Thoughts on Email vs. Social Media for Small Business Marketing

I started building websites for clients around 2007, at the exact same time that Facebook started pushing business pages, but before Twitter had taken off and well before Instagram even existed.

Back then the only real option for developing direct relationships with customers and potential customers was through email lists. Mailchimp was founded in 2001 and was (and still is) a popular choice – easy to get started with. I’d recommend Brevo and Buttondown these days.

The social platforms really took hold between 2010 and 2020, with many small businesses focussing their marketing efforts on these new and exciting platforms. They made it easy to find new customers and broadcast information.

Those days are now gone.

The algorithms have taken over. They often obscure useful content from the intended audience, and make it difficult (or costly) for small businesses to communicate effectively via social platforms.

Email Improvements

Recently Google and Yahoo announced stricter requirements for email senders to ensure spam can be effectively detected and removed. Many providers have also developed various ways of differentiating between important and less important emails while highlighting ‘unsubscribe’ links. GDPR was painful for some, but overall the impact has been positive. All of this has helped declutter inboxes, making email a nicer experience and easier to consume.

At the same time, consumers are generally frustrated by the algorithms as we know we’re being fed posts which are likely to drive engagement, which doesn’t necessarily equate to useful/interesting/insightful content.

Social Reach Declining

Many sources now say that a 5-10% organic reach rate on Instagram is now considered ‘good’. I’ve sent a few marketing emails for clients recently, and am generally seeing around 40% open rate. I know I’m not comparing like for like – but in terms of getting a message across clearly and to your intended audience, there’s a clear winner here.

My general advice to clients these days is that social media can provide a valuable presence for your business – people expect to find businesses on social platforms. But email drives higher engagement with a refined audience that truly wants to hear from you.

Is it time you reconsidered email marketing? If you don’t have an email list, there’s no time like the present to begin building one. Get in touch if you want to chat about that.