One of my clients was recently approached by a local newspaper and offered a great deal on a one-day, full-page ad and asked me if I thought she should go for it. I answered her question with a question: "What are you hoping to accomplish and do you think this ad will help you do it?" 

It can be easy to lose track of your objectives in the shiny light of someone else's objectives. A great value is only a great value if it has great value to you! It's no different with social media.

 A recent trend on Twitter included a race to accumulate 10,000 followers. Plenty of people seem to have gotten caught in the lure of this shiny objective. Nod if this sounds familiar:  "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" The same principle applies to your social media strategy. 

Having lots of followers is not a bad thing, so long as it's part of YOUR plan. The important question is, what do you intend to do with your followers once you've attracted them? This is a valid and valuable question to ask yourself, whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers. How do you intend to create a relationship with them? Because the name of the game is still relationships!

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but people do business with people that they know, like and trust, a.k.a. people they have a relationship with. A well implemented, email marketing plan can be a huge ally on this quest. And here's why:

1. Extend the conversation. The sound bytes and quick quips of Twitter and Facebook are great connectors.  Connection is  the root of a relationship, but relationships need depth. Email is a depth-building tool.
2. Demonstrate your character. First impressions are important, but we get a true sense of person through sustained interaction. Through the regular publication of an ezine, people will be able to measure things about you like: Do you do what you say you'll do?  Are you consistent? Reliable? Trustworthy?
3. Deliver value. The glimpse that people get from social networking is like an hors d'oeuvre sample of you being passed on a tray at a social media cocktail party. Well planned email marketing lets you belly up to the big banquet table with your followers and serve up a hefty helping of your stuff!

Once you have extended the conversation, demonstrated your character and delivered some value consistently, you can expect that people will begin to do business with you. 

I got an email last week from a LinkedIn connection explaining that his company had decided to buy an opt-in email list because they had figured out how to work around the CAN-SPAM Act regulations that prohibit the use of such lists and wanted my opinion about this approach.  This is exactly the sort of thing that has given email marketing a bad name and is not for me or my clients!   

There's a right way, a less than right way and a straight-out wrong way to jump the gap between a social media connection and an email marketing relationship. I'm more than happy to help anyone get it done the right way.