Internal Vs. External Tools: Determining the Best Approach to Social-Media Marketing

• Include links to all of the relevant Web sites in every piece of e-mail marketing sent. Also, be sure to use the standard, social-media icons to make the links recognizable.

• Add e-mail opt-in links to the social-networking pages. Always provide a clear and simple way for new readers to subscribe to e-newsletters or other forms of online communication.

• Look for content for e-newsletters on the social-media sites. Organizations can find some great trends and pass on a summary of the online discussions to their readers.

• Allow e-newsletter subscribers to share the mailings to their own contacts on social-networking Web sites, like Twitter or LinkedIn. All it takes is one click — followers can take care of all of the viral marketing, making it effortless for nonprofits and associations.

E-mail marketing should come into play when planning the launch of a social network (whether developed internally or using Web sites like Facebook and YouTube) and supporting that network once it is live. Nonprofits and associations are becoming better educated on the power of these marketing forces working in unison. Over the course of the next year, organizations that focus on using a combination of internal and external social media tools — as well as complimentary marketing techniques — will benefit significantly.