Social Email Is A Holiday Sales Catalyst, Facebook Weighs In

Facebook and Instagram will soon begin offering marketers the ability to target paid advertisements to users who post about the holidays and use certain key phrases such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, according to at least one report.

The social site is laying the foundations to become a major Black Friday retail player. This year, it added shopping sections to company Facebook pages and began testing a new ecommerce marketplace.

Although social can increase the ROI of email marketing, it’s important to note that the average Facebook post only reaches 2% of its intended audience. This is a stark contrast from the 79% average global email deliverability rate.

Beginning on Thanksgiving, email marketers might want to leverage Facebook’s new lead ads, since the integration of social media and email can significantly increase ROI and boost holiday sales.

Email marketing generates $38 for every $1 spent, per Campaign Monitor. An additional $12.41 per email can be generated when emails are shared via social media, according to ReachMail. This 33% increase in ROI may stem from the fact that shoppers are four times more likely to spend money on a purchase when using social media, according to a recent Deloitte study.

“It’s so important for marketers to take a holistic approach to the customer journey, and not think in terms of individual marketing channels,” says Guy Marion, CMO of Autopilot. “We continue to see consumers embrace more personalized marketing, and it looks like Facebook and Instagram have recognized the importance of this tailored, coordinated approach across channels.”

Lack of knowledge, at 58%, and time, at 42%, are the biggest hurdles for email marketers looking to integrate social media into their campaigns, according to a 2014 SocialTimes and Constant Contact report.

The case for increased integration is a strong one,” states Luke Brynley Jones, CEO of Our Social Times and the author of the report. “Social media creates awareness, deepens relationships, and builds trust whilst email converts prospects into buyers and increases customer retention.”

Most email marketing companies now provide social-sharing buttons in email templates, which can increase email clicks by 158% per GetResponse.

Some email service providers, including StreamSend and Constant Contact’s Easy Share, also offer marketers the ability to automatically create a social advertisement from the contents of an email marketing message.

It’s no wonder that marketers are most satisfied with the business value that email marketing brings to their business and are the least satisfied with the value that buying paid ads on Facebook brings to their business, according to Forrester.

 

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