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

Twitter

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

Twitter

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