Trending Topics and Email Marketing: How to Boost Reader Engagement
What’s trending right now? #MarchMadness, #FinalFour, #SpringBreak, or #Easter? Social media is always buzzing with the latest news, often even before it comes out in mainstream media. While some trends are best to stay away from, other positive big trends can help boost your email marketing efforts.
Email marketing is one of the main ways that small businesses communicate with their customers. Incorporating trending topics into your campaigns shows that you are fast-acting and “in the know.” It also gives your customers something popular and recognizable to equate your campaign with and can spur them into action. For example, in a study by Elite Email, they showed that the top email marketing trending topic for the last full week in January was “Super Bowl XLVI.”
Small and large businesses alike were jumping on the bandwagon and also utilizing other trending phrases like “Super Bowl,” “New York Giants,” “New England Patriots,” and more to drive traffic to websites, contests, and events for the big game. Other recent examples include the Oscars and the currently relevant NCAA tournament. Retailers and businesses leveraged these high-profile current events to formulate effective and attention-grabbing email campaigns.
So what are the keys to leveraging trending topics to drive your email engagement?
Boost Email Reader Engagement
1. Be quick. Social media drives many trending topics because it is real-time. Due to this, some trends cannot be planned well in advance, while others, like the annual Super Bowl, Oscars, etc, happen around the same time each year.
2. Be prepared.While you can’t predict the future, you can be prepared for it. If you want to send an email highlighting a winner of a certain big game, make 2 versions so that you are ready to send right after the winner is crowned.
3. Be valuable. Don’t just expect the trending topic to do the work. Add value to your emails by giving your recipients a relevant incentive tied to the subject matter. Check out how Nine West is leveraging the “peep” Easter candy craze with this email offer.
4. Be smart. Make sure you know the legality of using certain copywrited terms, like “March Madness” in your email marketing. When in doubt, use a similar term to get your point across while avoiding the potential for legal trouble.
5. Be relevant. In order to truly leverage the power of a trending topic, it needs to be relevant at the time you send your email. Even a difference of a week can reduce your chances of success and you may even look clueless and silly.
6. Be consistent. If your target demographic is men ages 24-36, make sure your email is pertinent to them and you are leveraging the right trending topic. Sports, yes, peep toe shoes, probably not.
Curious how you find the latest trending topic? Twitter is a great source. See what is trending in your area, and the areas that you are targeting. Feel free to segment your list as needed too. Seasons, holidays, and sporting events that attract a lot of attention are usually good trending topics. Always be consistent with your brand image and refrain from overly controversial topics.
How are you leveraging trending topics in your email marketing campaigns?