The Battle for Your Marketing Dollars: 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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