Email Marketing is Still the Best Way To Talk to Your Audience
Email Marketing vs Facebook
When you have something important to say to your audience, what is the best way to tell them?
It’s a question business owners have had for years. Years ago the thought may have been direct mail or a phone call, but these days in the age of immediacy, direct mail can be a little slow and nobody has the time to make a million phone calls in a day.
Now, in today’s mostly digital world, there are 2 main options for a business to quickly and efficiently getting out a massive message to their audience: Facebook or email.
Facebook, after all, is by far the most popular and widely used social media platform. What better way to reach people than to go where everyone is? Email marketing, on the other hand, allows your message to go to a smaller, but more detailed and interested group of people.
Today’s obsession with social media drives many to focus heavily, maybe even too heavily, on social media as their primary form of communication, leaving other marketing methods like email collecting dust in the attic. But doing so is a disservice to perhaps the most effective form of marketing and communication.
Here’s why email marketing is still the best way to talk to your audience.
Most posts don’t get seen
Businesses love the idea of posting something on Facebook because there is this notion that everyone is on Facebook and everything you post is going to get a wider reach. But, the thing about Facebook in 2021 is that you aren’t getting the reach you may think you are.
Here’s the reality: it’s Facebook’s tool, which means they get to make the rules. Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm is constantly adjusting what gets visibility and what doesn’t.
Right now, Facebook is giving very strong preference to two different kinds of posts, advertisements and posts in Facebook Groups. If you don’t believe me, take a good look at your feed next time you login. I’d wager that only about 1/3 of what you see is from a range of people and pages you follow, without much duplication from the same source, with the other two thirds alternating between ads and Facebook Group posts.
Ok, that’s all well and good but what does that actually mean? It means regular, organic posts on Facebook have a lot more competition for views. In fact, it is estimated that only about 10% of your followers will see any given post. So, unless you are willing to put money behind your posts, your content has a pretty short natural ceiling.
Even though people may check Facebook more than their email, there is a better chance of someone seeing every email you send than every post you publish.
With email marketing, you can send your message out with much more confidence that you will be seen. Sure, some may not open it and you’ll likely be sending to a smaller list size than your Facebook community, but you’ll know exactly how many were sent, seen, opened, and clicked-through.
Personalize your message with dynamic content
There is a lot of variety with the types of things you can post on Facebook. You can post still images, graphics, videos, slideshows, carousels, and all other manner of interesting presentations. Where Facebook falls short, however, is customization and personalization.
When you post something to Facebook, everyone is going to see the exact same thing. You can use advertising to fine tune your target so your message is shown to specific people, but your primary message will remain the same unless you create several different versions of the same ad and put money behind each and every one. Not to mention there is very little you can do to help it stand out among the rest of the timeline.
Email marketing campaigns are much more capable of producing a standout message that is completely customized to the person opening it. The key is “dynamic content.” Available to a certain extent on some email platforms, but mastered on Constant Contact, dynamic content allows you to use the information you have on each and every contact on your email list to create an email that is distinctly unique to them.
One of the most effective kinds of dynamic content is the ability to personalize every recipient’s email with their name in the subject line and throughout the email. Including the recipient’s name in the subject line in particular is effective as an attention-grabbing technique that compels people to open and interact with the email, a method lack that simply isn’t available on Facebook.
Dynamic content also lets you change the core of the email itself depending on who is opening it. For example, say you have a list of former customers and prospects you want to alert to a new service you are offering. Using conditional logic, you can send out one email to your entire list, but include a coupon or discount code that is only visible those that are former customers.
That ability to tailor your message on a person-to-person basis allows for much more freedom and potential that a mass Facebook post.
Undivided attention
The biggest advantage of email marketing over Facebook is pretty simple: less noise.
Facebook is full of so much noise and so many distractions. Every single thing you post on Facebook is going to face competition for attention above it, below it, and on either side of it with other posts… many of which, quite frankly, may be more interesting to the user than what you are trying to say.
You may think your message is important, but if a Facebook user has to choose between reading something you are telling them or scrolling down to the cute dog pictures their best friend just posted, they are going to look at dogs.
However, when someone opens your email – you own their complete and undivided attention. No other emails, no other messages, no dogs. Just your email. Where would you say is a better place to get a message to someone: in a crowded room full of people shouting over each other or a room with only you and one other person?
Since your email list should be comprised of former customers or people who have personally given you their information because they are interested in your business or services, you’ll have a much better chance of capturing their attention.
While email gets the nod when it comes to direct and efficient messaging, the beauty of marketing is that you don’t have to choose just one. Your email audience is limited to the people on your list, but a Facebook ad is a great way to get exposure to people who may have never seen you before.
If you share the right kind of content through Facebook advertising, it can be one of the best ways to spark lead generation and collect a whole new batch of emails you can begin adding to your email marketing plan.
ready to get started with email marketing?
Start taking advantage of this powerful marketing tool by learning the keys to email success in this free workbook.
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