J. Email is an essential vehicle to keep a variety of social media sites growing. Use email as a way to highlight what is going on your social media sites. You can do this by highlighting top bloggers or popular topics in your enewsletter. You want to give just enough information to reinforce the value of the social sites and pique their interest.
Also, use your social media sites to help grow your list by promoting membership and enewsletter subscription forms in your status updates.
Remember most individuals want to “test drive” an organization before joining or signing up to be on your list. Build the relationship with them first and establish yourself as an expert in the field and you will see the benefit email and social media can have on your membership numbers and engagement.
For more information on the benefits of an email and social media strategy, check out our Take 5 On Demand Webcast!
