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02/18/15 | Uncategorized

A New Way to Use Data for Marketing Automation

An interview with Alison Groves about how Zapier helps companies automate their marketing.

By Clark Buckner (Content Marketer & New Media Strategist, TechnologyAdvice.com)

Alison Groves was once part of the marketing team at Zapier before recently moving to lead their community-building efforts. However, considering Zapier’s broad range of connectable applications for both individuals and businesses, such crossovers are typical of the interconnected nature of the company.

Zapier connects nearly 400 online services and apps together through their “zaps.” In other words, an end user could create a zap that connects Twitter and Google Spreadsheets, so that their Twitter mentions are automatically stored within a Google Spreadsheet.

This is how one freelance social media manager uses zaps. Because she needs to show her employers their return on investment, she created a zap that stores metrics and gives her verifiable data on social media growth as a result of her work.

Lead Generation with Zapier

That’s only one example of the thousands, if not tens of thousands, different types of zaps a user can create. For companies – and especially for organizations looking to expand their content marketing and increase lead generation – Zapier’s marketing automation software could be the key that unlocks the door to more customers and increased revenue in 2015.

For instance, when Groves presents a webinar, she’ll provide her virtual attendees with a Wufoo form to collect email addresses. With an already-created zap, those email addresses are automatically sent to a Google Spreadsheet. Other zaps can be created that send such information to MailChimp, Salesforce, or hundreds of other apps.

Before Creating Your First Zap

Since there are so many available services, Groves understands that users might be challenged to discover what’s best for their workflow. She encourages users to figure out their end goals before connecting apps and creating zaps.

  • Does your company only need an email address, or should you find out more information about your customers?
  • What applications does your company, from marketing and sales to community-building and production, already use?
  • Ultimately, what are the specific reasons behind creating zaps to link two or more apps together?

The service you choose ultimately depends on the unique needs of your companies. By answering the key questions above, businesses can adjust Zapier’s robust and flexible capabilities to help automate key processes.

From helping a freelance social media manager prove her ROI, to assisting content marketers with easy and automated lead generation, Zapier may have a customized solution waiting for your discovery. Just remember to map out your final destination before creating new zaps.

For further information about Zapier’s solutions, contact Alison Groves on Twitter @alisongroves, or visit Zapier.com.

What other software do you recommend for content marketing?

Image courtesy of TechnologyAdvice.com

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