When Ben & Jerry’s  announced this summer that it would exclusively market its products via social media – discontinuing its e-mail marketing initiatives – eyebrows were raised. While there has been much debate over the advantages of e-mail versus social media, few advocate entirely ditching one for the other. In fact, the best practice gaining traction is to integrate the best of these channels. Unfortunately few firms have done so, leading to siloed e-mal and social media marketing operations.

The benefits of this approach, though, are clear. A study by Emarketer, for example, called "Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection," found that joining the two approaches provide new avenues for sharing and engaging customers and prospects. "The two channels can help each other, offering the opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections."

12 Tips

To nudge firms along this path, CoTweet and ExactTarget, in their latest report, The Collaborative Future, offer 12 tips to integrate these channels.

1. Promote Facebook games, applications, and competitions in email and on Twitter.
2. Feature winners of Facebook competitions in your email newsletter.
3. Tweet about exclusive content that’s only available to email subscribers.
4. Promote exclusive deals on Facebook and Twitter, but make it only available to email subscribers.
5. Post links to web versions of your best emails on Facebook and Twitter.
6. Include Like and Follow buttons in email newsletters and promotions.
7. Include links to your Twitter and Facebook pages in email newsletters.
8. Collect email addresses at the point of conversion for consumers who link to your site from Facebook and Twitter.
9. Create an email segment containing Twitter Followers and provide them with additional “insider information” through email.
10. Include questions posted on Twitter and Facebook in your emails, and then answer them.
11. Encourage email subscribers to post questions on Facebook and/or Twitter.
12. Host videos on your Facebook page. Include links in your emails and post links on Twitter.