It’s now more than six months since we all went GDPR crazy. Our inboxes are clearer than ever and online marketers are now able to take stock of the effect this monumental change has had on our strategies.
Make no mistake, deleting customer data from marketing lists has hurt several businesses, particularly where email formed a pivotal communication channel. However, there have been some positives, the main one being that the data now held is accurate and vastly more valuable. Having a million customer emails, of which only 2% are remotely interested in hearing from you is far less valuable than having 20,000 fully engaged subscribers, not to mention a lot cheaper to target. So GDPR has a silver lining to all email marketing campaigns. Open rates should be through the roof, CTR ( click through rate) should be up, and your relationship with your customers should have been made stronger by confirming their permissions.
Having a cleaner database is one thing, but the impact of losing data is far deeper than CTRs and conversion rates. Many small-to-medium businesses relied on their email database as a way of getting a message out to a vast number of people. Without the data they are likely to find it harder to get the level of reach they used to, certainly at the low (relative) cost of email sends. This is where social media can help, in particular, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Gathering followers or likes has long be scoffed at by serious digital marketers, seen more as a popularity contest than a way of gathering potential customers data. This value was further lessened by the fact that changes in Facebook’s algorithms meant that the reach a social post now achieves is often less than 10% of your total following figure. So what has changed? Well, small-to-medium sized business are being forced to play by Facebook’s rules – you have to pay to hit your followers.
This may seem like an easy option but actually, it is a very cost-effective way of delivering a message to your followers. By boosting your Facebook posts and targeting only your followers, you are ensuring that your marketing message gets to the people that have expressed an interest in your product or service previously. This takes the place of your old email list and comes with added benefits – personal engagement, direct communication and no spam folders!
The next stage is making sure your followers are actually interested in your offering. The classic “like and share to win a prize” competitions have their limitations. They are often just building up bad data (we all know that eventually leads to a big clean up, remember April?) Users who are incentivised to follow your page are bound to be less valuable than those who follow because they are genuinely interested. The publishing of high-quality content will build a strong organic following, which in turn will lead to far better-boosted campaigns.
Clicksmith specialises in strategic social campaigns. Our aim is to drive engagement and revenue through all social channels, resulting in a positive return on investment for our clients. For more information on how we may be able to help you please contact us.
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