Why Email Marketing Beats Social Media in Lead Generation, And What You Can Do About It

Social media has many legitimate marketing uses. When used right, social lets you build a genuine relationship with your customers. It helps you find out what people are saying about your brand and it enables you to share interesting content with your audience. Regardless of whether they’re in B2B or B2C, most businesses today can’t afford not to have a social media presence.

But there’s one thing that social media isn’t great for: lead generation. Social media works effectively for many marketing activities, but generating new leads isn’t one of them. In fact, when it comes to generating leads, the good ol’ email will always beat social media. One 2014 study from management consulting firm McKinsey & Company suggests that email conversion rates are 40 times higher compared to Facebook and Twitter combined. “The rate at which e-mails prompt purchases is not only estimated to be at least three times that of social media, but the average order value is also 17 percent higher,” according to the report.

An understanding of its drawbacks as a lead gen tool is critical to getting the most out of social media marketing. So why is email, a relatively old channel, better suited for generating leads? Here are a few reasons why.

1. 
   

   With email, you’re reaching an audience that already knows you.

   
   

People in your email database have opted-in to get communications from you. They already know you, and at one point, you’ve impressed these people enough that they’ve raised their hands and have indicated that they want to hear from you in the future.

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Social lacks that same level of commitment. A social media follow isn’t quite as powerful as an email opt-in. Following someone on social is a more passive activity than signing up for email communications. It’s not unusual for people to follow thousands of people and brands on social, but most would only sign up for only a handful of emails. Email requires a deeper level of engagement and trust.

2. 
   

   There’s too much noise on social.

   
   

The same thing that makes social media exciting and dynamic also makes it a difficult marketing channel: the volume of content. In a single day, Twitter users generate 500 tweets. On Facebook, users post 55 million status updates per day. On Instagram, over 70 million pictures are posted on a daily basis.

Companies are competing for people’s attention on social. And because of the volume and velocity of social media content, only a small fraction of your social media audience sees your updates. For instance, Facebook’s edgerank limits the reach of your posts: only 2 to 6 percent of your fans actually see your content. Twitter doesn’t have an algorithm (at least not yet), but it’s easy to miss updates because people tweet a lot.

3. 
   

   People are more likely to see (and click on) your email.

   
   

Open rates for email marketing messages are generally in the 20 to 25 percent range. If you assume a six percent reach rate for Facebook, that means your message is five times more likely to be seen through email than social.

Click through rates are also generally higher on email, as Campaign Monitor explains:

Click through rates from email are generally in the 3% range, while click-through rates on Tweets are generally in the 0.5% range. This means you are 6x more likely to get a click-through from email than you are from Twitter.

In order to show this in action, influential marketing blogger Derek Halpern ran a test where he sent his latest blog post to the same number of people via both email and Twitter. Here are the results:

– 300 people clicked through to the article from Twitter
– 4,200 people clicked through to the article from email

4. 
   

   You get to say more on email.

   
   

Some things require more than 140 characters. Yes, emails need to be brief as well, but at least you’re not limited to a certain number of characters. To get someone to take action, you often need to say more than a couple of sentences.

How to fix social media marketing

In the same way that email marketing did not kill SEO, social media marketing isn’t killing email marketing. In fact, email still beats social, and it will probably do so forever.

This doesn’t mean you should abandon social media. But it does mean you have to rethink your approach to social, and consider the very real limitations of this medium.

The first step is to acknowledge that social media is not necessarily a lead gen channel. For many companies, social is better suited for brand awareness and customer support functions. Sharing interesting—and usually ungated—pieces of content is more likely to resonate on social than doing a hard sell. You’re more likely to get leads on social if your content is useful and interesting. Regardless of whether you’re posting gated or ungated content, the quality of those pieces need to be super high.

Most of us also have to stop looking at social media as a purely organic/earned play. The social media landscape is following the trajectory of SEO/SEM where paid efforts are becoming just as crucial as organic ones. Facebook openly states that it is limiting promotional updates on people’s newsfeeds. If you want to generate leads on social, you have to make sure you have the budget for advertising.

And given that we know that email will almost always convert better than social, we have to think of ways of bridging the gap—of converting social media followers into email subscribers. I think the best way of doing that is through your corporate blog. If you are producing high quality blog posts, why not start a blog newsletter and get people into your database that way? When people opt-in to your newsletter, you now have them in your database and you can start marketing to them via email.

