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Social Forward
Social Forward in Email Studio enables email recipients to share content from emails with other users via their preferred social network. Choose the sections of the email to enable with Social Forward and the networks represented by links and images in the email. Social Forward also tracks any clicks from an email to a social network and the resulting page views from the URL shared by the email recipient.
Social Forward creates a streamlined process for your subscribers to share content with their friends and contacts via social networks. Determine the shared content and how that content appears in the social networks, allowing you to preserve your branding and promote your message. Social Forward also allows you to specifically target certain social networks that better receive your message or information.
Social Forward supports direct linking to a specific social network or the use of a third-party service like ShareThis. Social Forward also supports international networks. Images representing the social networks are stored in your Portfolio folder under a Social sub-folder. These pictures can be altered or changed to your specifications.
Social Forward and Portfolio must be enabled on your account to use Social Forward. In addition, Social Forward uses AMPscript to create the links used to share content with Social Forward.
The application creates the AMPscript for you, or you can manually add the AMPscript yourself. Therefore, be familiar with AMPscript to manually add these links to your email. Contact your account executive for more information.
Social Forward uses links in the email to share predefined content areas, and you can use this function in different situations:
- Sharing a Direct Link - Click an enclosed link in an email to share content with your contacts on your individual social networking account. The social network requires you to log in and view a preview of the form to be shared on that network. You add any comments or changes you want to make and submit the item, which posts it on your wall, bookmark list, or other shared forum.
- Sharing a Content Listing - Click an enclosed link in an email to share content with your contacts on your individual social networking account. On an intermediary page, you choose the link. The social network requires you to log in and view a preview of the form to be shared on that network. You add any comments or changes you want to make and submit the item, which posts it on your wall, bookmark list, or other shared forum.
- Sharing Content via ShareThis - Click an enclosed link in an email to share content on
ShareThis. Choose the social network from a ShareThis widget on an intermediary page. ShareThis
requires you to log in and view a preview of the form to be shared on that network. You add any
comments or changes you want to make and submit the item, which posts it on your wall, bookmark
list, or other shared forum.Note Using Social Forward with ShareThis requires some additional configuration.
- Once the Content is Shared - After the content is shared on a social network, the content can be shared from contact to contact. You can also provide the option for others to sign up for your email newsletter or add content to their accounts.
The application wraps shared content in tags that indicate which sections of the email are shared to social networks. Tags also designate the link used to share the content to those social networks.
- Social Forward Tags
Email Studio wraps shared content in tags that indicate which sections of the email are shared to social networks. Tags also designate the link used to share the content to those social networks. - Share a Content Area using the Editor
Follow these steps to share a content area using Social Forward in Email Studio via the Editor. - Content Area Sharing using Paste HTML, AMPscript, and Social Markup
The HTML code in this example shares a dynamic piece of content from an Email Studio email to Facebook. The first commented part of the pasted HTML names the content area Shared content Region 1, and the second commented part of the pasted HTML contains the Social Markup link using the GetSocialPublishURLByName() AMPscript function. - Content Area Sharing using Paste HTML and Social Markup
The HTML code in this example shares a static piece of content from an Email Studio email to Facebook. The first commented part of the pasted HTML names the content area Shared content Region 1, and the second commented part of the pasted HTML contains the creates the Social Markup link using the GetSocialPublishURLByName() AMPscript function. - Email Sharing with Paste HTML Templates and Social Markup
The HTML code in this example creates an email in Email Studio with three separate content areas, each one defined by the @@ContentArea lines. The first commented part of the HTML email names the email Shared content Region 1, and the second commented part of the pasted HTML contains the creates the Social Markup link using the GetSocialPublishURLByName() AMPscript function. In this case, the Social Markup link refers to the aggregator ShareThis. - Email Sharing with Paste HTML and Social Markup
The HTML code in this example shares the content of an email from Email Studio to Facebook. The first commented part of the pasted HTML names the email Shared content Region 1, and the second commented part of the pasted HTML contains the Social Markup link using the GetSocialPublishURLByName() AMPscript function. In this case, the Social Markup link refers to the aggregator ShareThis. - Share a Content Area using the HTML Only View
Follow these steps to share a content area via Social Forward in Email Studio using the HTML Only view. - Paste HTML Email Share
Social Forward in Email Studio can share an entire email instead of sharing select content areas from a message. This functionality uses a Paste HTML email in Email Studio. - Supported Social Networks
This list contains all social networks supported by Social Forward in Email Studio. - Social Content Slot Sharing via AMPscript in a Paste HTML Email
Creating an email in Email Studio by pasting HTML code into an email allows you a great deal of control over how your email appears to your subscribers. That same control makes sharing social content slots via pasted HTML an effective tool in getting your content onto social networks. - Social Content Slot Sharing in a Paste HTML Email
Creating an email in Email Studio by pasting HTML code into an email allows you a great deal of control over how your email appears to your subscribers. That same control makes sharing social content slots via pasted HTML an effective tool in getting your content onto social networks. You can create and place your shared social content slots and icons with great precision using the directions provided below. You can also easily create multiple shared social content slots in one document. If your normal workflow included using pasted HTML to create your emails, adding Social Forward markup should integrate easily into your process. - Content Areas and Social Forward Tags
Email Studio Social Forward tags wrap content areas to allow sharing via social networks. - Use Standard and Custom Icons to Share Content
Social Forward uses a default set of icons to represent the social networks supported within Email Studio. You can alter the appearence of icons to call attention to a section, such as changing the size or color of the icon. You can also alter the icon to better fit the design of your email. These steps allow you to change the icons used in Social Forward in a specific message without alterting the default icons. - Set Up the Dynamic Content Area
Follow these steps to set up the dynamic content area for sharing to different social networks in Email Studio. - Change Default Social Network Icons
Follow these steps to change the default social network icons for Social Forward in Email Studio. - Apply a CSS File from Portfolio to Shared Content
When IDs receive multiple attributes from different style sheets or instances in the same style sheet, the resulting landing page may not appear as you expected. For best results, create a dedicated style sheet that provides the CSS for the landing page. This step prevents problems with cascading attributes from multiple style sheets.
