Social media has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives, and this is especially true in the email marketing world. At the same time, it raises the question of how to make the most of investment in things like Facebook pages, Twitter streams, and Instagram feeds. After all, we all know they are important components of building and maintaining a community around a business or brand.
In the 2018 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Social Media Examiner found that 92% of marketers are interested in which social tactics work best, whereas 91% want to know how to engage with their audiences over social media. Further down the list of preoccupations, but still relatively high percentage-wise, is the 87% of marketers who want to know which social management tools are the best.
There are the same kinds of questions that once plagued us at AVARI, which is why we set out to create a solution that helps marketers make the most of their social media strategies. The answer? Social plus email equals a very powerful approach. We offer technology that makes real-time social feeds in email a reality. But what does that mean for your social media strategy?
Consider the marketing department at a beach resort. Photos on a website only communicate so much, and I imagine I’m not the only one who sometimes feels like a picture of the lobby, or dining room, or swimming pool, only tells half the story. This makes it a challenge to communicate to potential visitors what their stay will really be like.
Add an Instagram feed into the mix, and it’s constantly being updated to showcase visitors on vacation at the resort. This, in turn, provides a more authentic glimpse into the day-to-day activities and life, which are more likely to catch the attention of people thinking to book a holiday at your hotel. And let’s not forget about people who have already experienced a vacation there; these photos have the power to trigger fond memories and inspire them to want to book a return trip.
But what about the people who aren’t following on Instagram? The best way to reach them is to include a dynamic content block from Instagram that goes out in the resort’s weekly email newsletter. This live stream acts like a “virtual vacation” right in subscriber inboxes!
Another potential use case for AVARI’s real-time social feeds is for someone in charge of running and updating the blog for a zoo or wild animal park. The blog format allows a marketer to provide longer-form stories, such as facts about or updates on the various animals. It could showcase the hippos at their feeding times, the baby cats being born, or the monkeys playing in their cages. But what about the people who don’t read the blog regularly, or know it exists?
By creating a dynamic block that pulls the latest blog post or RSS feed into an email, subscribers, donors, or people with memberships to the zoo can easily find out what’s going on when they see the latest animal adventures in their inboxes. It’s a great way to keep them up to date and to let them know the best times to visit in order to see the all the crazy critters in action. And of course, for the zoo, it provides them with a broader audience than the blog does on its own.
For the college sports fans out there, social media makes it easy to stay up-to-date on all the important stats and happenings on game day. When the team is out of town for an away game, pictures of powerful plays and updated scoreboards help make people feel like they’re in on the action, even when they’re not at the game.
However, it’s possible that only students are following the various social media accounts. Using dynamic social streams, the athletics department can share real stories in real time. These blocks can be put into emails sent out to sports fans, students, alumni associations, and more, providing the most up-to-date coverage to keep everyone on campus in the know.
AVARI Social Feeds from AVARI on Vimeo.
If the above use cases sound fun and easy, it’s because they are. But they’re just three examples of the infinite ways to make real-time content in email fit into your marketing strategy.
Want to know more about how to make AVARI social feeds work for you? Watch the above video, and then try it for free.
