Social Media Headaches: What to Do When Great Content Doesn’t Deliver

Many small businesses feel that they’re not seeing the value that they would like in their social media efforts.  They may be regularly posting on Twitter, but their comments aren’t being retweeted.  It could be that they’re generating great content on Facebook, but they don’t have very many followers.  If this is something that you’ve experienced yourself, you know the frustration of devoting time to your social media efforts and feeling like you’re getting little in return.  To counteract this problem, we suggest that rather than abandoning your efforts to create quality content, you concentrate on delivering it via email.

 Email marketing can be an excellent investment of your time and money.   In fact, the Direct Marketing Association reports that for every dollar spent on email marketing, there is a $40.56 return.  Additionally, 92% of people use email.  Compare that to the percentage of people who have social media profiles—only 56%—and it’s easy to see why email marketing is so effective.

Email marketing can appear overwhelming when you’re just getting started.  To simplify the process, we recommend that you consider the following:

• Marketing Automation (MA) Software – According to Forrester Research, businesses that use lead nurturing programs—like MA software—generate 50% more sales.  There are a number of free and low-cost MA programs available that make email marketing, lead management, and A/B testing far easier.  Check out this VentureBeat article for some great recommendations.
• Practice Consistency – Once you’ve found a good email marketing system, communicate with your leads regularly.  Don’t allow months to lapse between emails.
• Continue to Create Great Content.  Don’t get lax on creating interesting, relevant content.  The same great stuff that you were generating for your social media platforms should now be used in your email marketing efforts.
• Remember to Use a Call-To-Action (CTA) – A CTA refers to an explicit action that you would like a customer to take after receiving your email.  For instance, perhaps you could instruct email recipients to call to set up a consultation to learn more about the benefits of refinancing.
• Evaluate.  As with any marketing effort, you’re going to want to evaluate your results.  Do some email subject lines garner substantially higher email open rates than others?  Is there a certain type of content that your users forward more frequently?  When you start to get a feel for what works—and what doesn’t—modify your email marketing accordingly.

6 Ways to Ensure Your Mobile Email Campaign Fails

Obviously, you want your email campaign to be a hit with your market. And with 40% of emails now being opened on mobile devices, you want to make sure that it’s equally as successful with mobile devices as it is on users’ laptops.

Below are some common pitfalls of mobile email campaigns and ways to overcome them.

An Integrated Strategy Is Missing.

If clients follow a link in an email to a website that isn’t optimized for mobile, 80% will move on to another site. That’s a huge number and unfortunately, the vast majority of them won’t return to your email later. To avoid this, make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices.

Scale Is Disregarded.

If your emails aren’t optimized for mobile, chances are they’ll appear illegible or the images will be too small. To optimize for smart phone viewing, select images that are standard smart phone width—between 360 and 480 pixels.

Email Is Sent at Inopportune Times.

There are good times to send emails and bad times.Saturday at midnight? Only if you want your email to be deleted on Monday morning. Instead, the best times to send emails are between 10AM and noon and then again, between 4PM and 6PM.

Demographics Are Ignored.

Segmenting by demographics is considered the most effective marketing method. For instance, are you targeting millennial s? A whopping 80% of them will open your email with a smart phone. And women, for example, are more likely to click the links in your email. Learn how your target demographic uses mobile prior to implementing your campaign.

Only Focusing on One Mobile Platform.

Less than half of your users will be viewing your email on an iPhone. The majority of them will be using either an Android phone or an iPad. To keep your content optimized for multiple devices, test versions for readability across devices, remove JavaScript and Flash, and keep content readable for every screen width.
Burying the Call-to-Action. If your call-to-action isn’t readily apparent, 61% of users will leave your website rather than hunting it down. Instead, make sure that your call-to-action doesn’t require scrolling and is easily visible.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.