Meet Jay Baer Americas Hype-free social media strategistAs a
leading social media consultant, Jay provides social mediastrategic
planning and counsel to some of Americas largestcompanies through
his consulting firm, Convince and Convert.Hes been a digital
marketing consultant since 1994, and hasworked with 29 of the
Fortune 500. Current and recent clientsinclude Sony, MetLife,
Allstate, California Travel & TourismCommission, Billabong, and
Caterpillar.As co-author of the highly-acclaimed book, The
NOWRevolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Company Faster, Smarter,
andMore Social, popular blogger of
www.convinceandconvert.compresently ranked as the #1 content
marketing blog inthe world, the #3 social media blog in the world,
and the#20 overall marketing resource in the worldand
frequentkeynote speaker, Jay teaches business leaders and ownershow
to harness the awesome power of social media withoutforgetting that
social media is an ingredient in a successfulbusiness, not the
whole entre. Hes frequently quoted bythe press about social media
and its impact on business andcompanies, with recent appearances
including USA Today,MSNBC, Fast Company Magazine, and Inc.
Magazine.When Jay isnt giving speeches, writing blog posts,
orconsulting, he enjoys a good tequila or red wine, a
solidtheatrical performance, a great NFL game, and time withhis two
children. Jay Baer - @jaybaer ExactTarget www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontieremails next frontier:by
jay baerOverviewTheres no denying it: Facebook has had a profound
impact oninteractive marketing. Regardless of your organizations
size or In an ironic twist of fate, itindustry, youre viewing
Facebook as an opportunity to expandmarket reach, grow your
business, and reach new customers. turns out that email is
socialBut one lingering question remainswill Facebook or the
broadersocial media movement kill email? medias secret weapon.In
short? No! Social media and email are not mutually exclusive. Fred
Wilson co-founder of Union Square Ventures, anIn fact, social media
accounts require customers to sign up with investor in Twitter and
Foursquarean existing email address. And studies show that your
fans onFacebook are already loyal customers and heavy
purchasersnotjust casual shoppers or even prospective shoppers. The
questionisnt Facebook OR email. Its how you combine Facebook
WITHemail thats the true indicator of your interactive marketing
success. Inside youll learn:So even if Facebook seems like
uncharted territory, it doesnt have Part 1: Facebook and Email
Customers:to be complex or complicated. Your existing email
expertise will One and the Same?actually make it easier to build a
successful Facebook marketingprogramwith full message and channel
integration. From Fortune Part 2: How to Integrate Facebook and
Email:500 companies and small local businesses to international
retailersand travel organizationsthis complimentary eBook will show
you 3 Quick Tips to Combine Operations and Measurementhow to take
your tried and true email marketing know-how andapply it to conquer
the next frontier of Facebook marketing. Part 3: How to Integrate
Facebook and Email: 5 Quick Tips to Combine Channels and Audiences
Part 4: How to Integrate Facebook and Email: 4 Quick Tips to
Integrate Messaging and Content ExactTarget 3
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 1Part 1 Facebook
and Email Customers:one and the same?Data shows that we like what
we already likemeaning the people 84%who like your brand on
Facebook are already your loyal customers.In fact, a study from
highly-ranked worldwide advertising agencyDDB in 2011 found that
84% of Facebook fans are current or formercustomers of the
companies they like.These fans tend to be loyal to your brand and
may be more thanhappy to shout out their support on Facebook. On
occasion, fans of Facebook fansinteract with business page status
updatesgiving a digital headsup to their friends. These friendly
nods to your brand might result innew awareness to a broader
audience. But its rare for your fans to are current oractually take
that action. According to a study from market researchfirm
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, on average, 1.3% of your fans will former
customers.actually interact with your business on Facebookmeaning
that forthe most part, youre preaching to the already converted.
source: 2011 Study from Worldwide Advertising Agency DDBSmall
businesses and enterprises alike can leverage Facebook fansto grow
email listsand vice versa. Engaging your already-convertedcustomers
on Facebook creates a powerful conversion opportunity.bottom
line:Facebook is an opt-in tool to keep your brand top-of-mind
amongpeople who have raised their hand and asked to be marketed to.
Sois email. Essentially, Facebook is emails hip, young
cousinonemodern and cool, the other the original. But the original
still providesa very effective means of reaching loyal customers.
