Email and social media-A great link

Email and social media-A great link

Email is not an old tool anymore. In fact people are utilizing email and social media to market their products. Welcome to ConstantContact. This tool invites you to use your email option and link it to other social media. Social media tools are now being used in emails to promote products. As people purchase and recommend products, social media tools allow these individuals to connect with others and share their approval or disapproval of a product. Businesses can then reshape their products based on comments received through email and the other social media technologies. This promotes a connectivity between the business and their consumers.

Now email itself is not a social media device. Peter Kim says that "e-mail is a distribution mechanism and social media is a collective mechanism" (Apr 2011). I would agree, but what is so wonderful about social media is now it can utilize tools such as email in advertising products. Emails are being used for retail. Most people are now receiving information about products through their email once they have clinked on a site or link. Businesses can now influence your decision making process by sending you information about their items through email. A study done on 500 emails showed that connecting the emails to social media such as Twitter and Facebook, the emails were 30% more likely to be looked at and 55% were clicked through when there were more than three social media tools given (2010). This is the power of social media.

Email and social media do not just impact marketers. This is an appropriate venue for teachers as well. Notifying parents is now made easier through email because of its link with social media.

The other day I emailed a parent and received almost an instant reply because their email was hooked to their Facebook page and their iPhone. As I needed to make contact with this parent, but I was unable to use a phone at that moment, email was the option I chose. Social media tools helped convey the message right away. For teachers, email is an easy mode of communication. I don't always have time to have a phone conversation nor do many parents. When email is linked with other social media tools, it allows educators to keep in contact with the students' parents. Email, which was once a slow process of sending and receiving messages, now has the capability of quick replies with social media. Email is also readily available at schools where many of the other social media devices are not without having to supply an override password. So email and social media linking up is a terrific benefit for the educator.

Some people have said that email is on its way out. Now with the social media link email will be utilized even more. From marketers to the educator, email is still a viable tool thanks to social media and the links it provides.

Key words: email, social media, education