Email or Social Media Marketing?
Email is the old standby for direct online marketing, but should you consider the use of Social Media Marketing as your means of online marketing or stick with Email? Or, maybe some combination of the two? There are some hard numbers in from MediaBistro that will shed light on this.
The long and the short of it is that email still converts better than any other online marketing media. This is supported through a couple of studies that compare the merits of email versus social media marketing. Email does better than search or social networking, and those who have abandoned their mailing lists completely for social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn among others may end up regretting it.
Companies who are on top of things are still putting their budget in the right places. Email marketing spending increased by 60 percent in 2012. That is largely due to the fact that email marketing delivered an ROI (return on investment) of 4,000 percent over that same period in 2011. If one looks at the numbers, it’s easy to understand why. Email remains the single most popular online activity no matter how quickly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like have grown.
But, email isn’t the end all and should not comprise your entire online marketing budget. By combining all of the tools at your disposal in your marketing strategy, such as email, search and social media, you can improve your company’s awareness, significantly increase your reach and maximize the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns.
This infographic takes a closer look at the respective pros and cons of email versus social media marketing.
- Usage of Email is still the most popular online activity – 94 percent send or read email with Search Engine usage coming in at 83 percent, checking the weather at 81 percent, and so on. People check the news, play games, search for info on people, buy products and do online banking as part of their online activities, but using Social Media comprise only 61 percent of Internet users.
- Email marketing is still the most popular tool for online marketing, but Social Media Marketing is blowing up. $4.7 Billion was the budget for Social Media Marketing in 2012 and this number is expected to continue on its way up in 2013 at a dramatic pace.
- It’s not just about the regular activities on a day to day basis, in fact, it’s more about the commercial usage for us business people. When it comes to commercial communication, everyone agrees that email wins it – hands down! When it comes to receiving commercial marketing, 75 percent of all online adults say that they prefer email to any other methods. Social Media Marketing hovers above a paltry 2 percent.
- Checking email is the number one activity on mobile devices, as well, with 55 percent of users checking their personal email with their phones. This compares to 36 percent for those checking social media, though this number is growing.
Social media deserves the hype. It is on the fast track to being as useful as email for marketing, but for now, in 2013, you should stick with email marketing. Social media should certainly be on the agenda for your online marketing budget, but don’t get too excited about its effectiveness just yet. In 2013, email still rules the roost in getting results and is highly effective in delivering your marketing message.
If you are interested in budgeting an online marketing campaign and don’t know where to begin, let PTC Computer Solutions help you get started. We can plan and deliver a full budget for your company to deliver a consistent and effective message to your prospects. Contact David W. B. Parker (the “W. B.” stands for WeB) at davidp@ptccomputersolutions.com or go to www.ptccomputersolutions.com for more information.
By David W. B. Parker
President
PTC Computer Solutions
1/11/2013