Another helpfulanalogy? Think of email as Madonna, and Facebook as
Lady Gaga. ExactTarget 4 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 2Part 2 How to
Integrate Facebook and Email:3 quick tips to combine Operations and
MeasurementWhen you evaluate Facebook and email side-by-side
through the lens 3. Timing of Content/Newness Theres an ocean of
contentof operations and measurement, the similarities become even
more being published on Facebook every minute. How recently
astartling. For example, take what youve learned from email and map
particular piece of content was published impacts whetherit to your
Facebook metrics. If your emails and Facebook messages or not its
shown to a user. Its like the atomic half-life youarent relevant,
your content may never reach your fans and email learned about in
high school chemistryeven if a particularsubscribers. Just like
spam filters, Facebook uses an algorithm to piece of Facebook
content is disproportionately successfuldetermine what users see in
their Facebook News Feed. (Though (as determined by interaction
rate and viral spread), it willnot a Facebook term, the industry
refers to this as EdgeRank, which is eventually fade away and
disappear.how well address it throughout this report.) Users
couldnt possibly see It really boils down to showing people more of
the content theyeverything from every friend or brand at once. So
in theory, this algorithm want and less of what they dont
wantcreating a better usergives users more of what they want and
less of what they dont. experience. With recent Facebook Timeline
changes, Facebook isThe three factors that determine whether (and
how often) you see telling you to act like individual users to gain
visibility. Just like withcontent on Facebook from a friend or
company include: email, Facebook requires compelling, relevant, and
timely content to successfully reach your customers. 1. Affinity
How often does a user interact with content published by another
user or a brand? Facebook assumes that if they frequently interact
with a brands content, a user must be engaged. Thus, if a fan
interacts with your content today, he or she is more likely to see
your content tomorrow. A Facebook fans greatest value to marketers
lies in his or her ability to spread messages 2. Weight of Behavior
A like or thumbs up on Facebook indicates a moderate level of
interest, where consistent to friends and contacts. If you empower
your commenting or sharing of your content infers a deeper level of
engagement with them. Think about ittyping something Facebook fans
to spread your brands message, requires more action than clicking
on an icon. youll acquire new audiences and increase ROI. A share
is obvious that the user likes the content, says Subscribers, Fans,
and Followers #6: The Collaborative Future Jeff Widman, Co-Founder
of advanced Facebook statistics company PageLever. And, EdgeRank
weighs it well. ExactTarget 5 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 2How can you
improve your EdgeRank? SimplyMeasured and PageLever can also
provide more advancedImprove your Relevancy! statistics than
Facebook offers to page administrators.In order to keep a brand in
front of Facebook fans, you must Although the names are different,
the metrics determining success foridentify whats relevant to your
audience. Here are a few ways both Facebook and email are
strikingly similar.to identify what content engages your fans:
Test. Test. Test. Just like in email, post regularly on Facebook to
determine what content resonates with your fan base. Different
Name, Same Game Ensure you post fresh content daily. Test status
updates based on content, time-of-day, word count, photos, and
text. Experiment with the variables and track results. Post Content
That Solicits Reaction. Brands that ask questions and encourage
feedback can jumpstart banter, Email subscribes Facebook likes
interaction, and conversation. These posts will ensure your content
shows up in your fans News Feeds. Simple or fans fill-in-the-blank
posts can also be incredibly effective Email unsubscribes Facebook
unlikes on Facebook. Email clicks Facebook Engaged Ask for
Interaction. It can be effective to ask your fans to Users and
PTAT* like a piece of content, which helps with EdgeRank. But
remember: you cant require a like to enter a contest, as Email
opens Facebook Reach its a violation of Facebooks promotional
regulations. Email open rate Facebook Reach divided by total
fansHow do I know if I improved myrelevancy and EdgeRank? Email
forwards Facebook sharesThe People Talking About This metric on
your Facebook page is a * Facebook metric known as People Talking
About Thisgood gauge for your interaction rate and EdgeRank.
