Is Social Media Marketing taking over Email Marketing in 2023?
Most of us spend a lot of time on social media every day. It has become a source of procuring information and news, from all over the world. This is one of the reasons why companies are starting to use social media as a marketing strategy. It has helped businesses to create a presence in front of their target audience, without spending any extra costs for promotions. Social media has taken the marketing world over, like a storm and maybe it has also demolished the need of using Email Marketing in 2021.
Let’s start with some basics. Shall we?
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing means using social media channels to engage with your audience, build a brand name, generate revenue, or creating awareness about the products and services that you have to offer. This is done by sharing creative content that attracts your customers and forces them to buy your products.
Some of these platforms are more popular than others and some of them might not even be able in your country. Channels like Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are commonly used around the globe on a daily basis. But, there are platforms like Zing, QZone, and WeChat that are only limited to being used in some countries around the world. Businesses can utilize them while targeting the locals of a particular country.
Whereas, Email marketing involves sending bulk emails to multiples clients in a go. This is also a way to interact with your customers and keep them updated regarding your latest products and services. To know more about email marketing, read our blog here!
Social Media Marketing Strategies
Social Media Marketing involves a lot of planning and assessment to make a project successful. You need to understand what will be the best way to utilize these channels, according to your goals, products, and services. Here are 5 social media strategies that can help you along the way:
- Set a Goal- Determine a goal prior to setting up the accounts. This will help you understand what you are expecting from the channels. Are you using it to create awareness or generate leads? Start with selecting simple goals and improvise as you walk along the path.
- Identify your Audience- Social media is a mass communication channel that can help you promote your products in various locations, at the same time. Understand and segregate your target audience from the mainstream locations that you want to target. This can be done by analyzing the age, sex, location, and need of the products. Always remember, a product that might be useful for you might not be required by another individual.
- Creative Content- Social media uses content as a medium to share information. If you aren’t using quality and unique content, then there is a possibility that your channels might not get the engagement you are expecting. Creative content in social media marketing acts like honey to a bee, this means it is a way to attract customers and make them stay for more of your products.
- Increase Engagement- Interacting with your consumers regularly is also a necessary step of social media marketing. This will help your business in being recognized and showcases that you are always ready and available to resolve any customer queries. Engaging with your customers also helps you creating brand awareness, by constantly making your channels appear in front of the customers.
- Observe Competition- Conduct a competitor’s analysis to understand the focus and strategies of your competitors. Find out their weakness and strength, improve your strategy by learning from their mistakes. There are different tools in the market that can be used to keep an eye on all your competitors at the same time.
Email Marketing ROI vs Social Media ROI
One important factor that identifies the effectiveness of any platform is the overall return on investment (ROI). It is necessary for any business owner to receive returns on any investment that was made. Now the question is, which one generates more returns Email marketing or social media marketing?
Hypothetically generated data suggests that email marketing has a higher rate of return compared to social media marketing. This suggests that email marketing has a 4x higher rate and has helped businesses generate revenue just by sending email chains to customers. Whereas, when it comes to social media marketing it becomes hard to determine what works for you on the basis of your competitor’s strategy. It becomes under the hit & trial method, especially because something that might work for your competition, might not work for your brand as well. Determine the difference between email marketing and social media marketing before you start planning and implementing strategies.
We agree that social media marketing is a great way to engage and attract people, but so is email marketing. Both methods can help you in generating revenue and drawing more traffic to your website. Choose what suites you the best and keep improving along the way!