With Social Media, the Life of a Campaign Lived On

Last year we launched a Domino video campaign, which consisted of a direct mail piece and online marketing. From a social media standpoint, this was the first time we tried to incorporate social media into a campaign like this, and we were really excited to see how many visits came from each of the sites.
This really was a learning effort for us because we had no idea what to expect. So by using PURLs, we were able to determine exactly how many visits came from the mail piece, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. By the first month, the direct mail campaign was responsible for 65% of the site’s visits, with social media driving the alternate 35%.

I watched the traffic for about 8 months after launch, and what I’ve found interesting is that the video and landing site for the campaign continued to receive visits from social media sites months afterwards! The life of the campaign lived on.
If you think about it, it makes sense. When someone is bored, they aren’t going to ask you if they can look through your pile of ‘junk’ mail… but they WILL scroll through your profile status updates, blog, and tweets to look at posts from the past they may have missed.
It was a perfect marriage: Our direct mail campaign drove most of the traffic we desired immediately, and social media provided additional touch points and long-term exposure. We jumped in with this first campaign, but from the level of success we felt it had due to the addition of social media, we have since continued to integrate social media into most of our direct mail campaigns and informational pieces.
I feel this really emphasizes the need to integrate print and online technology for effective marketing … not just catering to or entirely eliminating one or the other. To add that additional value to your customers, try to encourage and help them integrate social media into their marketing materials for a well-rounded communication strategy. This will help them not only drive business, but increase their loyalty to you as well.
Now, that may be easier said than done. Do you feel confident in your knowledge in how to use social media for business to share it with customers, or do you feel you are still in the learning phase where you aren’t in a position to advise your own customers on how to use it just yet?