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T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse • W :: www.SteelHouse.com • E :: [email protected] • MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse • Q3 2014 • 02

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................03

The Evolution of Email ............................................................................................................................................................04

4 Reasons to Target Email Subscribers in Social ...........................................................................................................05

Campaign Tactics .......................................................................................................................................................................06

Turning Email into Social ........................................................................................................................................................07

Creating Social Ads that Convert ............................................................................................................................... 08 - 10

• Call-to-Action .................................................................................................................................................................................08

• Copy ..................................................................................................................................................................................................09

• Choosing an Image ......................................................................................................................................................................10

Helpful Tips ........................................................................................................................................................................................11

Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................................................................12


Is email dead? With the rise of social media and other communication apps, this is an increasingly

popular topic to debate, especially in the world of marketing.

Email is certainly not without its challenges. Consistently deploying attractive email campaigns takes

a dedicated team and can be expensive. With the recent announcement that several popular email

providers are funneling marketing email into “promotions” folders, it’s easier than ever for consumers to

overlook a marketer’s email campaigns. As a result, even the best email campaigns rarely achieve a 30%

open rate. McKinsey’s iConsumer survey reported a 20% decline in email usage between 2008-2012, as

the medium surrendered ground to social networks, IM, and mobile messaging apps.

However, the overwhelming response: Email is not dead, but it is evolving. Email is becoming the

backbone of a wider range of communication services we use in our day-to-day lives.

In this white paper, we’ll explore how to reach outside the inbox and increase your customer retention by

targeting your email subscribers in social channels like Facebook and Twitter. If executed properly, you

can repurpose your email messages into highly effective social media ad campaigns that will boost your

overall campaign performance.

Introduction

billion emails are sent worldwide per day

of email users visit social sites to gather product information and recommendations

of all emails sent are SPAM, but filters catch most of it

hours is the average time sent reading and answering emails / week

of Americans create a new email address every 6 month

of all emails are opened on a mobile device (20.6% Smartphones, 6.8% tablets)

hours is the average time spent on social media

a day is the average number of times Smartphone users check Facebook

of Internet users visit social networking sites at least monthly

Email alone doesn’t cut it. As a marketer, this is the reason it is more important than ever for you

to adopt a multi-touch approach in order to effectively reach your customers. The fact is, email

and social are still two of the most powerful marketing channels you have in your arsenal. What’s

even more powerful - integrating them into a multi-touch strategy in a way that makes them work

together for you. Not only promoting social sharing options in your email campaigns, but actually

targeting your email subscribers where they are . . . in social.


Believe it or not, email is nearly 50 years old. Think about how your own email habits have changed over

the past decade. What do you think is next for email marketing?

The Evolution of Email

1960’s

1970’s

1980’s

1990’s

2000’s

2010’s

1965Concept of email explored @ MIT

19711st email sent over ARPNET network

19821st known use of word, “E-mail” in July ’82 issue of Computerworld

19921st smartphone with email capability released

2000Microsoft introduces Entourage mail for Mac

2010Microsoft Outlook 2010 includes social connector

2011Apple sells more than 100 million iPhones

201240% of marketing emails are opened on a mobile device

2012

EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA MARRY

2011Associated press changes “e-mail” to “email” & Oxford dictionary recognize LOL, OMG, TMI and FYI

20011st behavioral email sent, triggered based on consumers online behavior

2003Can-Spam law passed in U.S.

2004Federal Trade Commission codifies email SPAM laws

2006Facebook opens to the general public, Twitter is launched

1993AOL and Delphi connect their email to the internet

19961st free service, HoTMaiL (HTML) launched

1997Microsoft Outlook 97 & Yahoo! Mail released

1998“You’ve Got Mail” premiers at the box office

19831st commercial email service offered to the pubic

19881st commercial email product widely used, Microsoft Mail released for Mac

1989IBM releases Lotus Notes 1.0

1976Queen Elizabeth 1st head of state to send an email

1977U.S. Postal Service begins to see email as a potential threat

1978SPAM is invented


4 Reasons to Target Email Subscribers in Social

If you’re like most marketers you’ve accepted that your email campaigns will rarely reach even 30% of

your audience. But what’s your plan for the other 70%? Re-sending doesn’t seem like the best way to

get their attention. Why not send the same message through (a combination of) different channels like

Facebook or Twitter? Here are some reasons to give it a try:

Now that you’re convinced, let’s take a look at some tactics that will make turning your email campaigns

into social campaigns easy.

You’ve Already Got What You Need - No need to reinvent the wheel. We’re recommending you

actually just repurpose your best performing email campaigns into Facebook News Feed ads

and Twitter ads. Your email subject line becomes the header then just edit down the message

and make sure your image meets the proper requirements . . . and there you have it. See

examples on the next two pages.

01

Increase Your Campaign Response Rate - Targeting your email list means you’re reaching

people who already know your brand and have shown enough interest to opt-in to receiving

messages about your brand. This connection means higher response rates than messaging a

new group of people who may have never heard of you. 03

Message Your Audience Where They Are - 59% of marketers are integrating email and social

channels together. There’s a reason - on average, smartphone users check Facebook 14X a

day and Twitter has 100 million active daily users. People spend an average of 23 minutes a

month on Facebook and 13 minutes a month on Twitter looking at updates from friends and

promotions from brands they “Like” or “Follow.”

