Florida Power & Light's Marketing department is deliberate and strategic about the way they integrate social media into their content. Here are some steps ExactTarget Design Solutions recently took to work with them on refining social and sharing opportunities in their monthly email newsletter.
Phase one: placement test
First we tested the location of the sharing icons. Half of the subscribers received an email with the sharing icons at the top of the email, and the second half of the subscribers received the icons placed after each article.
We saw a 42% increase in click rate after sharing was placed after the story.
Phase two: refine social networks
We then placed ExactTarget's ShareThis functionality after each article on the next few newsletters. After looking at three month's worth of data, we saw that the top channels being used to share content were Facebook and email. We added Facebook and email icons next to the ShareThis icon, prompting subscribers to share directly to Facebook and through email. Since including those buttons, average social clickthroughs moved from .85% to 2.07% of total clicks - a 144% increase in social engagement.
Final newsletter placement solution
Incremental changes to strengthen the usability of an email can help both marketers by spreading your message far and wide, and subscribers by allowing a more usable experience in interacting with your brand. Read more about the different ways to incorporate social media in email or learn from the experts in ExactTarget’s newest social media whitepaper.
Phase one: placement test
First we tested the location of the sharing icons. Half of the subscribers received an email with the sharing icons at the top of the email, and the second half of the subscribers received the icons placed after each article.
We saw a 42% increase in click rate after sharing was placed after the story.
Phase two: refine social networks
We then placed ExactTarget's ShareThis functionality after each article on the next few newsletters. After looking at three month's worth of data, we saw that the top channels being used to share content were Facebook and email. We added Facebook and email icons next to the ShareThis icon, prompting subscribers to share directly to Facebook and through email. Since including those buttons, average social clickthroughs moved from .85% to 2.07% of total clicks - a 144% increase in social engagement.
Final newsletter placement solution
Incremental changes to strengthen the usability of an email can help both marketers by spreading your message far and wide, and subscribers by allowing a more usable experience in interacting with your brand. Read more about the different ways to incorporate social media in email or learn from the experts in ExactTarget’s newest social media whitepaper.
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