Do you have an email newsletter for your business and wish you were reaching a wider audience so more people could read it?

As a business owner you probably realize that a good email list is a great marketing asset, your current list is likely to be of current and past customers along with some new prospects – all good! Since you’re putting the effort into creating your emails, it makes sense to extend and enhance the reach of your email marketing with social media.

Depending on the size of your email list, you may be just sending mass emails – if that’s the case, check out the offerings at the business friendly  email services like AWeberMailChimpConstant Contact. All offer a free trial and if your list is still pretty small, most have plans at low or no cost. This will give your email marketing a nice, professional look (it’s all drag and drop, fill in the slots, easy to use) and all can be linked to your Facebook and Twitter pages where it can be seen and easily shared. Most importantly, your customers (and email subscribers) can easily post great content or articles right from your email to their social networks – increasing the number of people you reach in a highly valuable way; the endorsement of a current customer telling all their friends “I like this, it’s good, check it out”.

Getting the contents of your great email messages shared on social media networks will help grow your business. This marketing combination helps to increase awareness of your presence in a natural way; friend to friend (just in a bigger forum). Many  business owners diligently collect email information from their customers who are willing to share it because they want your newsletters (quite likely expecting special offers and info on events and promotions – so give them some of that). Combining the informational power of great email with the sharing power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others is a great way to increase your digital footprint.

Email was the original form of social media, and it’s still a viable option in our conversation toolkit. Remember to keep in mind that the successful use of email campaigns is about getting useful and unique information out to your followers. It’s not about posting blasts of advertising. When email is linked to social media, we want to make the conversation the most important aspect of our communication. It’s not about the sale price of those 100% organic cotton t-shirts. It’s about why you are in the business of offering those t-shirts. What’s the story behind those particular t-shirts and how will they enhance the lifestyle of someone who wears one of them? Now more than ever, people like buying from people they know – let them know you!

Building sustainable relationships with your customers (past and present) is the ultimate goal, this reminds people of why them bought from you and encourages them do do more of that, it also makes it easy for them to be an advocate of yours; passing a special deal from you along to their friends puts you and your offer in front of more people, more prospects.

We are all pressed for time and everyone gets ‘too much email’ – so when you send make it worth their time, make sure there is information of value (educational, entertaining, tutorial, observational – you decide what’s valuable based on your customers needs). Use Email wisely; don’t toss “stuff” out there in a vain attempt to keep your brand visible. Before you click ‘send’ ask yourself if there is anything that can make this more valuable to the recipient? Post your email to your Facebook page, LinkedIn group and Twitter account when appropriate which puts your creative content in front of more people. Engage your followers in a way that makes them want to join that conversation with you, whether that conversation is online or in person. These are the people supporting what you love to do. Let’s foster THAT relationship. Let’s use all of the social media tools available in a way that tunes people in, not out.

Partnerning your Email newsletters and social media is a great idea! Keep Creating, Keep Sending, Keep Improving. Have some fun with your marketing and let us know how we can help!

Cheers! – Mike Wolpert