Email and Social Media Infographic - Usage, Engagement & reach

Great article by Jeff Bullas on the importance of email as a messaging channel in terms of usage, engagement and reach.

The One Thing Most Social Media Marketers Forget [Plus Infographic]

Written by Jeff Bullas 

Christmas only comes once a year and it is fun to see the children tear off the paper and unwrap their presents.

                                                       

It is more like a destruction derby than a party! Paper, string and wrapping fly in all directions as the journey of toy discovery unfolds.

Parents and grandparents watch the unfolding scenario like the Super Bowl or the Football World Cup, cheering from the sidelines.

The Christmas card and the “thank you”  is often forgotten and the focus is on discovering what exciting new present that Santa has delivered!

The toy is seized with shouts of glee and overt unbridled enthusiasm and for the next 10 minutes it is the centre of attention.

Soon the next toy is unwrapped and the now “old” toy is discarded, maybe to never be used again.

The Shiny New Toy Effect

Social media marketing is the “shiny new toy” and it has been unwrapped and it has us all enthralled and excited. The Facebook marketing, Twitter tweeting and YouTube videos have us running in all directions as  we play with the social networks trying to work out how to make it all work effectively.

Amongst all the social media glitter there is a one little marketing tool that should not be forgotten, in fact it should be embraced and integrated into the new social web.

The Humble Email

What shouldn’t be forgotten in the “Christmas Present Effect“, is that the user base of  email far exceeds Facebook with over 3 billion users.

The two major advantages that a business or organisation email database has over Facebook is ownership and control. You own your email database, it is yours and you can send it out anytime you like. You are not dependent on the Facebook “Edge Rank” that controls who sees your Facebook updates in the Facebook “Timeline”

One plus One Equals Three?

The savvy marketer should take the power of the email and combine it with the power of Facebook and social media to synergize the exponential power of sharing.

Recent research by Get Response, obtained by analyzing 2.2 billion emails sent by their customers, has revealed that including sharing buttons with emails can increase the email “Click Through Rate” (CTR) significantly.

• The average click-through-rate (CTR) was 115% higher for emails that included any social link
• 5.6% CTR for emails including social sharing icons
• 2.6% CTR for those that do not include social sharing buttons

It actually looks like one plus one could actually equal four!

The Synergy of Email and Social Media

Via: GetResponse Email Marketing

So have you socialized your email?