Social media marketing is far from dead, but it is at a critical juncture. And despite people complaining about email overload, the truth is that email marketing is still a very effective tactic. Understanding how social can help drive your email strategy is the key to maximizing your social media marketing efforts.

Why Email Marketing Beats Social Media in Lead Generation, And What You Can Do About It

More on Branson Visit: Dialog with a Reader About Our 'Tips on Fitting In'

We hear howls about our Facebook page. And those are among the polite ones.

The most detailed, impassioned response — also polite — comes from Alison Chevalier, a MSU graduate who works in Detroit and New York City on online marketing, business development and event planning. The self-described “change agent” lets us share her Facebook post, which has 38 likes by 1 p.m. Her reaction, presented in full, is followed by the author’s response (originally posted as a comment under Chevalier’s post).

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Alison Chevalier: “That ‘article’ was an embarrassment to Detroiters and a slap in the face to someone who just did something very good for our city.”

‘An embarrassment to Detroiters’

When I’m indignant, I tend to write run-on sentences so let me apologize in advance for doing that. But I have to express my outrage for this type of pointless snark. It stems from an underlying attitude of scarcity and that mentality holds Detroit back when we need to move forward.

Alan Stamm, I’m disappointed in you. Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic filled a plane with representatives from all the major UK media outlets, along with reps from select marketing agencies and a few hand-picked young entrepreneurs (Paria Bikes for one) and flew it to Detroit, shuttling several different groups in buses all around the city — each bus taking its respective passengers to different areas of Detroit — to showcase all the positive energy and momentum that comes with the new wave of entrepreneurship that Detroit is experiencing.

I joined in one such group at Shinola and had conversations with several participants who were fascinated by Detroit’s evolution, where it’s been and where it’s going.

Branson was not on every bus so that exercise wasn’t all about photo ops featuring his internationally recognized face. It was about intentionally moving the story that’s being told about Detroit from that of being The Capital of Blight to that of being a city full of amazing people doing amazing things. This is the story Branson wants to get out to the rest of the world — along with the story about Virgin Atlantic’s new Detroit connection, we’re not kidding ourselves here. But guess what? Virgin Atlantic has announced new city connections over the years and those announcements have not all involved throwing a major media event to announce the addition.

Branson and Virgin Atlantic brought GLOBAL attention to Detroit and showed it in the best light possible, and you write a story for Deadline Detroit criticizing Branson for fist-bumping Mike Duggan and members of the visiting group for using the words “thang” and “chillaxing” in their tweets? I’m sorry. I like Deadline Detroit and you’re a good writer, Alan, but that “article” was an embarrassment to Detroiters and a slap in the face to someone who just did something very good for our city.

They only used mustard on the hotdog images used in their VIP signage and not full coney toppings? Bad, BAD Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic for missing THAT opportunity. Forget that Branson and his team created a huge opportunity that will impact Detroit in countless positive ways for years to come.

Are you kidding me?

Can we get over ourselves, Detroit?

And let me just add that Branson personally gifted the four groups of entrepreneurs who were pitching during the Ain’t Too Proud To Pitch event with the services of his marketing teams, his distribution channels, transportation partners and more — even giving one young woman who is a rising star and aspiring fashion entrepreneur at Merit a round trip ticket to London. These four businesses will grow and thrive because of this very special relationship with Branson and that alone impacts Detroit in numerous ways.

— Alison Chevalier

UK visitors and local invitees partied downtown Friday night after a full day of city tours and pitch opportunities for entrepreneurs at the College for Creative Studies.

Reply: ‘Pointless snark’ was intended as lighthearted snark

Whoa and wow, Alison. We never knew there’s so much room between our lines for those who choose to read between them.

Your detailed comments are welcome, as are all responses to our content, because engaging with readers ranks right up there with fairness, accuracy, readability and transparency as core values. Like all news sites, we also try to enlighten and entertain.

Making readers indignant and outraged is obviously not desired, though we know point-of-view commentaries such as this can run that risk.

That said, a few responses to what seems like a selective reading and interpretation of what’s intended as a playful, good-natured, respectful chain-yank.

