Email and Social Media Heaven or Email and Social Media Hell

Tink Taylor, Business Development Director, dotMailer recently wrote about how “It is possible to tap into these networks by simply providing links to social networks in your email communications and providing the means for recipients to quickly and easily share the content virally…” with their integrated social media tracking tool. Alterian bought Techrigy and StrongMail Systems, Inc bought PopularMedia, to enable social media tracking and “engagement” within email marketing campaigns.

Email and Social Media Heaven
If you are a marketer and you want to know which email marketing campaigns translate into social media monitoring tools make a lot of sense.
-You can track how much social media interactions take place following your emails.
-You will be able to track the social media marketing response to your campaigns.
-Email social media optimisation will be possible with response tracking.
-Email social media ROI tracking will be added to email marketing campaigns overall delivery in the sales cycle.
-Email recipients when interact through social media will be able to be targeted with trigger emails to follow up on conversations taking place within social media. Once could perceive complex email social media triggers with dynamic content with a recap of current social media conversations adding to the social media conversation. Beware these had better be good or you risk feeding a negative fire about your company!

Email and Social Media Hell
-You can now send me more email
-You can now send me more targeted emails
-YAY – NOT
OK I get enough spam, we all do and no matter how opt in I am, I am constantly trying to cut down my email intake. Possibly one of the reasons for the take off of social media like Twitter is that they were not email which was already over following. I know people who use Twitter with their contact because they cannot get through their email. The idea of integrating email messages into social media and the optimisation of messaging campaigns into social media will be abhorrent to many consumers and business users even if they love the product or service. I say step carefully mailers, what was acceptable in email will not be acceptable in social media. That viral effect you would love to find promoting your brand will travel much faster if it is a negative trend about your email and social media marketing. The challenge for professional email marketers is that given the history of email marketing why should we consumers trust email and social media marketing. If you add a link to social media in an email you send me am I more likely to use that link to click and complain about your email then promote it. I had better be opt in and remember opting in, I had better love your product / service and I had better love that message.

Email and Social Media Heaven or Email and Social Media Hell
I am all for more targeted emails cutting down the untagged emails I receive. Unfortunate I only perceive email and social media engagement adding to the emails I receive. I do think that it will enable astute marketers to increase targeting, engagement and revenues and can see it as a smart move for marketers. I will be doing it myself. However you may well share my trepidations.