If used in a smart and integrated way, social media can increase your overall marketing performance. But how do you converse with your target audience effectively? Here are some tips to get you started.

• Glean what’s important to your customer base by reading their comments on your Facebook wall and Twitter
• Reach out to your audience with the same tone they use on your social marketing vehicles
• Determine what types of content promote more sharing
• Find evangelists and influencers in your industry and determine what social venues they are using; then use those same channels to connect with your target audience
• Decide what vehicles are driving action and conversion (not just conversation)

Part 3 in Michelle Finerty’s series:

Staying in Touch with Customers Using Emails and E-newsletters

Part 3—Difference Between Emails and E-newsletters

Is there a difference between email and e-newsletters? I asked 15 people this question and got responses that varied from “no, it’s all just information a company sends me” to “yes, emails give me information about sales and discounts, and newsletters tell me about the company.”

It seems that the regular person on the street doesn’t really know the difference and is mostly concerned about getting information about companies they are interested in doing business with.

So, what is the difference?

• An email is a one-time campaign with information that is of interest to your client base.
• An e-newsletter is sent on a regular basis—often weekly, monthly, or quarterly—and keeps the client informed about the company, highlighting any updates and new features.

With this in mind, keep those e-newsletters flowing on a regular basis and when you need to send information out to your clients about a one-time special or update, send them an email.

>> Read part 1 of Michelle’s series, Writing a Successful E-newsletter

>> Read part 2 of Michelle’s series, Selecting E-newsletter Topics

Engaging your audience is the entire goal of your short marketing messaging. So the audience must make the top of the priority list when considering how to write it.

Short marketing messaging is typically less than 25 words. But products often have a ton of features and benefits, many of which the developers spent an incredible amount of time perfecting and producing. But the end result of listing features and benefits is a limp product summary.

To engage your audience, you have to think like your audience. What do they get out of your product? What is their experience?

Try the following.

Click like a customer

• It can be hard to get in the customer mindset when you’re looking at your own product. So go out to the website of a product or company you admire and start clicking. What are you looking for? What messaging speaks to you the most? Take notes and try to apply these lessons to your own marketing messages.

Get customer feedback

• Ask the experts. Survey your customers and ask them why they buy from you and what their experience has been. Then craft your messaging to elicit more of those positive experiences.

Call to action or experience

• Action statements are powerful. Before delving into why you think your product or service is great, call the customer to action or tell them what they will experience. For example:

             “Make more money.”

             “Read about this exciting opportunity.”

             “Make life easier.”

             “Get a free e-book.”

When you spend eight hours a day thinking about and immersed in your product or service, it can be hard to get into the head of a customer again. But this is the number one most important thing you can do to create powerful messaging. You know why your product is great—but until your customer is engaged, you won’t have enough of their attention to explain it to them.

For further reading:

>> Five Copywriting Errors That Can Ruin a Company’s Website, Smashing Magazine article by Brad Shorr

>> For Short Messages, Be Specific About Value, Buyer Persona Blog article by Adele Revella