1.) Our “slap in the face to someone who just did something very good for our city” begins: “We’re glad you came, Sir Richard Branson. We appreciate the new London-Detroit flights, the Hustles Harder shirt and the nice things you say about our city.”

2.) It closes “on an upbeat note” with praise for his “dandy phrase at Friday afternoon’s Ain’t Too Proud to Pitch event. . . . You share what could be a mantra for the city that hustles harder.”

3.) Those three of our 17 paragraphs frame the tone and, on balance, appreciation for all the good stuff we join you in embracing. Between them are what we see as lighthearted snark, though calling it “pointless snark” is as valid as any matter of taste.

4.) Similarly, our view is that fist bumps by white guys of a certain age are uncool (naff in British slang — which may show equal uncoolness, I acknowledge). You see that observation as a criticism of Mr. Branson; I meant it as a laugh line to accompany what seems like an amusing photo.

5.) We agree that Virgin Atlantic and its founder create potentially huge economic, tourism, business and image opportunities for Metro Detroit and Michigan, which far outweigh our poke (whimsy again) at not using a coney dog as a “missed opportunity.”

Two of the three MSU grads who formed Original Stix, a Brush Street startup, on stage Friday with Richard Branson (far right). [Bamboo Detroit photo]

To answer a question above: Yes, we *are* trying to kid you, other readers and #hellodetroit visitors . . .
. . . while making a point about not sounding clueless, callous or foolish by dropping “chillaxin"” and “shake their thang” inappropriately.

If the tone fails, our bad. We shouldn’t need an emoticon to convey mirthfulness, but smiles and winks in an online commentary may be as hard to detect as those in misinterpreted email and social posts.

A more frustrating limit of our website design and CMS is an inability to visually distinguish a column or commentary from news articles. Tone should distinguish one from the other, but I’d rather have a label.

You’re a good writer too, Alison, though a 497-word critique of a 409-word post may be an over-reaction. (Or not.)

I regret your “indignant . . . outrage.” What seems like “pointless snark” is supposed to be lighthearted snark, but reasonable people can differ over which label fits.

Thanks for engaging thoughtfully.

— Alan Stamm

More on Branson Visit: Dialog with a Reader About Our "Tips on Fitting In"

Which Form of Digital Advertising is the Most Effective?

Digital advertising has been blacklisted.

Everyone is so fixated on content marketing, and organic search that even uttering the words ‘let’s pay for some traffic’ have become awkwardly pushed to the side.

But don’t be fooled.

Even the most successful ‘content marketers’ are still using digital advertising tactics to get their content found. They might just not tell you about it – because it contradicts their methodology.

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We can’t forget how effective ads can be for getting our products and services found – but we need to be aware of how the landscape is changing.

The state of digital advertising

Digital ad revenue continues to grow year on year.

The big trend you need to know about?

Mobile is taking over.

(Not quite taking over, but it’s growing rapidly)

Ok you get it; content marketing alone might not be enough and mobile is becoming more and more important if you want to advertise online.

But where do you start? How do you know what is the best platform for your business?

The most effective form of digital advertising is contextual – it depends on who you are trying to reach and how you want to get there.

Let’s run through the options, then give a quick breakdown of who benefits most from each.

Social Media

It’s a rare thing to find a company without a social media division these days, even if that “division” is just some hapless intern working for experience.

From restaurants to airlines to celebrities – if there’s a brand, there’s a Twitter handle to match.

When it comes to advertising on social media, everything is pretty new. The way we advertise on these platforms is continually changing, because no one really knows what works.

Advertisers aren’t quite sure yet (although some will claim they are). The consumers are confused with these new ads popping up on their social streams. And the platforms themselves (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) are still balancing user experience with maximising revenue.

Social ads generally follow Pay-Per-Click or Pay-Per-Impression models, making them relatively easy to budget for – because you pay for what you get.

Now for a closer look at Facebook and Twitter as advertising platforms.

Facebook

This social network is perhaps the most progressed with its digital advertising platform.

Facebook ads are similar to Google PPC campaigns, where you can bid for clicks or impressions on different keywords, then display ads on Facebook’s right vertical bar.

More recently Facebook introduced news feed ad spots if you have an active Facebook page. These are proving a much better ROI than the right side bar.

Keep in mind that the people seeing your ads will find them in a social context – so photos and images are a core component of a successful ad campaign.

Who should advertise on Facebook?

