Use these conversations with your customers/fans/clients/donors to inform the content of your email messaging. Are certain blog posts shared frequently online, while others die the fate of the unseen post? Why is that? Do you receive lots of comments on certain topics or videos? Utilize the information you learn from your social media interactions so that email messaging won’t suffer from irrelevant content.
Social media relies on trust because it is incredibly transparent. Due to the nature of the medium, people search for information about you before following your blog, Facebook page, or joining your company’s social network. They’ll “out” you if your company’s activities are not completely transparent, and become your biggest fans if you are. However, if they find value in the engagement, they will pass that value along and bring their friends to you as well.
Use social media to allay the fear, once and for all, that your organization will never, ever sell or share the names of its email list subscribers. Write a blog post about it. Create a conversation about why that isn’t your organization’s policies and how you value the privacy of all your subscribers. Refer to these conversations in your email messages and ask email subscribers to contact you directly online if they want to ask further questions about privacy.
Remember the “golden rules” of social media: Be Yourself. Be Transparent. Listen. Engage.
You can’t listen and engage in an email blast, but you can take the information from listening and engaging on social networks, and use that to make your email messaging relevant and valuable to your stakeholders.
About the author
Debra Askanase is an experienced community organizer, non-profit executive and business consultant. She advises small/medium-sized businesses and non-profits on social media strategy. She holds an MBA in International Business. You can follow her @askdebra on Twitter, too. Visit her blog at www.communityorganizer20.com
