Facebook Begins to Offer Email Marketing, Plus 4 Tips For Your Email Campaigns
We’ve told you before how important email marketing can be to your digital efforts in our Comprehensive Guide for Email Marketing, so you already know that you should probably have a robust email component to every marketing effort you make. In case you forget, here are the best reasons to use email marketing:
- Reach. Email users will top 3 billion people in 2020, according to Radicati
- Return on Investment. A report from the Direct Marketing Association showed an average ROI of $38 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
- Higher engagement. The average B2B email campaign brings a 50% higher click-through rate.
So you already know the why, and we’ve also told you how. There are many ways to engage customers through their emails; entire businesses are even built specifically for that purpose. Well, there’s a new player in the game, which comes as a surprise to probably nobody: Facebook.
Facebook has pivoted into so many areas, you can get dizzy just trying to follow their business strategies. It was probably inevitable that they would get into the email marketing game, and it looks like that’s exactly what they’re doing now.
How does it work?
The concept and execution for email marketing is pretty much the same no matter which service you decide to use. Facebook decided not to reinvent the wheel and kept the process consistent with other services like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor. You need to confirm your email address and then upload your contact list. You can then use Facebook’s content creation tools to craft the email you wish to send to your list.
Why would I use Facebook’s email marketing?
Assuming the basics don’t change much, there are a few reasons why you might want to use Facebook’s forthcoming platform.
- Ecosystem. The Facebook email marketing platform will fold in naturally with Facebook’s other promotional tools like its audience network and Page insights. It will further cement Facebook’s role as a one-stop-shop for everything marketers need to reach their digital audience. No longer will you have to rely on tools that pull metrics from multiple sources, which is another checkmark in favor of the next point.
- Price. Facebook does not charge for its other Page tools, and there is no reason to think they will start now. Free is a pretty strong price point in the highly competitive (and potentially expensive) world of email distribution.
- Learning curve. Everything under the Facebook umbrella of products uses the same lexicon and user experience. Learning how to use email marketing under the purview of Facebook will be easy and heavily supported.
We have social media expert Meg Coffey to thank for this information. Facebook confirmed to Adweek that they are, indeed, offering these capabilities to a small number of Pages.
What does this mean for you?
Not everybody has access to these tools yet, and Facebook is being cagey about whether or not they will roll it out to everyone, but Facebook has already put a great deal of work into these email marketing capabilities. Past experience says yes, they will.
When the lid is lifted and more people can use these tools, you’ll want to get started immediately. Here are some basic tips to get you started, from DOM star Victoria Kurczyn:
Be Authentic – This applies regardless of your industry or brand. Speak in a natural voice, like you are having a conversation with someone you care about. Marketing copy can come off as dry and lifeless — don’t let it!
Be Creative – If you don’t consider yourself creative, collaborate with someone who is, like a coworker who is great (or even just good) at graphic design. If you’re doing the graphics yourself, stay away from stock photos — sometimes that means taking your own photos, even if you are not an expert photographer. Your tools are important, so if you don’t have Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, get Canva. Don’t limit yourself to the templates that are available in whatever email marketing platform you are using. Create your own images, icons, etc. and import them into your email images library. It might sound counterintuitive, but don’t be afraid to violate your brand standards every once in a while. Do you typically only use two or three specific colors? Try something weird and unexpected. Even banks have been acknowledging the need to be creative.
Be Honest – Let your subscribers know how often you plan to send, and if possible, make the choice theirs by adding subscription preferences. Also, never mislead your customers.
Subscribe to a ton of newsletters. Take note of the entire process of other company’s newsletter subscription tactics. Where was the CTA on the homepage? Was it a pop-up? Near the search bar? Middle of an article? Was it easy to go through? What was their messaging? How are they appealing to their users to flip them into their subscribers? How many times did you visit the site before you were compelled to sign up? Did they make you an offer in exchange for collecting your information? There is so much to learn by performing your own research. Also, don’t limit yourself to subscribing to just your competitors’ email list. Subscribe to brands that you admire, brands whose products you buy in-store, brands whose products you exclusively buy online, food brands, all of it. You never know where your next great idea will come from.
We have a lot of great information about Facebook on our website, like this free ebook Higher Education Marketing: Maximize Student Recruitment with Facebook Ads.
