Social media is the most important channel for the viral distribution of marketing messages. This fact can be positively used by email marketing. Via SWYN buttons, recipients can recommend content in social networks and expand the coverage of the email content to their contacts. However, you need to bear in mind a few things to successfully use SWYN buttons.
SWYN stands for “share with your network”. SWYN buttons enable the user to share content from an email with his social media contacts. When a user clicks on a SWYN button, the corresponding social media platform will be accessed. Once the user has logged in his profile, the corresponding link of the shared content will automatically be copied in the input field. The user needs to click one last time to post this message. This allows the recipient to easily share contents with his social media contacts and expand the coverage of an email with his social media contact. artegic has compiled 5 tips for on what to take into account when using SWYN buttons.

1. Offer More Than One SWYN Option

You can share either the complete email via SWYN or only individual articles. The options offered, depend on the content and design. If the email, for example, contains only one offer, the recipient should be able to share the whole email. Additional SWYN buttons below the specific offer would not make sense. As soon as an email consists of several articles, which are independently relevant, we recommend to offer both options.

2. Use Official SWYN Buttons

Generally, every provider has the choice how to create the SWYN buttons in his email. However, it is recommended to use the official logos of the embedded social networks. The recipient is familiar with them and will not be confused. However, an additional call-to-action button next to the logo is obligatory (e.g. “share now!”), as the function of the buttons may not be clear depending on their position.

3. Optimise Contents for SWYN

It is technically not possible to link a content from an email or the entire email. Therefore, all contents to be shared needs to be available as website. Contents without landing pages, as well as the email as a whole need to be separately created as a website. What exactly will be displayed in social media after posting a link to a website, depends on the corresponding social network. Twitter, for example, only shows the link in an abbreviated form. Google+ and facebook on the other hand, read the search engine description of the corresponding website and display it. This should be optimised, respectively. By means of professional email marketing technologies, such as ELAINE FIVE, you can also specify your own texts for the post.

4. Place Buttons Eye-catchingly

In order for recipients to notice SWYN buttons, these must be placed in a prominent location. SWYN buttons for the complete email should be integrated in the footer or even better, in the pre-header as an independent stand-alone element, which stands out from the rest of the content. Unfortunately, many providers “hide” their tiny SWYN function in the middle of other content. SWYN buttons to individual content should be placed directly below the relevant content, but as autonomous elements and not integrated in the text.

5. Choosing the Right Networks

In which networks you should offer a SWYN function depends on the individual case. It may sound attractive to simply offer as many networks as possible, in order to reach maximum coverage. But generally, the following applies: less is more. A large selection could overstrain recipients, all those buttons may disturb the design and possibly, some networks would not make sense for the content offered or make less sense than others. If a B2B provider has found out that his specialised information has been clicked more often in LinkedIn than in facebook, it may be better to make the decision for the recipient and offer only the business network. On the other hand, it could be damaging for a retailer if his special offers for the new bread spread appears in a business network.

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