Does a company really need an “expert” for each online marketing channel? Is there more revenue in Twitter if dedicated twitter resources pump hash tags through TweetDeck for your company? Does Facebook really need a separate campaign from traditional marketing?  Combining online channel management is an easier way to strengthen the reach of campaigns as well as give online visitors a seamless experience with brands, why don’t we do it more?

Each channel has a different tone, not a different voice.

After years of bumping my head doing online campaigns, I can say – there is value in segmentation. Targeting specific consumers with messaging that’s tailored to exactly what they’ve interacted with or desire is great marketing. However; on a 30k foot view perspective, interactive channel segmentation appears to be overkill.  Also; it’s amazing the segmentation of professionals around these channels. Social media “experts” and email marketing “experts” rarely seem to interact on a marketing level, they sit in separate sessions during conferences, wear different badges during the conferences, hang out in different professional circles, etc.

Why so clique-y?

We Can Should Get Along …

Leveraging social channels for email or vice versa can have incredibly positive effects.

We’ve heard things like: ”Email marketing is the “43-to-1 ROI channel”,” 40% of consumers who ‘Liked’ a brand on Facebook said they did so to receive discounts and promotions”, “58% of consumers start their day by reading their emails”, and “63% of mobile email users check the account a minimum of once per day.” Source: http://www.emailstatcenter.com

With stats like these; why would we separate these two mediums?

Email and social media activity are managed as two separate channels by almost half of companies (45%). – Econsultancy “Email Marketing Census 2011” (2011)

How do You Combine These Channels?

Cross-promotion is common in email marketing. Not as common for consumers to see an email marketing inclusion into a social campaign. Are marketers doing it right currently? Sure, but good synergy isn’t common for most company’s online presence regarding social and email. So, you want to walk away with actionable suggestions?

Here’s a few to get started with:

  • Each channel has a different tone, not a different voice – learn about your community and what they respond to linguistically
  • Each channel has different frequency thresholds – learn how much info they can handle per day, week, and month
  • Each channel strengthens the other – don’t alienate channels from promotion in another it’s counter productive
  • Each channel has a level of measurability –  set goals against what you can measure in each channel

That’s it for now; want more? @RoryCarlyle is my Twitter handle, @BombBomb is where I work, VivaLaEmail.com is where other thoughts like this live J

Viva la Email.