This short New Years Solus email from boutique hotel site Splendia is a great example of how social media activity can be combined with email in a non intrusive way.
The “Share on Twitter” links are high profile and above the fold, but their understated design doesn’t detract from the overall creative. Selecting the three most prominent social networks and skipping the rest can be a brave move, but will probably play off given their popularity. The ability to “Share on Linkedin” is increasingly appearing in the Share With Your Network section of mailings – as Splendia typically caters to the professional and business market it seems a good fit with Linkedin.
Underneath the main offer in secondary modules are also links to Splendia’s activity on Facebook and Twitter. The modules are clear, easy to follow and explain why users should connect with them on a social network – these days simply saying “join us on Facebook” just won’t do.
Aside from social media implementation, there’s plenty that could be built upon here in terms of overall best practice – particularly the main offer and call to action, which are all held in one large image, and would result in a less interesting experience for viewers with images disabled.