Despite the dramatic rise in social media over the last five years, email marketing is far from becoming obsolete. If anything, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social platforms provide an opportunity to boost the effectiveness of email marketing efforts, and can add valuable momentum to a campaign. Both avenues can be leveraged in a complementary fashion to build a brand’s online visibility and convert social followers into email subscribers and vice versa. Here are a few simple ways to combine the two approaches.

Add links to social media sites

These days consumers expect companies to have social media profiles and allowing the reader to directly connect to your social circle from the newsletter is a good first step. Add links to your company’s social pages from the header or footer of the email, or go as far as integrating social content into the body of your email. If your newsletter features several articles make sure you allow the reader direct access to each individual article, and that each article has it’s own share buttons so they can post to their own networks.

Encourage subscribers to share

Encourage email subscribers to spread your message beyond the constraints of their inbox by actually using the social buttons you’ve added. This is the new version of forward to a friend, and is a great opportunity to reach your subscribers’ broader networks. Produce compelling content that is going to be worth sharing and make it easy to share directly from the email. If you are concerned that these buttons may be overlooked you can remind the reader to share with call to actions. This could be something as simple as inviting them to forward it on with some creative or humourous copy, or you could take it up a notch and provide an incentive for the reader to share the content with a special offer or voucher.

Drive email sign-ups with social

Garner additional subscribers to your newsletter by adding email subscription forms to your various social channels. Add an opt-in box to your Facebook pagewith a straightforward call to action to convert the visitor into a subscriber within seconds. Add direct links to your sign up form from your social pages and blog, or even use your blog to promote your email newsletter. These are just a few simple ways to integrate your email and social media marketing efforts. Treating email and social media as completely separate marketing channels can result in missed opportunities. Combining the two offers the consumer more ways to connect with your brand and provides you with an opportunity to reach a broader audience. Do you integrate your email and social media marketing? Let us know in the comments below.