Today, it can be a headache for marketers to decide which channels to invest in. To make your life a little easier we have weighed the pros and cons of email and social media to see which of these two channels deserves the spotlight and your money.
Who holds a bigger audience?
Point blank if you want to reach potential customers you need a channel to market to them. It seems obvious that the channel with the most active users would be a wise choice as you can cast a bigger net. While both of these GIANT channels have enough inboxes and profiles to quench the thirst of even the largest brands one is far larger than the other.
Gmail (the largest ESP) alone has double the accounts of Twitter, and Outlook has more than double the active accounts of Instagram. However, social media accounts outnumber email accounts with the help of internet behemoth Facebook. With 1.20 billion monthly active users Facebook singlehandedly holds more user accounts than Gmail and Hotmail combined. Furthermore due to the social nature of Facebook and its friends your messages may be seen by a larger audience than you initially expected. Content goes “viral” everyday as demonstrated this past week with the viral ALS fundraising campaign that has gotten attention from everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Taylor Swift.
Round 1 winner – Social Media
Which brings in more new customers?
With the constant competition to acquire new customers it is of the upmost importance to understand what makes your customers tick and invest heavily in the channels they best respond to. So which is a better channel for growing your customer base? According to Custora the data speaks for itself – email is the clear leader.
Round 2 winner – Email
Who delivers the best ROI?
Social media is the darling of marketers. It’s dazzling, it’s connected, and it’s home to the most narcissistic trend yet – selfies. But is Social Media really a better return on investment than the moneymaking machine – Email Marketing? America, let’s get ready to rumble!
When you think about all the posts, all the likes, all the big data and apps you would think Social media clearly towers over email. The data disagrees. Email marketing is an incredibly profitable channel for marketers returning a colossal 2500% ROI according to DMA U.K. When it comes time to measure social media’s ROI no one really knows the answer. For many marketers it’s almost impossible to track. Furthermore Marketingcharts reports “1 in 5 Large Companies Say They’re Losing Money on Social Media.”
Round 3 winner – Email
The final tally:
Email –2 Social Media –1
While email and social media are both great channels for brand awareness, growth, and conversions: for most marketers email is still the best channel for a successful campaign.
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