Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing but is still very effective. Social media marketing is a relatively new form of marketing but is also very effective. What happens if the two are combined? According to Kara Trivunovic of StrongMail, email and social media provide many great advantages when they are put together.

When people integrate social into their email marketing programs, they have the opportunity to not only expand the reach of their existing offers, but also to encourage existing customers to evangelize on their behalf. As a result, companies could grow their database through acquisition, which is not usually common in email marketing.

As Trivunovic points out, there are three primary ways that people use to implement social into their email marketing efforts. They are:

1. Sharing with your network
2. Leveraging as a medium to incentivize current customer base
3. Business model: acquiring customers through referrals

Trivunovic told W