Email marketing 'boosted by social sharing'

Email marketers can boost the success of their viral productions by making an email which can be shared on social networks, says an industry expert.

Email marketing campaigns should use social sharing to spread a viral production rather than asking customers to forward to a friend, an industry insider has recommended.

Will Schnabel, vice-president and general manager of international markets at Silverpop, made his comments following the release of a study by his organisation, which indicated that social sharing is more than 500 times more effective than forwarding emails.

He pointed out that when consumers use social networks they will on average have up to 200 friends, so if an email is combined with these sharing sites then it will create a very powerful viral tool.

Mr Schnabel explained: "Developing an email that is socially shareworthy can turn messages viral very quickly and reach a new group of customers very similar to the ones you already have."

This week, online advertising website Marketing Sherpa released a study showing that 71 per cent of email marketers believe that they must focus on competing with social media sites for the attention of consumers over the next year.

07/10/2009