Services like ExactTarget 6 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 2How do you
measure the impact ofintegrating Facebook and Email? Nearly 40% of
consumers likeIts great to have a long list of subscribers, but
most email marketersput more weight on open rates and click-through
metrics than the sheersize of an email list. ExactTargets
Subscribers, Fans, and Followersresearch confirms that, on average,
about 25% of subscribers willopen your emails and far fewer will
actually click through. companies to show brand affiliationsThese
metrics parallel with Facebooks Engaged Users andPeople Talking
About This. For example, if you have 1,000 fans,Facebook estimates
that on average, no more than 16% of your fanswill actually see
your content. Thats 160 fans viewing your content,or a Facebook
open rate of 16%. And, even fewer will actually to friends. And 90%
of people trust themake a gesture or take an action to trigger
notifications to show yourcontent on their friends Facebook stream.
Thats not because yourcontent isnt valuable. Its due to the immense
volume of content recommendationsthats appearing in users News
Feeds.Defining the true measure of a FacebookFans worthTheres a lot
of chatter about what a Facebook fan is worth, and of their
Facebooktheres literally a half-dozen research studies that peg
that value of a fanat $5, $23, $45, $121, etc. The reality is that
the value of a Facebookfan is wholly dependent upon your business
and your fans. Theres friends.no standard for Facebook fan
valueanymore so than theres a Subscribers, Fans, and Followers:
2010 Executive Summarystandard for the value of an email
subscriber. However, if you have anactive email program, you can
estimate the value of your Facebookactivities by using your email
expenditures as a benchmark. ExactTarget 7 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 2Your Email
Expenses Can Define YourFacebook Value Facebook isnt being used to
its 1.Determine your TRUE cost per email sent (labor, technology,
etc.) fullest potential if youre focused on 2.Multiply by your
Unique Clicks to get your Cost Per increasing fans and up-selling
and Unique Email Click. cross-selling to them. Instead, you 3. Find
your Total Facebook Engaged Users. 4. Multiply that number by Cost
Per Unique Email Click = need to figure out how to mobilize Value
Per Engaged User on Facebook. the fan base you already have so they
can share your powerfulExample: message across the entire internet
$.02 per email (fully loaded) Subscribers, Fans, and Followers #6:
The Collaborative Future X 10% unique click rate = $.20 cost per
click Bottom Line: X 86,151 Facebook Engaged Users For both email
and Facebook, relevancy drives engagement and engagement drives
results. If your messages arent generating anyMonthly = $17,230 in
Facebook value engagement or user-generated activities (opens,
clicks, likes, comments, shares) your messages may not even be
seen! Your Facebook page should never be a website replacement or
act as aIf this conjures up dark memories of your high school
Algebra class, corporate microsite. Facebook wants you to act like
individual usersjust use this free worksheet, compliments of
Convince & Convert. by publishing interesting, chatter-worthy
content at regular intervals. ExactTarget 8
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 3Part 3 How to
Integrate Facebook and Email:5 Quick Tips to Combine Channels and
AudiencesWeve already mentioned the overlap in your Facebook and
email arent either. Those subscribers may not particularly care
aboutaudiences. But opportunities also exist for you to leverage
one social promotions and engagement opportunitiesso skip
thechannel to grow the audience of the otherand vice versa. Its
likely social lingo with this segment.that youll uncover more
deeply-engaged customers by capturing Examine which subscribers use
your social sharing icons.your audience across both channels. The
following suggestions areFIVE quick ways to successfully integrate
Facebook and email. Create a new, segmented list of this
audiencethe known socially-active group.1. Create Socially-Active
Emails Consider sending this group special offers and
promotionsJust 25% of fast-growing retailers include social sharing
options that are disproportionately tied to Facebook and
otherwithin email according to an upcoming Subscribers, Fans, and
social media opportunities. After all, theyve demonstratedFollowers
report, The 2012 Channel Preference Survey. The same through their
click behavior that social is relevant to them.report found that
73% of fast-growing retailers do at least includesocial media icons
within their email. Luckily, ExactTarget makessocially-active
emails easy by offering a Share With Your Network(SWYN) button to
embed in your emails. If you have loyal, activesubscribers, give
them the opportunity to share your content onFacebook (and other
social networks). Industry best practices callfor multiple buttons
in your emails, however, as subscribers aremore likely to share a
particular component of the email (product,offer, news item) than
they are the entire email. For example, a travelcompany could tout
bargain airfares through socially-active emailsubscribers to their
fellow traveler friends on Facebook.2. Create a Socially-Active
Email SegmentIdentify your socially-active subscribers, and segment
your list.Keep in mind 46% of Americans, 12 years and older, are
not on Social sharing options in your emails give your loyal,
active subscribersFacebookso a similar portion of your email
subscribers probably the opportunity to share your content across
other channels. ExactTarget 9 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 33. Email Opt-Ins
on FacebookUse one of your Facebook Tabs (now knownas Applications)
as an email opt-in opportunity.Presumably, a high number of
customers on youremail list overlap with your Facebook page
fans.But, plenty of opportunities exist to grow your list.How?
