Integrating email and social media has been a topic of interest for a few years now.
There are lots of suggestions you’re likely familiar with. Adding social media icons. Including social share buttons. Dedicated campaigns to promote your social media channels.
But it’s 2023, and we want to be a little smarter with our email marketing.
Especially as “social” is such a broad term now. It doesn’t just refer to tweets or Facebook statuses. Social now encompasses testimonials, ratings, and user-generated content. Plus much more.
Additionally, more than 25% of product searches, particularly those looking for recommendations and reviews, are happening on social media channels instead of traditional search engines.
Clearly, social feeds are becoming an increasingly essential tool for brands looking to improve their buying cycle.
So to help your business improve sales, here are 4 ways of integrating email and social feeds that you might not have thought about.
Live social feeds
Take the traditional social media icons a step further with live social feeds.
Marketers can use dynamic content blocks to pull live social feeds directly into their emails. For instance, this could be a social media channel, or posts using specific hashtags.
Marketers can be particularly strategic when integrating live social feeds and email. By scheduling specific product promotions or offers to be posted on social media just before emails are sent. Brands can subtly promote other items in their email, without overwhelming the recipient or coming across as too sales-heavy.
HomeNotes regularly include their own social feeds in their emails. Their carefully curated Instagram looks great, so is perfect for providing a little extra promotion. And also offers them the opportunity to promote more inspiration that will encourage recipients to get purchasing.
Product ratings and reviews
89% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews.
They want to be confident that they are purchasing the right product from the right brand. And product ratings and reviews provide them with the social proof needed to reassure them they are making the right decision.
Customers find these reviews through Facebook recommendations, Instagram posts, Pinterest pins, Google reviews, and many more platforms.
So don’t wait for them to find these ratings and reviews themselves. Instead, take control of the process and provide them live and directly in your emails.
Even better, product ratings and reviews can be incorporated into abandoned basket and browse emails. To offer that final nudge and reassurance to make the purchase.
As you can see below, The Old Farmer’s Store really makes the most of product ratings and reviews.
They pull through the 5-star rating of the product that has been abandoned in a shopping basket, to offer that additional reassurance that the customer may need to make the purchase.
But they don’t stop there. They also pull through customer reviews to provide confidence in their brand. And, if that’s not enough, in case the customer isn’t sure if this product is right for them they also offer alternative products, complete with their excellent ratings.
Popularity and scarcity messaging
Customers are naturally attracted to products that are popular with others.
Including live data on how many items have been sold, or how few are remaining, not only offers reassurance to the buyer that others are confident in making a purchase. It also helps to spark FOMO (fear of missing out) and urgency. Encouraging buyers to not delay when it comes to purchasing their desired product.
And emails that practice these urgency and scarcity tactics have at least 14% higher click-to-open rates, 59% higher transaction-to-click rates, and twice as high transaction rates compared to regular emails.
Popularity and scarcity is another tactic that will work really well with abandoned baskets and browse emails. If the recipient thinks their product is going to be selling out soon, they’re far more likely to purchase.
Airbnb regularly do this within their abandoned basket and browse emails, such as below. They cleverly use historical and current search data to notify their recipient that accommodation is going to be selling out fast. So they need to move quickly.
They also pull through customer ratings for the most relevant, top-rated homes. Further adding reassurance for the recipient, and piquing their interest to browse further.
User-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content refers to posts, images, and videos that are created by your audience. As opposed to your brand.
Not only does UGC provide brands with an almost endless supply of content. It is also more effective than traditional advertising.
In fact, 64% of shoppers actively search for UGC before making a purchasing decision. So it can be a powerful tool.
Social media is the perfect place to find UGC. And brands can boost the creation too.
By encouraging customers to tag the brand in their photos, or use specific hashtags, brands will have access to a wealth of new content. They can even run contests where hashtagging is part of the application process.
Once a brand has access to this content, they can use live feeds to incorporate them into their emails.
Made.com use this tactic regularly. They know their customers are interior-design savvy and frequently produce beautiful posts that really show off the Made.com products.
So they incorporate this into their emails and encourage their recipients to get involved too.
Looking to increase your sales with email and social feeds?
Then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got lots of ideas to share, an all-in-one AI marketing platform and a Customer Success Team to put those ideas into action.
Get in touch with our friendly experts to find out more.