Anyone with knowledge in the world of digital marketing, knows that when it comes to email marketing vs social media, both can be incredibly useful for achieving business growth.

Given the current climate, and the nature of business, we know that there are many factors that can contribute to limits on what you are able to do with digital marketing for your business.

Whether it’s time, budget, the type of business, your expertise, or the demographics of your clients, deciding whether to choose email marketing vs social media may be a tough decision you need to make.

It’s not always possible to allocate the investment of time and money to all of the digital marketing tactics that we would like to. Sometimes making the choice between them can be difficult, which is why we’re here to make your decision easier.

Email Marketing vs Social Media: Who’s winning the battle?

If you’re growth focused and have limits on what you can do with your digital marketing strategy because of time, money, expertise or other factors, you will want to know the ins and outs of both email marketing and social media.

This will help you to make an informed decision on which one to use.

Email Marketing for Achieving Business Growth

Email marketing has been around for many years and still happens to be a machine for ROI – it simply just works.

Email marketing works because customers have opted in to your email subscription. They have already done their part in agreeing that they want to hear from you.

Your email list consists of those who genuinely want to see what it is that your business has to offer, which means they are more likely to make a purchase over those who are just hearing about your business for the first time.

While still very strategy based, the process is simpler than social media marketing. Using your strategy, you create the content for your email newsletter, send it out and then track its progress.

Email marketing is great for growth as email users in general continue to grow by 3% each year (source). Users check their email more frequently than their social media feeds. They also check email for deals from companies they know more often through email than social media.

A recent study completed showed that 60% of consumers make a purchase because of email marketing, as opposed to 12.5% who click a button in a social media ad to purchase (source).

More consumers make purchases as a result of email marketing than they do from a social media button. This makes email marketing the best way to make an online sale.

Social Media for Achieving Business Growth

Social media has now been around for a decade. It’s crazy how times flies, and even with that many years, it’s constantly evolving and changing. This means a constant new flow of opportunities for marketers.

The process for social media marketing is a bit more complicated than email marketing. It includes developing a strategy, creating content, posting and managing content, channel engagement, reviewing analytics and more.

Social media marketing requires a bit more tender loving care than email marketing. But there’s no doubt that it continues to be an effective digital marketing tool. It’s a great way to reach more valuable customers as most of the population now has some form of social media.

Social media marketing also serves as a new way to approach potential customers than that of your typical marketing email. It can help with driving traffic to your website, building brand recognition and loyalty, and help you to develop a community.

It also helps to create a more personal connection with your audience and humanizes your brand. This deeper connection holds a lot of power in helping your business to achieve growth as it allows you to build a ‘human’ persona around your brand.

By doing it right, you will boost both your engagement and sales.

Email Marketing vs Social Media: Which one should I choose?

Now you may be thinking that there are a lot of great points for both email marketing and social media, and not necessarily a clear front runner. So, which one do you choose?

Email marketing is going to best for businesses looking to build brand awareness and for developing a community that believes in the value of their products and services.

Email communities are more loyal than social media communities, and are easier to keep engaged as they can easily open your email and buy in to it. There is a lot of competing content on social media that can pull customer focus away from you.

Email marketing is also a fairly cost-effective solution, and shows for a great ROI. It may have smaller reach than social media, but shows for a much higher conversion rate.

You will generate leads, complete direct sales and build brand awareness best with email marketing. You can generate interest in specific products or services, compel them to click to your website to learn and buy, or simply keep in touch with them.

Social media on the other hand is great for businesses looking to increase website traffic through targeted and engaging content.

Like email marketing, it is great for building brand awareness, but can also improve brand identity and communication with customers. As communication is more personal, positive brand association becomes more attainable.

Social media marketing will require more of a long-term approach and a bit more management than email marketing, but the pay off can be massive.

Essentially the choice between email marketing vs social media will depend on the goals of digital marketing for your business and what your team is going to be capable of accomplishing.

The Power of Both Email Marketing and Social Media for Achieving Business Growth

At the end of the day the best strategy for achieving business growth is one that uses both email marketing and social media. They can be used to support one another.

Social media marketing can be used as a tool to encourage users to sign up for your email newsletter with enticing messaging and unbeatable offers. Remind followers of what they can gain from your email subscription list.

You can also include your social media handles or snippets of your content in your emails with buttons to follow, like and share.

Email marketing is a way to remind subscribers that you have a social presence. As well as the fact they can actively gain from engaging with it.

As two strong forces, it’s not necessarily email marketing vs social media but rather email marketing AND social media. The integration of the two takes digital marketing to the next level as messaging and targeted audiences are matched.

Let’s Take the Next Step Towards Growth for Your Business

Sometimes you won’t necessarily have the skills, time or expertise for both, but if you believe in the value of email marketing and social media like we do, then Asset Digital Communications is here to help! Your processes made easy with our knowledge and team of experts.

Contact us today for a quote or to ask questions on getting started!