Why Email Is Still a Better Permission Based Marketing Tool Than Facebook - Guest Post by Evan Britton
Building a permission base (or an email list) is one thing that every web publisher should be doing. It is great to get free organic traffic from Google, but if there is one thing we learned in 2011 - it's that you don't want to rely on Google for traffic.
By building a permission base, you'll be able to be in constant contact with your users. You'll be able to notify them of new updates, important news, or special promotions. Having a connection with your users helps to turn one time visits to your website into repeat visits. And, ironically enough, repeat traffic is one data point that many people have said Google Panda looks for. So, by not relying on Google for traffic you may actually end up getting more traffic from Google.
With the Famous Daily, we will be focused completely on email as our delivery method as opposed to social media. You can subscribe to the famous daily here. Why are we so focused on email as opposed to a Facebook fan page? Here below are 4 reasons why Email is a better permission based marketing tool than Facebook:
1) Control of the User
Facebook continues to make it difficult to get a post in one of your fans newsfeeds. This is a troubling trend as it illustrates the fact that Fan page owners do not have control over their users. If Facebook continues to tweak its news feed algorithm to make it more difficult for brands to show up - what recourse will Fan page owners have?
Maybe Facebook will find creative ways to highlight a Facebook users friends updates while making Fan page and brand updates more obscure.
With email, this of course is never a risk - because you have direct access to communicate with the user via email.
2) Control of the Look and Feel
One great thing about building a permission base is the ability to tell online advertisers that you will also promote their product or service directly to your user base. With email - you control the look and feel of what goes out so you are able to offer branding or any type of creative placement via email.
Controlling the look and feel also allows you to Brand the email with your own products or services and it allows you to control how long the messaging should be and you can dictate how your call to action is baked in.
A Facebook post is a good way to market to a user - but with an email, you can clearly do a lot more. And internet users agree - an eMarketers survey earlier this year showed that 64% of shoppers prefer to get coupons via email while only 8% prefer social media channels such as FaceBook.
3) Email Will Withstand The Test of Time
On the internet, many things don't withstand the test of time. Email, however, continues to become more and more essential in the daily lives of the entire world.
And while Facebook is the clear dominant force in social media today - history has showed us that what users love today on the web isn't always what they will love tomorrow.
So, if a new social network was to ever make a large impact - it would diminish the value of a Facebook fan. Even today, some people say they use Twitter or Google + instead of Facebook. On the other hand - have we ever heard someone say they don't use email?
4) Customization to the User
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, email offers unparalleled customization. For instance, you can have an email with 5 features, and let the user select which features they want. You can also create different emails based on the location, age, gender, or interests of the user.
Technologies exist today making email personalization incredibly effective - as the user can be made to feel you are talking to directly to them...
* Like this article? You can follow Evan Britton on Twitter at @elbst23
About Lynn Terry
All of your reasons were spot on. I don't understand why so many people always say that email is dead. Their so far from it because that's one of the best marketing tools that you have control over next to your blog. In my opinion with Facebook if something changes or if a new design comes into effect and messes up my pay per click ads then I'm totally screwed.
I think I started taking my email list more seriously when the state of Illinois and Amazon ended their affiliate partnership. I always suggest to people never to solely rely on one social media site to bring in most of your traffic with affiliate marketing.
It's true that email is still way better than Facebook today (believe it or not i'm a social media manager and the first thing i open everyday is my email inbox :)). However, nothing is constant. May be the future has something different. Thanks for the insights Evan
H David
I agree 1000% Evan!
2011 was an SEO-eye-opener for many of us. It is far too unreliable and algorithm engineers are far to jittery to be trusted if you want to make money.
I use SEO...to build my list...then the operation goes off the grid and that's the way it should be.
I am 100% into list build right beside you brother 😉
Mark
This is a great post. It's so frustrating for me when people insist that the days of email are over. I didn't realize just how customizable it can actually be so it looks like I've got some homework to do!
well as far as my experience is concerned i would say that email stays in inbox forever while facebook wall keeps on changing with new coming news and stuff i must say that this is a great advantage of email marketing that you have allot to write about in email while facebook allows you to write less words ...
Konnichiwa,
From my point of view, emailing may take more talent from your side to get a good result but this is much bigger. I definitely agree on the customization advantage over facebook and on the other hand, has anyone thought about the minor presence of brands on Facebook in other markets outside the US?
There is not a global solution for companies to develop marketing strategies anyway
I personally think that I find email still as the best way to communicate with other people especially when it has something to do with business. As for Facebook, this is ideal for those people closely connected to me like family members and relatives as well.
Email works and will keep working but, with so many scam, spam, and phony sites it is hard for the receiver / visitor to constantly rely on what comes into the inbox.
It's a shame they spammers don't get permanently blocked once they are realized by a certain number of email receivers. They just change the email address via yahoo mail or gmail with no consequences.
I still use Facebook only for hanging out with my friends and organizing some events for them. But can't imagine replacing Facebook with my mail client as Facebook is not reliable for communication and messages got delayed and as you already mentioned you can't control the look and feel of the message as well as you can't track users activity, like clicks and read times.
I agree on the point that email is a great way to stay in direct contact with your audience. But what FB does and email doesn't is creating social proof. With the FB api's your can show faces of people and a number of people (similar with Twitter). I think that's a very strong advantage to email. And by driving new visitors from FB to your blog, you can (and should) convert them into opt-ins.
You are right.It is verified reality that without informing update to your customers survival is difficult.
Boy you said it Evan..
I always knew.. well not always, but in the last six months I knew, that I shouldn't depend on one source for traffic. And I had good intentions to start to diversify. Seriously, it was on my 2012 list; I just had a lot of loose ends to tie up on my sites. Then, WAP! My main money site got hit like a ton of bricks.
I like to think it was a defining moment in my career/life.
It woke me up to what I really want to do.. and that is, for the first time to follow the passion and not the money.
dee
With email marketing you are in total control – this is not the case with Facebook. I’m sure many companies have had tremendous success marketing through Facebook and Google+ and Twitter and so on, but at the end of the day they are at the mercy of the owners of those platforms. A minor change in Twitter or Facebook can spell doom for your carefully constructed ad campaign – something you will never have to worry about with direct email marketing.
Hi Lynn,
Glad to hear your professional opinion on email. I'm at the point of considering starting a blog, and I have to say that I've been concerned that the old 'build your list' maxim may not be so applicable these days as consumers must be getting awfully tired of opt-ins and subscription email. Glad to hear you think otherwise!
Hi Lynn,
I'm new to your Blog. I agree with your post. For me an Email
list is the best way to go.
One more disadvantage of Facebook that you didn't mention is:
"Privacy and Security Concerns"
At any time Facebook can change their privacy policies.
In terms of security, since Facebook is well known, the rate of getting malwares/adwares/spywares is much higher. Or your private images/conetnt could leak to the public.
As for my last statement, If you want to keep something private, DON'T PUT IT ONLINE.
Boutros.
I'm agree with the author of the article: email marketing is an indispensable tool for enhancing contacts for e-commerce sites and online selling, presenting your offerings in a newsletter.
Email is indeed a great tool. I do understand how essential it is in any marketing business. However, since the social media is quite a big hit today FaceBook marketing is essential too. But if asked which of the two would last for a long time, it's definitely e-mail.