02

Expand Your Reach with Social Sharing - Encourage social sharing. Consumers say they

are 71% more likely to purchase when referred by social media. Customers can easily like,

comment, or share your Facebook ads or retweet your Twitter ads adding up to 35% additional

reach to your campaigns.04

Real World Case Study: The official retailer of a major

sports organization targeted their email subscribers in

their Facebook News Feed. This was the perfect way

to reach the majority of their customers who weren’t

opening their emails.

Instead of reaching less than 30% of their audience with

email, they were able to reach 55% of their email list in

social, resulting in a 2.24% click-through rate and a 7X

return on ad Spend.


Campaign Tactics

Take your email campaigns - whether you’re running a flash sale, loyalty campaign, or customer win-back -

you can easily get more exposure with minimal effort by mirroring these campaigns in social.


Turning Email into Social

Here’s an example of an email campaign and its social counterparts:


Creating Social Ads that Convert

It’s important to remember that people don’t necessarily come to social sites like Twitter and Facebook

to buy; they’re not there for the ads, they want to connect with their friends. The goal of any social ad

campaign should be to grab potential customers’ attention enough that your brand will remain top of

mind. However, when you target your email subscribers in social, your target audience is more likely to

click through to your site and make a purchase if your ads include the right elements.

Call-to-Action - It’s okay to be bossy . . . when it comes to CTA’s. Your ad must tell people what

to do. Just saying “Look at this cool thing” isn’t going to cut it. Use CTA’s like “Sign Up Now,”

“Buy Now,” “Get FREE SHIPPING,” or “Shop NOW.”01

Tip: You can use a Call-to-Action in your

copy and in your ad image for even

better performance.

It’s easy to compare email performance to social . . .

for example:

Email subscribes = Facebook “Likes”

Email unsubscribes = Facebook “UnLikes”

Email opens = Facebook impressions

Email clicks = Facebook feedback

Email forwards = Facebook shares



Copy - Be specific! Be bold! You can take the copy from your best performing email campaigns

and easily repurpose your messages to work in social. Both Facebook and Twitter have

character limits so choose every word carefully! Here are a few things to keep in mind:02

Be direct in your copy and let people know

exactly the value you’re offering them.

If you’re making a claim, don’t be

afraid throw in a number value or

statistic.

Talk about benefits. People want to know

what’s in it for them.



Choosing an Image - We recommend taking the existing elements from your email creative

and fitting them to the dimensions required of your social ads. Not only will this make your

message look more consistent across various channels, half the work has already been done.

As you’re making edits or choosing a new image, here are some pointers on the types of

images that convert:

03

Check if your image meets the Facebook guidelines:

Facebook currently specifies that your image is

comprised of 20% or less text.

Visit Facebook’s 20% text tool

www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay.

Logo: Since you’re targeting your email subscribers,

prominently featuring your brand logo in your image will

increase brand recognition.

Color: Choose bright, warm colors, especially for

Facebook ads since the color-scheme is blue and white.

Happy people: People trust eye contact. Images that

convert the best include happy people looking directly at

the camera.

https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay


Helpful Tips

Here are some tips to keep in mind while you plan your campaigns:

Segment your list so your messaging is more relevant - It’s common knowledge that

segmenting your email-marketing leads to better open and click rates. By sending messages to

targeted groups who share the same interests, behaviors, etc. within your lists, your recipients

will find your campaigns more relevant — and relevant campaigns get better results. According

to a popular email marketing platform, segmented campaigns have a 14.4% better open rate

and 15% more clicks than regular email campaigns.

Well, the same is true for all types of marketing, including social.

Timing is everything - To maintain consistent messaging, make sure you’re timing the

promotions in your email campaigns and other channels with the ads you’ve created in social.

Keep your ads fresh - Running the same campaigns over and over again will quickly get old

to your audience, and that could make them hide your ads from their feed. Keep customers

interested by updating pictures and copy for your ads.

Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays

and Fridays. Facebook recently revealed data

showing that the “Happiness Index” on Facebook

spikes by 10% on Fridays.

01

02

03

THURS

FRISUN

SAT

WED

TUESMON

Tweets posted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

had higher CTRs than those posted during the

rest of the week.

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Wed

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Fri

Sat

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Conclusion

So there you have it - a relatively easy way to get even better performance out of your email

campaigns by utilizing social to create consistent messaging in both channels. We hope you’re inspired

to give this a try with your brand.

SteelHouse™ is a data-driven marketing technology company that brings innovative advertising solutions

to brands, agencies, and eCommerce marketers.

The SteelHouse team is comprised of veteran direct marketers and engineers from eHarmony, E*TRADE,

Oracle, and the Rubicon Project. Together, we’ve built the easiest Multi-touch eCommerce Marketing

Platform – SteelHouse CANVAS – one platform for acquisition and retention, which consistently keeps the

same message in front of an audience through display, onsite, and social. SteelHouse reaches more than

170 million consumers a month, across hundreds of the world’s largest brands with its award-winning

creative and retargeting technologies.

At SteelHouse, we strive to stay on the forefront of digital marketing trends and technologies and keep

you up-to-date through our website and other data-driven marketing resources.

If you’d like to speak with someone at SteelHouse about targeting your email subscribers in social . . .

call 1-888-9-STEELHOUSE or email [email protected] today.

References:

1. http://mashable.com/2011/05/05/past-present-future-email-infographic/

2. http://www.harbor-hyundai.com/infographic-the-evolution-of-email

3. https://www.optyn.com/resources/email-marketing/evolution-of-email-marketing

4. http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/effects-of-list-segmentation-on-email-marketing-stats/

5. http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/facebook-vs-twitter-data-stats_b51335

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