Give Your Emails Life Outside the Inbox

Instagram: 5 tips to help you show off your brand

Instagram has 1 billion monthly users from around the world, and about 80% of them follow at least 1 business (that’s more than the number of Instagrammers who follow celebrities). This gives you the chance to promote discounts and sales you typically include in emails to an even bigger audience, like people who aren’t already subscribed to your email list.

In Mailchimp, you create your posts right in the email builder, so you can reuse design assets from your other marketing and keep your messaging consistent.

Sharing your emails on Instagram helps you:

• Get more eyes on your brand
• Show your customers a more creative, visual side of your business
• Engage with your audience on social media and bring them back to your site

Make sure your images are Instagram ready

The key to a great Instagram post is a high-quality image. Mailchimp makes it easy to choose images from your emails and other campaigns to get your brand more visibility.

When considering images for Instagram, keep these tips in mind:

1. Focus on your products. If you’re sending an email about specific products from your store, choose an image that gives a close-up of what you’re selling. Product-focused photos usually perform well.
2. Check that your photos fit the platform’s requirements. The photo you pick to share should have a width between 320 and 1080 pixels to ensure it displays the way you want.
3. Use a neutral background. To make the subject of your images pop, try photographing them against a light or neutral background. You’ll want to make sure you’re sharing photos that drive people’s attention to the stuff you’re promoting.

Add more personality with a caption

Mailchimp doesn’t require you to include copy in the posts you create for your emails, but you shouldn’t leave your caption blank. Instead, you can use a popular hashtag that will help people find you, or even a few emojis to add some personality to your posts.

To craft the best caption, keep these things in mind:

1. Relate it back to your photo. Your caption doesn’t have to describe exactly what’s going on in the image you share, but your copy and photo should make sense together. If you’re using hashtags and emojis, make sure they’re relevant.
2. Make it actionable. Let your audience know what you want them to do when they see your post, whether it’s buying something from your store or joining your list. Since links can’t be included in Instagram posts, be sure to add one to your bio and mention it in your caption.

Facebook: 6 tips to make your content stand out in newsfeeds

With 2.23 billion monthly users, Facebook is the top social network in the world. But people aren’t just using Facebook to talk to friends and family; they’re discovering new brands and buying their products.

Sharing your email on Facebook lets you:

• Promote your stuff to people who like your page
• Encourage people to join your list for exclusive deals
• Show off your brand to a bigger audience

Choose photos that fit in with your friends' posts

Unlike the product-focused images that perform well on Instagram, lifestyle shots that show people using your product usually get more engagement on Facebook.

Here are some tips for choosing the best images to share with your email on Facebook:

1. Include people. Boost trust in your brand by putting people in your photos. This helps show your customers how something works, fits, or can become part of their everyday lives.
2. Find the best environment to showcase your product. Sometimes people need to have more context about what you’re selling. Try to find a location that feels like a natural place to photograph your products.
3. Use images that fit Facebook’s requirements. Choose a photo that’s 1200 x 628 pixels so that it displays the way you want it to when you share your email.

Get people’s attention with your caption

Your audience is constantly scrolling through posts in their newsfeed, so you need to write copy that makes yours stand out. Whether you’re promoting a sale or asking people to join your email list, it’s important to make sure that your copy is clear, concise, and on brand.

Here’s what to keep in mind when you’re writing your caption:

1. Keep it short. Your customers should be able to know what your post is about at a glance (that’s about the amount of time most people spend looking at a post in their feed).
2. Give a clear call to action. It isn’t enough to give people the information they’re looking for—you need to tell them exactly what you want them to do. Include language like “shop now” or “find out more,” so your audience knows what their next steps should be.
3. Provide a link. If your CTA is giving people something to do, you need to provide a link to where they can take action. Unlike Instagram, you can include a link directly in your Facebook post.

Twitter: 5 tips for getting more people to discover your brand

Twitter has about 330 million active users from around the world, and it’s very likely that your customers are using it. That’s why it’s a super valuable channel for sharing your emails.

With Twitter, you can:

• Grab the attention of people who use Twitter to discover new brands and content
• Join conversations that are relevant to your brand and connect with influencers

Make bold photo choices

To stand out on Twitter, you have to be a little bit bold with your marketing. The best way to do this is with your images.

When choosing the photos you want to share, keep these things in mind:

1. Make your images pop with bold colors. You want your images to jump out at people as they scroll through their Twitter feeds. Choose a color palette for your photos that really stands out.
2. Feel free to use illustrations or hand-drawn images. Colorful illustrations are a fun way to make your brand more relatable. Use them to break down a complex process or highlight how your product works.

Keep your captions under the character limit

While Twitter has introduced a 280-character limit for tweets, you don’t have to use them all. In fact, shorter tweets usually get more engagement, so you should aim to keep your copy as simple as possible.

Here’s what you need to know to write a great caption:

1. Keep your posts conversational. Use casual language and stay away from jargon.
2. Make people want to retweet. Retweets give your brand a boost on Twitter. Use words and phrases—more verbs than nouns—that are most likely to get people to engage.
3. Choose the right hashtags. Either choose or create a hashtag that will be recognizable to your followers. Using 1 or 2 hashtags can even increase a tweet’s engagement by 21%.

With Mailchimp, sharing your email on social media takes no time at all, and these best practices give you what you need to engage your audience on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Connect your channels to get started.