If you’ve spent any time in the cross-media space, you know how important it is to integrate marketing platforms. But what does this really mean? Jay Baer from Convince & Converge recently hosted a webinar for Social Fresh on the benefits of email and Facebook integration. We like his ideas and wanted to pass them along.
Similar but different, Jay describes email marketing to be Madonna-like while Facebook to be Lady Gaga-like. Both pop stars, edgy, and important to the music industry, but one is old and the other is young. On the more serious side, Baer describes both platforms as trailing the relationship and not leading the relationship. Simply stated, we take action to “like” a page because we already like the organization.
Important Statistics:
44% of corporate social marketers look at Facebook as a way to get new customers
84% of company pages are current or former customers
Here are 5-Baer inspired steps on email marketing and facebook page integration:
1) Integrate email opt-in on Facebook. Use an app or develop a custom tab to allow Facebook friends to opt-in or opt-out of email. There should be a high percentage of overlap in your e-mail database and facebook likes. BTW, if you have a member log-in consider a social log-in. 77% of online buyers prefer.
2) Announce new services, products or promotions on Facebook before you feature in an e-mail newsletter. Your likes will appreciate the special treatment and see by your actions, that you sincerely value their engagement.

3) Request a share in an email. This means more than placing social media icons at the top of your email. Instead use a button that asks for the share. Hopefully we’ve moved beyond a simple presence on social media.
4) Feature Facebook comments in an email. Fans are typically more engaging on social media and speak more freely. Use these comments in your e-newsletter messaging.
5) Host a promotion or event on Facebook and drive traffic by inviting clients and prospects via e-mail. When used in conjunction in this way, the results can be extremely powerful.