Email is by far the preferred mode of direct communication for businesses these days. In fact, email is so prevalent that most professionals have access to it 24/7 through their smart phones. Through email we connect with prospective customers, current clients, business partners, associates, and contacts. How many emails do you send on an average work day? If you aren’t sure, take a look at your outbox. You may be surprised by the number of people you are touching every day with your communication.
According to Peter Bregman, author of “8 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done”, reports that email has grown from 0 to 28% of a person’s work day, in a single generation. I can remember when people were saying things like, “I don’t use email, I like the personal touch of a phone call or an in-person visit”. Those more personal forms of communication may still be an important part of a professional’s communication toolkit, but if they are used at the exclusion of email, a tremendous amount of opportunity and efficiency will be lost for that individual.
If you have any online presence…a website, Linkedin account, Twitter, or a Facebook business page, links to those platforms should be added to your email signature line. Most people with an email signature line (very important in business communications) understand that they need to include their website url. But wait…there’s more! If you have more than a website to showcase your business online, all of those should be included as well. Put your social media icon, YouTube, Blogger, Yelp, at the bottom of your signature so the people you are communicating with via email can find all of your online platforms and connect with you there. If you have a good online presence you should be proud of it and encourage those connections. If you don’t have a good presence, now is the time to start building it.
Here are some email signature line tips:
Don’t assume people know or can figure out how to find you online Think of linked icons as a call to action, asking your contact to take your connection further Make it easy for people to connect with you Make sure your icons are linked directly to your platform profile pages, and test it to make sure You will need your social media platform URL to link to the image Don’t link to a personal Facebook page, even if that is what you are using for business (not recommended) You may want to add a statement above the icons inviting the connection, something like, “connect with us on social media for critical industry information” or a similar compelling invitation Avoid too much clutter with long and pithy sayings – you want your invitation to connect to be obvious Try to choose icons that are similar in appearance If you don’t have a good presence on a particular platform, don’t put it on your signature line – seems obvious.
Many people use Outlook for their work emails. Here are the instructions for setting up social media icons in Outlook. Remember, its all about connections – the more you “touch” your audience through different sources and media, the greater the possibilities for synergy and growth. Let us know if we can help.
