The problem with social media is that you don’t own it. The shareholders of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram do.

Building a community of social media is tricky. You have to play to their tune. And if a big social media network changes the rules then your lead generation, traffic and sales can plummet. In fact they can shut you down… no questions asked.

So it’s okay to take advantage of social media, but be careful, and don’t rely on it. Placing all your eggs in one basket is risky.

Mike Stelzner recently interviewed DJ Waldow about the synergy between email and social. DJ explains well why marketers should use both channels. He uses social media, but he explains that if Facebook decided to change their terms of service, then the connection with your friends and followers could disappear.

Even Facebook uses email, they have over 100 email notifications.

Use social but don’t rely on it

• If your business model is about building a community, you should not rely on social networks solely, but you will want to own a platform, like a blog.
• If your business model is about selling goods to customers, you will want to find the shortest way to reach them. In business that is still with email.

Email addresses stick with you. You should work on having more and more potential customers on your email list who you can engage with and convert to paying customers.

Let’s look at how to integrate social media and email marketing.

#1. Turn fans to email subscribers with contests and sweepstakes

Contests, sweepstakes and giveaways are perfect to motivate people to sign up to your list, to turn fans to email subscribers. At these promotions the condition of entry is to give your name and email address.

This toy shop is running a sweepstakes every weekend, where kids and parents are on Facebook.

Let’s see which promotion type is good for what.

#2. Use sweepstakes for email capture and lead generation

Sweepstakes are chance based promotions when one or more lucky entrant(s) can win. As the barrier to entry is low, these kind of promotions are great for lead generation.

Based on how people enter here are the different types of sweepstakes.

1. Draw – entrants enter the promotion with a single click. They just need to leave their contact details.
2. Poll – entrants need to answer a question in order to enter. They need to give their opinion that help you to learn more about them.
3. Quiz – entrants need to answer a question correctly to win. It encourages them to learn more about your company, so it increases engagement.

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/06/how-to-integrate-social-media-and-email-marketing/#iV7w32Q9JmB9QQd8.99 

How to Integrate Social Media and Email Marketing – Jeffbullas’s Blog.