Capture your customers email addressesthrough Facebook. NOTE: Keep
in mind that most brands will never have as big of an audience on
Facebook than at the point of initial like.If youre accruing likes
via your website oremails (the point of initial like) youll
almostalways have a larger audience there than youllhave on your
Facebook page. While Facebookhas 850 million members, your Facebook
page Facebook Tabs (designed with ExactTarget SocialPages) make it
easy to captureprobably doesnt. Even among the fans you do more
subscribers by taking fans to a separate page of content to
highlight new content,have, just a small sub-set of them will see
your promotions, and upcoming events. ExactTarget 10
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 3 What channels
do marketers integrate with email? Website 86%status updates and
other missives, due to EdgeRank. Social media 78% The initial like
is where you want to push for cross- Events 50% channel integration
and email opt-in. Once they pass that Blogs 45% threshold,
participation drops dramatically. Direct mail 33% Print/Catalog 30%
Providing incentives for email opt-in via Facebook just SEO/PPC 25%
makes good sense. You can control the cadence and Public relations
25% visibility of the email conversation far more than the Mobile
13% Facebook conversation. In-store advertising 9% Teleprospecting
9% Test free content or special offers by putting it behind a fan
SMS 7% gate application paired with an email sign-up. Broadcast
(e.g., TV, radio) 6% Outdoor advertising 6%4. Promote Facebook in
Email Source: 2011 MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark
SurveyConfirmations Methodology: Fielded July 2011, N=2,735When a
customer signs up for your email list, promote your Facebookpage!
They already said yes to something that required input oftheir
personal information. Why wouldnt they want to click one more An
opportunity exists to uncover more deeply-engaged customers
bybutton to like you on Facebook (provided theyre on Facebook)?
capturing your audience across email and Facebook.Triggered emails
also present a prime opportunity to encourageFacebook likes.
Consider this: A recent study reported by OurSocialTimes.com found
that the click-through rate of shared email messages on5. Promote
Facebook in Email Facebook is nearly double the click-through rate
of traditionalUnsubscribes email. The social nod from your
customers to their friends posesYes, were serious. Just because you
lost them as an email subscriber an appealing recommendation.
Regardless of whether youre adoesnt mean you cant capture them as a
fan! Youre just giving these retailer, travel company, small
business, or large enterprise, yousubscribers an option to
communicate via a different channel. Whats can gain by giving your
subscribers the opportunity to share yourthe harm in asking?
content with friends. ExactTarget 11 www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 4Part 4 Combining
Facebook and Email:4 Quick Tips to Integrate Messaging and
ContentWhen it comes to Facebook and email goals, are they really
all that Time Testingdifferent? With both channels, youre striving
to keep your business Data you gather from email testing can easily
be applied totop-of-mind among people who are already aware of your
brand. Facebook. Taking what already works for your email
schedulingYoure then hoping to encourage repeat business and
word-of-mouth can provide a well-educated guess as to what will
work for yourreferrals. And as mentioned previously, providing
interesting, relevant, fan page content.and compelling content is
the key to increasing ROI in both channels.Youve already been down
the road of creative content creationnow Use email send time of day
testing to optimize Facebookyou just have to apply the same
concepts that youve discovered in status update schedule. Dont
forget to test during nights!email marketing as you venture into
effective Facebook messaging. Use email send day of week testing to
optimize Facebook status update schedule. Dont forget to test on
weekends!Brands can never begin at the top Headline Testingof the
relevancy curve. Its only Research has shown that Facebook users
respond best to quick,through diligent cultivation of the snackable
updatesmessages fewer than 60 characters. Short questions (even
fill-in-the-blank) often prove to be successful. Ifunsiloed
framework that they earn the youre already testing email subject
lines (and you should be),opportunity to arrive there instead.
