You’ve got something to say, which is great! Which is better, social media or email? The answer is you should definitely be using them both. At Bootgum we believe that social media and email are distinctly different tools for distinctly different purposes, which when integrated together form a powerful medium for promotions and communications. Modern businesses really need both to be able to compete and grow.
Social media is great for advertising to new potential customers within the demographic parameters that you set. Email, on the other hand, is an essential tool for following up with leads and communicating better with your existing customers using targeted messages. to keep your existing customers by being able to directly communicate with them with better targeted messages. Let’s explore this some more.
One of the first challenges for a new business, is letting people know they exist and they’re open for business. This means getting your name seen by as many people as possible. Some businesses still use radio and TV advertising, billboards and newspaper spreads. It’s expensive, and it works because the businesses using these methods have millions to burn in their marketing budgets. But getting attention on your business doesn’t have to cost millions.
The quick digital marketing checklist
All businesses should have a digital presence to compete. Even brick-and-mortar businesses. This is an incredibly simple model that you’ll find most businesses using.
- A website
- A GoogleAds Campaign
- A Social Campaign
- An automated email marketing drip campaign
Your website is where you want to get attention. But we need to get visitors first. Using a combination of social and Google ads, you can target demographics that match what you’re offering. Being able to reach prospects and get more attention through GoogleAds and social platforms like Facebook is powerful. The downside? Once a visitor lands on your website, there’s a fantastic chance they’re going to bounce away. According to extactmarket.com only 20% of survey respondents made a purchase as a result of a Facebook promotion.
This compares to 66% having made a purchase as a result of an email and 65% having made a purchase as a result of direct mail. This is where the power of your email marketing funnel becomes apparent. By offering something to download (Free GIF’s right here on Bootgum, or a free whitepaper), you can exchange your content for a valuable email address. If you’re a retail store, offer a voucher or a coupon discount. If you want results fast, run a competition your audience can’t ignore. Once you have that email address in your list,
The same survey found that only 4% would check Facebook to look for a deal if they were planning to make a purchase. This compares to 44% checking your email and 43% going directly to a company’s website. Once you have that list, you can create targeted email campaigns based on your customer types, automated email funnels and abandon cart emails to prompt your customers to return.
You may not get many direct sales results from social media, you do get brand awareness. After all, social media is built for sharing information with like-minded people. This is powerful. It’s like getting the same brand endorsement that you would get through word of mouth, but it’s done digitally. It also gives you a platform for that digital word of mouth endorsement to occur across the globe. That is a pretty large audience!
As your customer base grows you will want to keep them and have them come back. This is where email marketing really has its strength. The customers know you and you know how to contact them. You can use email marketing to send anything you think is relevant. Unlike social media where you are constrained by their policies. For example you could send newsletters to keep people engaged, pictures of your products, new product reviews, and your current promotions.
By keeping your contact list up-to-date you can choose to send an email to everyone, like a Christmas email. You can also send emails that are relevant to targeted segments of your email list, for example, you could send promotions on fence paint only to those customers who have purchased fence palings, or reminder emails as a service is due. It is only limited by the detail you capture and how you record this in your client list.
Your potential customers are always checking – Have what they need ready
Exactmarket.com found that 58% of their survey respondents check their email before checking anything else online. 91% of their respondents used email daily, compared to 51% using Facebook daily. These high usage rates coupled with the high percentage of people (66%) who made a purchase as a result of email, sure makes email a very powerful, essential tool for your business.
Even without email marketing, your database of prospects and leads is an incredibly powerful tool for your social campaigns. Did you know with our platform, you can integrate with both Facebook Ad Manager and Google AdWords to find users ‘similar’ to your database, or, exclude existing customers from receiving your promotional campaigns. Freeing up more budget to reach new people.
So, when you ask which is better, email or Facebook. The answer is neither. They are both essential components for your business to succeed. If you want your messages to stick, like gum on your boot, you need both as part of an overall integrated approach. At Bootgum, we’ve been developing the Bootgum Marketing Platform. Complete with professional HTML templates, landing page forms, advanced reporting data for your campaigns and email automation.
Sign up for a free account to see how we can help you with marketing that sticks.