The Battle for Your Marketing Dollars: Email vs. Social Media

email vs. social media

In my book, I define several kinds of “marketing batteries,” two of which are the “Subscriber Battery” and the “Social Battery.”

Marketing batteries store attention, and are charged through your online properties. Your email list is your subscriber battery and your friends, followers and fans are charge your social batteries.

The subscriber battery can pack a real wallop, and so marketers get a scared of looking like spammers. The social battery is unpredictable in its ability to deliver attention back to your website.

Business people let email drive their daily tasks, checking their mail multiple times per hour. As a general rule of thumb, you want to get your email marketing program working before investing in social media.

We like email. The best way to make social media work for you is to charge your subscriber battery from it. Your email list is an asset you own. Your subscriber battery is at the mercy of people like Mark Zuckerberg. It can be taken away or shared with advertisers.

We feel vindicated by this infographic, which we think treats both batteries fairly.

If you think about it, email is the largest social network on the planet anyhow. So stick them both in your marketing petri dish and see what grows.

In 2012, email marketing delivered a return on investment (ROI) of 4,000 percent. And it’s easy to understand why – no matter how swiftly social media platforms have developed; email remains the single most popular online activity with 97% of users sending and writing emails. 

Still, social media marketing is not just resting in a neutral corner. It is growing, and exponentially. In 2012, small to medium sized businesses projected to increase their social media spending 100%.

So wouldn’t it make sense to pair these two golden gloves together within your marketing plan?

  • ·         94% of internet users using email
  • ·         61% of internet users are using social networking sites

Looking at those figures, you have to assume that 33% of the internet is using both, and that number is bound to grow. Think of the jabs will you land if you apply both tactics.  By using these tools cooperatively and proficiently in your marketing plan,you can strengthen your brand’s awareness, significantly increase your influence, and maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Now, throw your lab coat over your chair, take a seat, and get ready throw the throw-down of the year. 

The Matchup:  The pioneering folks at HostPapa created this knockout infographic. See how email fares in a scrap with social media. You might be surprised by the judge’s decision.

Hat tip to Marketing Tech Blog for drawing our attention to this.

Let’s Get Ready to Rummmblllllllle!

 email-versus-social-infographic

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Using Google Tag Manager: Software Review

IT vs Marketing

Don’t be nervous, IT. Be afraid.

Marketing is slowly but surely slipping control of technology from your keyboard-calloused little fingers. Your long release cycles and distrust of marketing technology will no longer be tolerated.

The newest tool in marketers’ control is Google Tag Manager, and it is a powerful tool for marketers, if used right.

We recently reviewed Google Tag Manager, which makes it dangerously easy for marketers to manage the javascript “Tags” that are on their sites.

Marketers can use this tool to implementing new site features without asking IT to make changes.

The review was voted one of the Fab 5 Business Software Reviews on IT review site TrustRadius. Who are we to argue with them?

Here are some Pros and Cons we found:

* Integrates well in Google Analytics

* Lists a history of site changes

* Won’t support AB software

* Requires extensive Q&A

Google Tag Manager makes adding features and analytics to a site easy. But, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Brian advises to thoroughly test changes and be ready to debug any sudden problems.

Read Fab 5 Business Software Reviews for more comprehensive tools and software for your business.

Getting Our First Book Published: The Stories Behind the Stories

In South Austin, just a few miles from the new airport lies Patsy’s Cowgirl Cafe. Even in a Texas town, this is the kind of place that makes you look twice.

The smart and amiable Joe Pulizzi sat across from me separated by his plate of migas and my chicken fried steak marinating in cream gravy and Tabasco sauce.

Had I known this would be an important turning point in my professional life, I couldn’t have picked a more memorable place.

Cowgirl

This is how my story of getting published begins, and is just one of the stories behind the story found in 13 Top Authors Explain How To Get Your First Book Published.

1. Building Strong ConnectionsFound in these gems are some tips for the aspiring book author.

2. Creating a “Blog To Book” strategy

3. Outline a marketing plan before writing or a selling a book

The fact that you can buy Your Customer Creation Equation on Amazon is a testament to the story’s ending. Joe became my publisher.

For more tips and advice head on over to The 60 Second Marketer and read 13 Top Authors Explain How To Get Your First Book Published.

LinkedIn Can Generate Business for You. Ask Viveka Van Rosen [INFOGRAPH]

For Viveka Van Rosen, LinkedIn is a results-oriented tool that is great at generating new referrals for your business.

It’s not just social media to her.

Find out how she makes LinkedIn work for her clients in my live instagraph of her presentation from Engage Mexico.

Viveka Van Rosen Notes from Engage Mexico by Brian Massey

Instagraph recorded live during Viveka Van Rosen’s LinkedIn presentation at Engage Mexico.
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Three Must-Have SEO Tools, Featuring The Conversion Scientist

The fine folks over at Powered by Search put together a great post asking a pretty important question;  If you could use only 3 tools to excel in your digital marketing specialty, what would they be and why?

They reached out to seventeen different digital marketers and SEO experts, and Brian was one of them. As always, Brian has a lot of feelings on the subject and on what tools are essential in his digital marketing arsenal.

A huge THANK YOU to our friends at Power by Search for including Brian in this piece!

Read the full article HERE.

Thank you SEO Copywriting – Top 12 Guest Posts of 2012

January 2013 seems to be full of honors and mentions and shoutouts.

First, I was recognized by OMI as one of the Top 40 Digital Strategists, and now SEO Copywriting has chosen me as one of the of their Top 12 Favorite Guest Post Writers of 2012.

It’s an honor to not only be invited to post on SEO Copywriting, but it’s even more awesome to be included in this bunch. While there are some familiar faces on the list, it’s exciting to see so many new contributors that are making great contributions to our space.

You can also check out my original post from August.

Thanks to SEO Copywriting for inviting me to share and thinking I’m good enough to make the Top 12 list!

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Web Conversion Conversation with Brian Massey, The Conversion Scientist [Audio]

Pamela Muldoon talks with Brian Massey, website conversion expert and The Conversion Scientist at Conversion Sciences, his marketing firm in Austin, Texas whose main focus is on assisting companies to create higher conversions from the traffic they drive to their websites.  He is also the author of Your Customer Creation Equation: Unexpected Website Formulas Of The Conversion Scientist , the book that shows you how to develop the right formula for qualified lead generation and higher conversions.

[powerpress] Transcript | Subscribe with GoogleSubscribe

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