There is a perception that email is not as useful of a tool as it once was now that social media has taken over the internet. However, this perception is false.
Social media and email have a strong relationship, and multiple studies have found that social media users are actually more likely to see and respond to your email marketing message.
A study by MarketingSherpa found, for example, that social media users actually check their email much more than people who do not use social media. 42% of social media users checked their email four times a day or more, compared to just 27% of non-social media users. Therefore, social media users are more likely to see, and act upon, your email marketing messages.
Another MarketingSherpa study found that 75% of daily social media users said that email is the most effective way for companies to communicate with them, compared to 65% of all email users. Also, 49% of Twitter users said they purchased something online because of an email they received, compared to 33% of all email users. This makes sense, because typically social media users are tech-savvy and more likely to understand and use all the valuable tools the internet offers.
63% of the people surveyed by MarketingSherpa said they use the same email account for social media messages as they do for email subscriptions. This is also great news for email marketers, as they know their messages are seen and their audience is more easily accessible.
In previous posts I’ve covered how to provide content that is relevant and valuable to your target audience. If you supply this content to your subscribers, they are very likely to share it within their network. When a social media user shares your email message on a social networking site, your message then has the potential to reach the user’s friends, and then their friends, and then their friends. Social media provides the ultimate viral marketing. With very little effort, your audience just increased significantly because of one valuable email. According to Silverpop, email messages that are then posted have an average increase in reach of over 24.3%. Silverpop believes this a conservative estimate, and as social network usage grows, so will the increase in reach.
The bottom line: Get involved in both social media and email marketing in order to expand your audience and get the most out of your site.
