7 reasons Why Social Media will never replace Coordinated Email Marketing?

Smartphones with high-speed internet have enabled everyone to access content online effortlessly. Today, people are active on all digital platforms, including social media, emails, blogs, apps, websites, etc. Hence, brands prefer reaching their customers online rather than approaching them offline.

With billions of active users worldwide, social media seems to be an obvious option for many brands to reach their target audience. Also, it is exciting for brands to get more likes, shares, and followers than their competitors. So, they start running the race for followers.

Though social media seems like a fantasy world, getting more likes and followers, how does it impact your Return On Sales (ROI)? To our surprise, social media lags behind email marketing when it comes to lead generation or closing sales. 

Social media is great for outreach, but emails enable brands to reach their customers personally at their preferred time. Everyone active on social media will have an active email which they check even before their social media handles. 

In short, email is more like a contact list of your friends, whereas social media is like a casual acquaintance. Thus, emails allow you to speak directly to them in their inbox at their convenient time. Hence, email is one of the most impactful marketing channels to nurture leads, close sales, and create repeat business. 

Now, let us dive deeper into some prime reasons why email marketing is better than social media marketing.

1. Email Aids Personal Connection:

Email gets more attention than a social media post, for sure. In social media, your followers have to scroll down their feed to see your post. They often prioritize the updates from their friends and family, and thus your post may go unnoticed.

However, email gets delivered directly to the customer’s inbox, aiding personal communication with your customers. Moreover, people will get fewer emails than posts or tweets. So, your email will never go unchecked. 

2. No Algorithms and No Competition:

Social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook keep changing their algorithms to reflect the needs and wants of their users. Most audiences interact with friends, family, celebrities, or influencer posts. It makes the channel harder for brands to reach their social media audience. 

Brands need to get highly creative to stand out on users’ feeds to get noticed. Else, people will scroll down for their favorite updates. However, email has no such algorithms. They are simple. Your email goes direct to the recipient’s inbox, gaining their attention without competing with any algorithms. 

3. Personalized Messages:

Emails are more personal than social media posts. Sharing personalized posts for every individual user is impossible on social media platforms.

You can send personalized messages in an email depending on the lead’s demographics and needs, unlike social media platforms. 

When you put effort, you can make emails more meaningful and interactive for every single user. However, in social media, you either chat with one person or talk to all on general terms. Email marketing does enable brands to have a personal touch with their customers. 

4. Segment Messages for Better Conversion:

Segmenting the users depending on their demographics, needs, and wants is crucial in marketing to send personalized messages. Emails are pretty straightforward, and you can segment your mailing list in any way you want. 

Plus, you can act according to the subscriber’s earlier actions, like the emails they open and the links they click. With that information in hand, you can segment your subscribers automatically. 

Social media platforms do give some control over demographic targeting, but it is hard to track individuals. Integrating both emails and social media platforms work wonders here. You can add demographic details from Social media profiles to your email database for better social CRM. 

5. You can Skip Unnecessary Rules and Regulations:

On social media platforms, you will face a lot of restrictions on the content and words you can use. Yes, you have to be extra careful with your language and tone. 

With social media marketing, your brand may have to face the following:

• Sometimes, social media rules can get you banned, even if you think you abide by its rules. 
• The content you share on social media is public, and it will reach more people than the intended audience. That may pose a restriction in sharing specific information. For instance, if you are dealing with drugs, prescribing drugs may be seen as an offense. 
• Finally, some may get into an argument. You have to handle with opinions of a wider audience, and your customers may not want to be associated with your business publicly. 

However, with email marketing, there are no such strict rules. By abiding by the general law, you can explain your business in great detail without getting into trouble. There is absolutely no third party to set additional rules.

Moreover, email is a private communication between brands and customers. Hence there is no access to unintended people or the public. 

6. You Own Your Email List:

Owning an email list directs you to access people whenever you want. It is all yours. You know what you do, and you take charge of it. However, with social media platforms, you have to match up to their expectations.

 If you have only a thousand followers, you may have to pay them to reach more. Plus, those platforms often change their look and feel, which may impact your content as well. Also, you can’t be sure whether you have free access to your followers in the future. 

Owing a few hundred emails of potential leads can close more sales and bring better profits than having thousands of random social media following. 

7. High Return on Investment (ROI):

With email marketing, brands can provide personalized content, promote relevant products and information that their customers want. Customers tend to prefer the brand that takes time to study their needs and wants and come up with products/services that meet their expectations. 

Compared to all social media platforms, email has the highest clickthrough rate of around 3.57%. That means nearly 1 in 5 marketing emails get opened and checked.

So, go ahead and start sending email newsletters to your personalized contact lists. Plus, sending more educative, informative, and valuable content relevant to your industry and niche will keep them informed about your business. Informed customers will choose your brand in the first place, bringing high ROI for your business. 

Final Thoughts

It could be tempting for brands to get on the social media bandwagon and gain large followers. But, with skyrocketing competition and constantly changing algorithms, your brand may face a hard time attracting the right audience. Also, there is a huge chance that your target audience may miss checking your content and probably do not scroll down to check all the updates.

With email marketing, you directly gain access to your potential customer’s inbox. Unlike social media platforms, people rarely miss an email. They do check emails in their leisure time.

So, your brand or messages will never go unchecked. You can send customized messages and products based on the customer’s previous interaction histories. The more relevant the email is, the higher the probability it gets checked. 

However, it doesn’t mean you have to give up social media marketing completely. You can use social media to promote your business and reaching more people. But, eventually, you will have to move them into your email list and start sending personalized emails. 

With consistent efforts, relevant content, and personalized messages, email marketing is a cost-effective tactic to generate high Returns on Investments (ROI).