Thanks to guest blogger, Kevin Naughton at PrintComm
Numerous studies show that tried-and-true direct mail is still one of the best methods to market your business, product or event. However, that doesn’t mean that the ROI on direct mail can’t be improved by implementing some additional tactics.
Integrating social media into your direct mail campaign can help you achieve better results, and, in many cases, can open you up to a whole new audience of consumers who become prime candidates for current and future promotions.
The best part? With the high level of measurability on social media tactics, you can be assured that you’ll know who’s reading your direct mail, sharing your links, signing up for your promotion, visiting your sites and purchasing your products.
Here are three simple ways to integrate social media into your next direct mail campaign:
1). Create awareness through social media badges: Adding the “badge” of social media icons to your direct mail pieces, like the Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter logo, may help your target audience become aware that your company is sharing information via those channels. This will help you build your social media presence to reach out to new and existing customers.
2). Make the Mailer Interactive with a QR Code: Simply create a QR Code that points directly to a mobile-optimized PURL or Guest site. If you place the QR Code on the direct mailer with a call-to-action, discount or offer, you can measure whether the majority of visitors are coming in through mobile or traditional means. These types of reports may help you to better invest your resources in future campaigns when it comes to segments of your audience. And, now that you’ve captured their information, you can follow-up with them later for similar events, deals and promotions.
3). Enable Landing Page Visitors to Easily Share the Link with Others: This is the best way to see growth in the overall success of your campaigns. When someone visits your landing page either through the PURL or QR code on a direct mail piece, make it easy for them to share a link to your content on their social media profiles. This could be via a simple “Tweet This” button for Twitter, a “Like” or “Share” button for Facebook, a LinkedIn “Share” button or other social media plug-in.
In most cases, you can control the content of the “Share” link, adding your own photo, catchy headline and text to maximize the effectiveness of the message that social media visitors will see. If your content is truly helpful and you make it easy for people to share it, your audience will grow with the help of others.
Anyone who shares the link to your event, promotion or product is essentially doing the marketing for you since all their friends, family, and business associates will be able to “see” and access the details of the promotion. And, if those people share that link or “like” it, a whole new group of people are now drawn into your market audience, and so on, and so on.
Just think of how many people you can reach by sending out just one direct mail piece and how much information about your existing customers (and their friends) that you’ll gain.
Do you integrate social media tactics into your marketiing campaigns? If so, share your tips below in the comment section. I’d love to hear from you.
About guest blogger Kevin Naughton: Kevin is the President and Owner of PrintComm, a full-service marketing, print and integrated digital solutions firm. PrintComm delivers innovative marketing, print, direct mail and cross-media solutions that enhance response rates, sales revenues and return on investment.
