Six Questions for Jay Baer on Social & Email Marketing

GetResponse February 23, 2012 Comments Off

post thumbnail

I recently had the opportunity to ask Jay a few questions about social media for business and he was kind enough to share his wisdom and insight. Jay shares this in quick, easy to digest responses which you’ll find easy to digest and apply.

Jay Baer is a social media and online marketing thought leader. He’s a sought after speaker on social media marketing and author of the book, “The Now Revolution.”

Jay’s mission is to help businesses of all shapes and sizes understand and leverage social marketing channels, for better customer relationships and more conversions.

What is the biggest mistake most brands/corporations make regarding social media and online marketing in general?

The biggest mistake is trying to be good at social media, instead of trying to be good at business because of social media.

Inherently, social media has no actual value to a company. It’s what you do with it that counts.

You’ve stated that “you don’t just do social, you have to be social.” How does a brand that is new to social accomplish that in a practical way?

By interacting with customers and prospects in a less formal, more friendly way. By devoting comparatively little social media energy to describing how awesome the company’s product or service is. By generally behaving more like a person, and less like a factory.

You posted recently about customer service now being a spectator sport and I agree (I’ve blogged on the same subject). What is the most important thing brands should keep in mind regarding CS on social?

Fundamentally, every customer is a reporter now.

How you handle unhappy customers – and they are inevitable – can impact your brand now because those interactions are often public, not 1:1 via phone or email.

Is the whole social vs email debate really a red herring? Isn’t any interaction between humans social and the channel largely irrelevant?

It’s not email vs. social. It’s email AND social. Most of our social interactions with companies are opt-in, just like email. And usually, companies are using social media to keep themselves top-of-mind among consumers that have given them permission to do so, just like email.

In many ways, email is Madonna, and social media is Lady Gaga – same thing with a fresh coat of paint.

What is email marketing’s best strength and what is social media’s best strength for marketing?

Email’s greatest strength is addressability. If you send someone an email, they’ll see it. They may not open it. They may not take action. But they’ll see it.

Social’s greatest strength is its frictionless pass-along mechanics. It’s the old “forward to a friend” but less of a hassle, and out in the open. Also, the acceptability of micro content is handy in social.

What is the first (or most important) thing you should do to effectively integrate and leverage social and email for marketing?

It sounds hopelessly obvious, but even letting your email subscribers know you have social media accounts is a good step. Only 18% of email marketers even include social icons. You should also be collecting email sign-ups on your social outposts, especially Facebook.

Finally…

As Jay stated, too few email marketers are really integrating social and email marketing. The ROI on doing this can be huge! Take a look at our recent infographic demonstrating how social sharing buttons can increase your CTR (Click-Through-Rate) by 115%!