How Does Your Garden Grow:
with Social Media, Email Marketing and a Website All in a
Row
Katie Van Domelen (@ktvan)Social Media Manager at Off Madison Ave (@offmadisonave)
The Integration Problem
Possible Brand Touch Points
Brands Think Like This
Traditional
Website
PR
Digital Media
Social Media
Email Mobile
Consumers See It Like This
Brand Interactions Look Like This
Forget Website Design – we need Webpresence design
Background
The Desert Botanical Garden’s mission is to provide the community with education,
exhibition and conservation of desert plants of the world with emphasis on the southwestern
United States.
Goals and Objectives
• The Garden’s main support comes from attendance, membership and donations. To that end their goals were to:– Grow attendance and membership in order to
support Garden programs– Extend the mission of the Garden beyond the
limits of the physical location using digital channels
Three Part Approach
The Website
• Conversions and calls to action
• Information about the Garden: conservation, research, exhibits
• Membership• Attendance• Events• Classes
Social Media Communities
• Create relationships with visitors and members
• Increase reach for the Garden’s mission with information and reminders:– Education/Information– Exhibits (photos/videos)– Events
• Some conversion and calls to action
Email Campaign
• Reconnect with current members and past visitors to encourage them to continue their support of the Garden
• Create relationships with visitors and members
• Information about the Garden: conservation, research, exhibits
Repetitive, not adding value for customers who engage across channels.
Exclusive, customers who don’t use all channels may miss out on something.
Optimal, allows for some cross-over and mirrors the way customers may view it.
Use information, links, content, etc to connect each piece into both other pieces.
What We Did
Website Redesign• Restructured content to emphasize main calls to
action – become a member, purchase tickets• Made most frequently searched for or viewed pages
easier to find• Made sure to answer questions that were asked in
other channels
Highlighted Our Other Channels
Links
Sign-up
Most popular content, republished
Social Media Community Management
• Content Calendar– Events/Exhibits– Information– Photos/Videos
• Conversation and response– Encourage engagement– “Thank you” for photos and video– Respond to questions
Connect To The Other Channels
Email Campaign
• Lead with calls to action• Invite members and visitors to return to the Garden
for special events• SMS:
– Event reminders– Games in the Garden to encourage attendance
Share From the Other Two
Results
Results: Web
• Social networks consistently one of top 10 referring sources
• Click-through rate on social network links increased month over month
• Visitors are spending more time on the site and average page views are up
• Visitor loyalty has increased (visitors returning to the site 2 or more times)
Results: Social Media
Faceb
ook
Fans
Foll
ower
s
YouTub
e Sub
scrib
ers
% Δ in Community SizeCommunity Growth:
Twitter: 79% follower increase
Facebook: 283% total fan increase
YouTube: 23% increase in subscribers
Data reflects Sep 09 – Jul 10
Results: Social Media
Faceb
ook
Inte
ract
ions
Men
tions
Click-
thro
ughs
% Δ in InteractionsInteractions/Fan Posts
134% increase in average monthly interactions
128% increase in @replies and mentions on Twitter
Site click-throughs
40% increase in clicks to website (event pages, information and membership)
Data reflects Sep 09 – Jul 10
Results: Email• Facebook most popular link in July by more than
double of the second most popular link• Render (open) rate up 13%• 2% increase in click through rate• SMS list showing consistent growth• *Adding tracking code to measure social referrals to
the newsletter
Getting Started
#1: Know Your Audience
• How do your customers connect with you?• Use tools like Rapleaf or FlowTown to find out what
social networks they use– Prioritize efforts– Segment audience
• Ask for social information in forms• Use analytics to determine their mobile use
#2: Make the Connection
• Prominently link to your main channels on each web property
• Keep a consistent message– Branded look– Similar imagery– Don’t lose the thread
Did you know: Exact Target reports that 61% of companies that send email AND have social programs do not even mention their social networks via email?
#3: Rank Content• Measure what is most popular on social media sites
or in email newsletters:– Likes– Comments– Retweets / Shares– Clicks
• Track what pages and/or website functions are used most often
• The top tier of content should be available across channels
• Second tier can be linked from channel to channel• Third tier is specialized to each channel
• Tier 1: Most popular/important content
• Tier 2: Content that’s more popular in one outlet and can be linked to from another
• Tier 3: Content that’s really only relevant on that channel
1.2.2.
2.3.
3.
3.
Other considerations for this may include:- Usability- Search optimization- Results of testing
#4: Give Directions
• Calls to action work!• Tell your customers where they should go for what
types of connections• ASK customers to sign up for your newsletter and
explain the value• SEND them to your social networks to interact• LINK them to your website to purchase, sign up,
request information, etc.
#5: Measure
• Measure referrals and traffic across channels– Bit.ly– Analytics
• Test variations on messaging• Track conversions as accurately as possible
– Analytics– Offer codes– Purchase form
Q&A
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