Email marketing vs social media marketing

What is email marketing?

You create content, and send it via email to the people on your mailing list - either manually or using a bulk mail provider (like Mailchimp or MailerLite).

You decide

• what you want to say
• when you want to send it
• who you want to send it to

You own the conversation. This is a targeted approach, and can be very personal. It helps you build relationships with your customers, and retain them. Subscribers are converted to customers.

What does it cost?

• cost of creating the content
• cost of using bulk mail providers such as Mailchimp or Mailerlite (they all have free tiers to start with, giving you the chance to try before you buy)

Who sees it?

Your audience. This is your mailing list - usually a list of the names and email addresses of your current clients. How do you grow this? A newsletter signup form on your website works well.

Did you know: If someone contacts you, eg by phone/email to find out more about what you’re selling (also called a “soft opt-in”), you are allowed to add them to your mailing list. Just remember to always give folks the option to unsubscribe.

NOTE: Your carefully crafted emails can still land in your audience’s spam folder or be bounced by their mail servers. The frustration is real. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of the hackers and spammers out there - they make things more difficult for the rest of us with our legit emails.

Have a look through our portfolio to see the creative ways our clients grow their subscriber databases.

What is social media marketing?

You create content for a post. You post this on social media (on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc).

You decide

• what you want to say
• when you want to post it
• Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn decide when and to whom it is shown.

You don’t own the conversation. But you can reach a much wider audience. It can drive traffic to your website, build your brand, and build a loyal community around your brand.

What does it cost?

• cost of creating the content
• optional cost of paid posts on FB & IG

Who sees it?

Your audience or followers on social media. Who should be your audience? Your clients and potential clients of course. How do you get them to follow you? With a link from your website, encouraging signup.

Most of our clients have this on their websites - you’ve seen the logos. Make sure the links work!

You could also grow your audience by paying for posts, or creating such great content that it goes viral and your audience grows organically. And remember: social media is meant to be SOCIAL.

Did you know: LinkedIn is becoming more important - it is the boardroom of the internet.