The titanic growth of social-media marketing has inevitably brought with it dire predictions for the future of more-established marketing channels. Some commentators keen to predict the next silver bullet for marketers have announced the end of email, and even the death of blogging. Each successive social-media tool or channel is jumped on as the new best way to reach and influence your audience.

The truth, of course, is far different. Clearly, social media is no fad, but nor has it replaced email or any other more-traditional marketing channels such as direct mail.

Experienced marketers understand that success in targeting and developing profitable relationships with various audiences comes from developing a 360-degree approach with the consumer at the center. Likewise, understanding which marketing channel to use for which purpose is key to successful marketing.

In the rush to adopt anything "social," a lot of people are grabbing the closest tool at hand rather than stopping to think about the right tool for the job. As online marketing consultant Paul Gillin said in a recent webinar on Secrets of Social Media Marketing, "Start with the goal, not the tool."

Distinct Channels, Each With a Role

There are many similarities between social-media marketing and email; but they are two distinct marketing channels, and they should be used separately to enhance or magnify, not just promote, each other.

Again, according to Gillin, " Social media is for awareness; email is for retention."

In short, you need to consider and use the right combination of tools—in this case, email and one or more of a range of social-media tools available. Marketers need to understand that social-media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, and YouTube—to name but a few—are, essentially, personal channels. In other words, they are not where your audience expects or wants to be sold to or receive offers.

Still, even as they know that many of their customers (and competitors) are using these tools and participating in social conversations online, many companies are struggling to understand how to become involved and integrate social-media marketing with other marketing efforts.

If you're an email marketer, you already have a targeted audience—and, hence, a place to start.

Observe where your audience is online, which social networks your audience belongs to, and what is being discussed. Follow your competitors, customers, and industry leaders on Twitter and network with them on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to their podcasts, and follow their blogs.

Doing so will help you become familiar with the different social-media tools that are available and how they're being used to conduct business. Listening in also gives you exceptional insight into your audience, and you'll learn details that you can use to target your audience with more relevant information and offers.

Remember, however, that just because you're gathering this information in social channels they aren't the best or most appropriate channels to communicate with your target audience. Your choice of marketing tools should depend on your goals.

Sandy Carter, vice-president of SOA and WebSphere Marketing, Strategy, and Channels for IBM Corporation, gives a great example of how you can listen and react to social conversations in a recent podcast on social-media marketing.

Carter's hairdresser set up a Facebook page and linked into his community. He noticed that a lot of women were discussing a particular hair treatment. He offered the treatment in his shop but was performing only three per month until he posted a 10%-off coupon on his Facebook page. Within weeks, he had sold nearly 70 treatments.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ross Kramer is CEO of Listrak (www.listrak.com), an email-service provider that educates email and direct marketers on best-practices. Reach him at rkramer@listrak.com.