The Wall Street Journal recently published the story, "Why Email No Longer Rules." The writer, Jessica E. Vascellaro, talks a lot about the increasing number of people jumping on the social media bandwagon, and how that could have a negative effect on the way people use email today. Are people jumping on the social media bandwagon? You betcha! And why not? It's free, easy to use, and you can communicate to the masses. But are they using email less? Nielsen doesn't seem to think so in their recent study.
Thinking about social networking versus email marketing, I felt this warranted a blog post.
Integrating email marketing into your overall marketing mix is pretty simple. However, a majority of businesses (particularly in B2B) don't have a clue how online social networking fits in the mix. Consequently, they use social media in much the same way they use email—offering valuable content (allegedly for the good of their audience).
Truth is, social networking is not replacing anything. Modern social networking sites are an amalgamation of Instant Messaging, Email, blogging, etc. Email (and therefore email marketing) is here to stay. Can't we all just get along?
Extra Credit?
- Value Equation's: "Email Officially Replaced by Social Networking"
- VerticalResponse's "10 Reasons Why Social Media Won’t Replace Email”
- Chris Crum at WebProNews' take
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