implement winning principles in your Facebook status updates and/or
Facebook ads.Unsiloed interactive marketing, exacttarget Use email
subject line testing to optimize Facebook ad headlines. Test
Facebook ad headlines and use top performers as email subject
lines. Consider ABCD subject line testing (if your list is big
enough).1. TESTING. 1-2-3. TESTING. Segment your subscribers and
test three to four differentFortunately, with the integration of
Facebook and email, you get to subject lines. Then, identify the
most successful headline andtake an intentional approach to testing
by taking whats worked in apply similar ABCD testing with Facebook
ads.one channel and implementing it in the other. ExactTarget 12
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 4Image
TestingImages have a sizable impact on click-through rates for
Facebookmarketplace ads and status updates. People are more apt
toshare photos and videos, and Facebook has recently increasedthe
size and resolution of image thumbnails shown on the Wall. Test
multiple images within your emails, and/or mine your click-through
data on a per image basis to determine popular content. Use these
popular images in Facebook status updates and ads. If you post an
image (or video) to your Facebook page that generates engagement
rates much higher than your norm, consider incorporating that image
into your next email campaign. Drive Facebook engagement by posting
several images to your page and asking fans which they prefer. Have
them vote by clicking the like button. Use the image with the most
votes in your next email.2. Use fan posts as email contentWhat your
fans are saying on your Facebook Timeline can beintegrated into
your emails and other social channels. Invite your Repurposing
social content from fans and followers in your emailssubscribers to
join the Facebook conversation by placing Facebook allows customers
to do the talking for you, highlighting engagementuser content and
links in your emails. and brand loyalty. ExactTarget 13
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next Frontier Part 43. Promote
Email, Catalogs, andNewsletters on FacebookMost of your Facebook
fans are already customers. Presumably,they want to know when your
new email is going to be launched, orwhen your new catalog is
ready. Tease an upcoming email on your Timeline. Promote your new
catalog on your Timeline. Be sure to link to your email
subscription app, in case your Facebook fans arent already getting
your emails.4. Real-Time IntegrationReacting quickly to something
thats gaining traction on Facebook ExactTarget implemented
cross-channel and messagecan keep your EdgeRank momentum
rollingdramatically integrationacross email and Facebookby
promoting its mostincreasing the number of fans that see your
content. recent Subscribers, Fans and Followers report on its
Facebook Timeline. In order to obtain the full SFF report, users
must If you post a piece of content to Facebook that becomes
subscribe via emailintegration opportunity seized! extremely viral,
consider sending a quick email to your list (or at least your
socially-active segment), to make them aware of it. One email
marketing company reported to OurSocialTimes.com that statistics
based on its client-base of small businesses that This will
generate even more engagement, boosting EdgeRank use both social
media and email marketing saw a 14.43% jump and increasing
visibility. in subscribers, while those utilizing email only saw
only an 8.96% Note that because of the time decay or atomic
half-life growth in just over one years time. Harnessing all
customer data principle of Facebook, the email needs to be sent the
same gathered from all channelsinto one spot can be a challenge.
day the content was published on Facebook. So, you need to
Retailers, for example, gather POS, online, email, and social data.
coordinate your efforts on both platforms. Its become increasingly
vital to pull customer data together to create more cohesive
messagingacross all channels. ExactTarget 14
www.ExactTarget.com
Facebook Marketing: Emails Next FrontierIn Closing: Final
RecommendationIf the strategy is similar, the outcomes are similar,
and themeasurements are similarshouldnt the Facebook team andemail
team in your company be the same?Its imperative that you focus on
the similarities of Facebook and emailas opposed to their
differencesbecause as this eBook confirms,they have more in common
than perhaps once thought. So instead ofcontinuing to silo your
email and social marketing teams, invite themto share a seat around
the same table. At the end of the day, yourcustomers who like you
on Facebook and subscribe to your emailsdont care that your company
has segregated these teams. Its yourjob to deliver cohesive
messages across all channelseven if yourdepartments remain siloed
on paper.Even if your social and email marketing teams are
comprised ofdifferent subject matter experts, they at least
routinely work together,tapping into the expertise you currently
employ to execute yoursuccessful email marketing campaigns. In
short, the knowledgeyouve gathered and apply to email marketing
should be the sameknowledge you apply to Facebook marketing. Its
not re-inventingthe wheelits leveraging it as you blaze the next
frontier of trulyintegrated cross-channel marketing. ExactTarget 15
www.ExactTarget.com