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Online Marketing: Why Email is a Richer Cousin to Social Media

Posted By Guest Blogger 22nd of May 2014 Blog Promotion 0 Comments

social plus email

This is a guest contribution from Mike Swan of Markupcloud Ltd

Let’s put it without masking – email marketing is facing challenges unbridled;  not in terms of its effectiveness as an online marketing endeavor, but in a way it is being adopted and used. While the new players on the block have more or less ignored this still-most-effective way of web-marketing , there are others whose email marketing strategy is chaotic and restlessly roaming around the pillars of spamming, non-targeted emailing and bulk-emailing.

The influx of social media into the marketing realm is just an influx, nothing more. If you are led to believe that social media has invaded the way we are supposed to advertise our products, you would end up doing a  be a great deal of disservice to your business if you begin to bank heavily on social media with that belief. Emails are still much more effective than any social media platform. They are more personalized, more relevant, and stand a greater chance of being visible. And there are reasons to claim and believe so. And then, there are questions:

“I have 300 followers on Facebook, Why Would I Need Email-Marketing?”

Let’s say you post an article on your website, which is delivered duly to folks in your email subscription list. You post URL of the same article on your social media page. What does have a better conversion rate? Well, thanks to a platform like Facebook, if you have 300 fans on your page, you won’t get more than 30 fans to see your post on your luckiest day – unless you are adopting some alternate way to promote that post. As for the email subscription, your post is delivered to the inbox of every single subscriber. While not all might go ahead and read the article, the conversion rate is apparently much higher because of the greater visibility.

It’s Easier to Miss an Update on the already-flooded News Feed Than it is in Inbox

Again, this applies to the two most popular platforms, Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to the deluge of people your fans follow on Twitter, your tweet gets lost before it’s noticed. And same goes for Facebook and other social media platforms. But, irrespective of how many emails we receive in a day, we always scan for the ones which can be relevant to us.

So, you don’t need hotshot digital marketing professionals to formulate strategies, you don’t need to post the URL a dozen times a day, you don’t need to keep coming up with different ways to promote that single post (Well, you can do email marketing AND all this as well for meatier results).

One factor that underlines the above is that you have the permission of your readers to send your site’s updates to their inbox. So, you are not prying or spamming by any means. Email marketing, however, is not all about subscribers.

Social Media is Not the Only Way People Share

Not everyone is super keen to share what they see and like on their Facebook timelines. There is a huge chunk of people who still prefer sharing their favorite bits with people through emails. Now, because these shares are not on a public platform, and are shared through emails, they aren’t visible to all. However, they are more likely to evoke response because they are sent by the sender exclusively to few contacts in his/her email. And because it gets delivered to their inbox, we go back to the point number one of it being standing a better chance of being converted into a visit.

“How Do I Extract More Email Addresses?”

Now, this is where social media can prove to be handy. You do not have to solely rely on the traditional methods of extracting the emails of your visitors. There are easier and more effective ways to do so. You can, for example, use Facebook Connect to fetch the email addresses of those who have already been visiting your site. Facebook Connect displays a pop up on your site wherein a visitor who is already logged in to their Facebook account only to click a button on the pop up and his/her email address is automatically recorded into your subscribers list.

Get Your Subscription Forms Displayed Everywhere on Your Site

You can also create a separate website on your website that is dedicated to subscribing visitors to your blog. You can promote the page and drive more traffic towards it to improve your chances of getting more and more subscribers. In addition to this, let a subscription form appear below every post. If your readers are bothered enough to read the article down to its last word, there is a good chance that they would like to keep themselves attuned to your updates.

The Call-to-Action

You don’t always have to display the text “Subscribe to our updates” on the subscribe button. Sometimes, a clever use of words gives better results. Let’s say, you can use “Download Now” to signify that any update on the site would be downloaded on your visitor’s email.

Get All the Spam Rules in Order

Spamming can do more damage than you had expected. And there are more ways that qualify as ‘spamming’ than you had evaluated.

Here is the CAN-SPAM act for your consideration. Make sure you read it thoroughly to understand how you are contributing to spamming and why you should change your approach. Your subscribers signed up with you for a free giveaway you had promised, you should not use their email for marketing purposes unless this was a condition explicitly charted out at the time of signing them up. Also, you need to include a way for people to unsubscribe form your blog

Draft Them in Words that Stand Out

for delivering even better results, you need even more people noticing your emails, for which, you need to choose your words wisely. Going with the humdrum of a language isn’t likely to bring any result. Let the subject of your emails intrigue then. If your visitors are getting the updates about the latest articles on your blog, keeping the title of the article in the subject might just do the trick for you. Irrespective of the title you chose, it is going to be unique and different than the other emails they receive.

The email marketing results ways are good enough to make you aware of all the ways email marketing is good. As it continues to march ahead in top gear,  sooner you catch the wagon, better it would serve you in the long run.

Mike Swan is a creative web designer in Markupcloud Ltd with vast experience in Research and development vertex of web design technologies. He use to write  on various Markup conversion  processes and socialize it through social media platforms. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and G+. 

About Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above.
Comments
  1. Thanks for the beautiful descriptions of using emails for your account…… One thing I dont understand is how can we generate emails from fb connect??

  2. Hi Mike,

    Good point on the 300 followers/friends/fans. Forget number. Build connections. Email trumps social in some ways, and social trumps email – building bonds, posting images, branding, etc – in other ways. Find that mix. Prosper. Thanks!

  3. Hey Mike,

    Great post, Email Marketing has been the entry level of the whole Social Media era.

    It has always been an undisputed champion when it comes to direct conversation with your potential clients yet there are advantages of social media platforms too.

    All said, the bottom line is irrelevant of what medium we choose doing it the right way is what gives us the results.

    Thanks for sharing the post.

  4. That’s very right. Its easy to miss Facebook updates whereas in the mail, the thing is different. Email marketing is really important for a more stable reach.

    Thanks for sharing the details. I got to learn a lot more.

  5. “The money is in the list” is one of the golden rules of internet marketing, and I can’t stress enough how true it is.

    I’m really glad you compared email marketing to social media marketing, because people think they are similar and present similar results. People like to focus on social media more, because it’s usually easier to get a follower on Twitter than it is to get someone to opt-in to your newsletter. While that’s true, a follower on Twitter isn’t nearly as valuable as an email subscriber, as you mentioned in this post. A much higher percentage of people will see your email, it’s easier to engage with them, and you’re much more likely to make a sale.

    Thanks for sharing, Mike!

  6. I am a new blogger and these day’s trying to become a successful blogger with my blog. Many times i feel demotivated and feel their is nothing more which i can do with my blog have your website niche. Then, i visit websites likes your and again start feeling that i have to do something and i start my work one more time.
    So, i kindly want to say thank’s to you for writing such a beautiful article and keep doing this. As, it’s motivates many new bloggers like me.

  7. People often click links on email than social media. That’s why email marketing much better.

    I’m just a fan of Problogger

  8. That’s very right. Its easy to miss Facebook updates whereas in the mail, the thing is different. Email marketing is really important for a more stable reach.

    Thanks for sharing the details. I got to learn a lot more.

  9. I have seen many people advertising on social media networks and wasting their money then i watched a video on YouTube, where someone has explained that emails are your best friend. Even if you loose every thing, email can get it back with a single click.

  10. Nice read!
    Building connection and trust is one reciting factor in blogging.
    Engage your audience to the core..

  11. I agree that email is the better way to go but I find it harder to get email subscribers than it is to get readers to join the site on social media. The extra effort does pay off though.

  12. Email marketing drive possible customers and it has a great impact when it comes to conversions. On the other hand, social media has also an impact, however, it’s way useful when it comes to engagement, news and updates. They are two different online marketing tools very useful if adopted.

    I don’t know if you have heard about articles that highlights these two and that email marketing crushes social media.

    Additionally, Email has proved an competent and effective way to reach and develop prospects.While, Twitter and FB are helpful add-ons, although email gets the job done!

    I found this post shared on Kingged.com, the Internet marketing social site, and I “kingged” it and left this comment.

  13. It makes sense when you think about it. How many times would you actually follow a link from your facebook timeline as its usually riddled with everything under the sun, farmville etc. An email is much more formal.

  14. If Social Media and Email Marketing are done effectively, Anything with the list can be possible. Thanks for Sharing. Cheers :)

  15. A debt of gratitude is in order regarding the delightful portrayals of utilizing messages for your record… … One thing I dont comprehend is how can i Get All the Spam Rules! Anyway thanks for share.

  16. Great thoughts on some of the shortcomings of social media. Email marketing poses some great advantages.

  17. I never bother to differentiate the need of either email or social media as crucial online tools. We can decide to use both by learning the optimal curve between this two industry segment of the Internet industry.

    One are viral the other just plain wisdom – then you decide. Truly informative article.

  18. While social and email can perform similar functions, they can also perform very different functions.

    For me:

    – Social helps me become known by publicly engaging in conversations with others on relevant topics. It is also a vehicle by which my audience can share my content, and promote me on my behalf.

    – Email helps me become trusted, by providing my audience with targetted helpful information that leads them closer to the solution to their problem, while demonstrating consistency and professionalism.

    Informative and thought provoking post! Thanks for sharing it.

    Christian

  19. Thanks for the article. Spam should be considered very carefully I think. Dont want the IP to marked as spam.

  20. I agree with you this post, E-mail is play a big role in internet marketing and anybody use email and check daily now a day. Social media has wide of area in the internet marketing.

  21. Thanks for describe great post, Email is part of social media than social media is a big part of internet marketing and anybody trust in email and provide information by advertisement.

  22. Thanks for sharing post.social media is best technology in internet marketing provide in online business

  23. I agree with you. We may have hundreds or maybe thousands fans on facebook, still, the conversion is not as high as we expected. Thanks for sharing this post, now I can see how important email marketing is.

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