by Claudia Bruemmer

Our article about Mobile Marketing got a lot of interest from wholesalers and general merchandise vendors last month. While integrating social, mobile and email campaigns can yield great results, we know many merchants are not yet using integrated online marketing campaigns. Therefore, we’d like to provide information about social, mobile email integrated campaigns for your online marketing strategy as these media are used daily by consumers and marketers alike.

Facebook has over 750 million members, and 50 percent of them log in every day. Twitter has 200 million account holders delivering 350 billion tweets every day. Chatting, tweeting, texting and conducting business on mobile devices is rapidly becoming the norm. Email is also very popular and still considered the lifeblood of successful Internet marketing. Integrating mobile, email and social media is the best way for wholesalers and retailers to get the best results for their online marketing campaigns.

However, a lot of marketers don’t know how to integrate mobile into their overall marketing efforts despite the fact that integrating traditional web and mobile tools provide maximum impact. There are many mobile services providers that can help. Some providers commented about their services on the article page.

We would also like to call your attention to a selective list of mobile services providers compiled by Website Magazine, which published a list of “Top 50 Movers and Shakers in Mobile Services.” This list shows some popular mobile advertising networks such as AdMob and GreyStripe, as well as mobile analytics solutions such as Bango and AppFigures. Solutions for retailers included Digby and DIY mobile website designers such as mobiSiteGalore and site.mobi.

High-impact, mobile text marketing tools such as SMS, combined with social media and email in a well-integrated, multi-channel campaign, can yield stellar results. The technology is available that allows B2B and B2C marketers to create very effective campaigns that can drive them to the head of the pack.

Marketers are become increasingly channel-selective, using SMS for some campaigns and email or social media for others. Therefore, offering consumers multiple media options can make the difference between keeping your customers engaged and losing them to competitors.

For instance, Trumpia emailed me about a clothing retailer client that sold $60,000 worth of merchandise in three hours with a multi- channel campaign designed to spread the word about a Special 4th of July Offer to 1200 VIP customers. The campaign resulted in a 20 percent redemption rate with 232 customers taking advantage of the promotion. The retailer sent its special VIP sales alert via SMS Mobile Text, Instant Messages and Email less than 24 hours before the big sale.

Giving your customers and prospects options for communicating with you is one of the best ways to capture key data, increase message relevancy and boost revenue. Yet many marketers, including wholesalers and retailers, offer limited options to their customers beyond email.

According to recent research (Silverpop), only one out of four companies surveyed offered Twitter and Facebook options, and only one out of ten provided the opportunity to sign up for an SMS messaging program or download a mobile app. When you offer your customers different channel options such as SMS, this empowers them and gives you another touch point for connecting.

Keep in mind that your customers are always on the go. While the dominant social media channels are Twitter and Facebook, YouTube is a close third, due to widespread interest in video. LinkedIn is also an excellent choice for certain types of campaigns. Lastly, as Google Plus develops and gains more users and momentum, it will join the list of social networks you can consider for your integrated social, mobile, email campaigns.