Devoted PPC marketers with the willingness to spend a lot of time getting things right.

Keep in mind that the sheer number of users Facebook has, makes it a perfect fit for B2C marketers. But B2B marketers have started to make their presence known because of the extremely targeted information the platform is accruing on all of us.

Facebook ads are easy to launch, and just as easy to edit (especially with the new mobile ad manager).

Marketers are able to make spot fixes on the fly to optimize and correct underperforming ads while boosting budget for winners.

Twitter

These ads are, again, not dissimilar from Facebook advertising when it comes down to brute mechanics.

But they’re a different animal conceptually. Facebook ads are, well, advertising. They’re your chance to put your commercial foot forward.

Twitter ads are not. Paying for prominence here is a way to put what you might normally tweet into a more obvious place.

Ads work in parallel with the personality of your normal, free Twitter feed, and shouldn’t veer off into sales territory.

Who should advertise on Twitter?

Marketers with a solid Twitter strategy, but not enough Twitter traction.

Promoting your posts to the right audience (and yes, Twitter’s ad engine allows considerable targeting) is your way of cutting through the logjam of influencers and expose potential clients to your social voice.

Interstitial

The relative new kid on the block.

Interstitial ads, if you haven’t heard the phrase before, are promotional pages that show up before a visitor makes their way to the content they actually want to see.

On one hand, that basically guarantees visibility. On the other, it’s irritating; interstitial ads are prime targets for adblock software, and many clients avoid them on principle.

As a result, the industry has undergone a mild reformation. They’ve really come into their own on mobile platforms, where they quickly capture attention, leading to soaring success, especially in the case of attention-grabbing video and rich media ads.

Who should advertise with interstitial?

Companies with the budget to make a move on mobile and do it right.

Poorly made mobile ads are just as annoying as their increasingly disliked predecessors; treat them as an opportunity to create original content, then show it to your viewers.

Banner Ads

Maligned, dispensed with, but still darn useful.

Banner ads have caught a load of flak for the slashed CTR’s they’ve seen of late. But while the numbers are daunting, they merely point to a poor average, not a death knell for the humble banner.

They might not pull the engagement that more obtrusive options do, but banner ads remain wonderful for establishing visual branding, and hitting a highly targeted audience.

The ability to pick and choose where an ad shows up allows advertisers to carefully tailor their campaign toward a given site and demographic.

But in order to beat flagging CTR’s, companies do have to evolve. Think about clever examples like Skittles’ interactive, offbeat banners, or powerful, fold-dominating movie posters.

Who should advertise with banner ads?

Established companies with a solid ad budget, and an extremely clear idea of who they want to reach and how.

A defined audience and a superb visual idea can still combine to keep banners relevant.

PPC

The skimpier, but less-expensive cousins to banner ads.

Google’s Pay-Per-Click campaigns have become a massive boon for cash-strapped businesses looking to muscle in on banner space. And at least at the moment, they’ve proven to be effective.

Those stark text boxes may blend in to the background of many sites, but find a convincing enough message, and it’ll still snag a few eyes.

Perhaps the best thing about PPC ads is that they offer a more-or-less predictable ROI, and one that, even if an ad belly-flops spectacularly, won’t drop to levels low enough to seriously hurt most companies.

Design costs for text ads are nil, and the PPC model guarantees that advertisers won’t drop too much of their budget upon launch.

Who should advertise with PPC?

Companies that don’t translate well to visual media.

Whether you simply don’t have a graphic artist on hand, or your services are hard to sum up in a photo, PPC is your best bet for a high-yield campaign.

The best PPC ads are the ones that ditch details, and go for the jugular with competitive prices and calls to action.

Wrapping it up

Alright, we’ll try and end this on a slightly less wishy-washy note.

While all ad formats still have their applications for different companies, changing technology and market trends will result in a few finding even greater success down the road.

We’re particularly talking about mobile. Whether you go banner, video interstitial – whatever. Mobile ads will likely make up a larger and larger percentage of all advertising in the coming years. Evolving tech such as proximity marketing will only exaggerate that effect.

But if you’re attached to a particular form, there’s still good news. The lessons learned from more traditional marketing aren’t about to be completely invalidated. At the end of the day the actual quality of ads will be the single largest determining factor of their success.

Which Form of Digital Advertising is the Most Effective?