Social Media Vs Email

adamstaerck · 02-03-2011, 12:42 PM

What is everyone's views on this, Social Media or Email marketing - which works best (for you)?

Social Media Vs Email Looking at commitment.

Social Media, Email Marketing. Both are mediums through which you talk to people, people who are interested in what you have to say. We’ve posted about the relationship of Facebook and Email, and about how it is important to use all forms of communication to get the word out to people who will listen about your business. But are all listeners created equal?

Committal and Non-Committal Relationships.

I’m sure you’ve all heard someone say ‘I have 100,000 followers on Twitter’ or ‘I have 100,000 friends on Facebook’. But you know they don’t really have 100,000 actual friends, let alone know all of those people. Chances are they are only really friends with a small fraction of those people. The same is true for businesses and the people who follow them through their social media outlets.

All a Twitter follower (or Facebook fan) has to do to listen to you is click a “follow” or “like” button. That’s pretty non-committal; you don’t know how interested those people actually are in what you have to say. After all, they have invested very little; all they’ve done is click a button. Email is a much more committed relationship. People have to do more than just hit a button. They have to enter their information on your form and click to sign up. And if you’re using confirmed opt-in, (which you should

) open an email and confirm that they want to receive information from you.

Email: Commitment Through.

Confirmation is a big part of the commitment process. Not only are you asking them (through your sign up form) “do you want to receive my information?” but you’re sending them an email saying, “are you really sure you want to receive my information?”

This can be used as a way to make sure they are serious about hearing from you and serious about one day becoming a paying customer. This is a lot like qualifying a sale – basically making sure that they are serious about doing business with you.

Social Media: Larger Audience, Less Commitment.

Unfortunately social media doesn’t have the ability to qualify any of the people you are talking to, so you’re never sure if they are really serious about buying your product or signing up to your service. But social media can still have a place with your online marketing. It’s an effective way to get the word out about your business and what you offer. It’s also a good tool to help you keep an eye on what people are saying about your company. You can then better serve your customers by understanding their wants and needs.

How do You Use Your Email/Social Media Combo!

So which audience is better? Neither, they are just different! Using email to boost your social media voice and vice-versa is key to reaching as many people as possible.

Understanding the different levels of commitment audiences have will help you to create the right voice and content for the appropriate medium.
What’s your personal experience when using email and social media together? What techniques do you use?

Adam

dave · 02-04-2011, 07:40 PM

Tracking your clickthroughs using a 3rd party service is a great way of seeing how much of a response you are getting. I think bit.ly can show you basic metrics, but something like hypertracker is much more powerful and can also track conversions (sales!)

MsVeronica · 02-13-2011, 08:45 AM

Hello Adam,
I agree with you, both email and social media are important. It is not an either or question. I just wanted to make a few comments. As a consumer, I prefer to keep my Facebook contacts and "likes" to social contacts, not work or companies I may purchase from. LinkedIn and Twitter is more for networking professionally and even offering your business services.

Not everyone thinks like me, that’s just my opinion.

In terms of email, I just wanted to point out that there is many ways to use email for marketing. Newsletters, transactional email, email reminding you to return to your shopping cart, etc. For companies there are also ways to enrich your daily email (for example an email answering a customer’s question or inviting a potential business partner for coffee), though an intelligent email which lets you place banners, links to social pages or text to emails.

I agree with your conclusion. I think both work well for me, if they are used together.

aimee · 02-18-2011, 05:59 AM

Well,
Email can be definitely used to engage, ask and get valuable feedback on a one-to-one basis. Email is great for real conversations and can be much more powerful than social media in involving intimately someone else into looking at something. Popular social media destinations tend to be relatively superficial. If you want to engage in a real exchange email may be again your very best social media tool.