The Truth Behind Email Engagement and Social Media

This post is written by Devesh Khanal, Founder of Devesh Design. Devesh helps businesses grow their online revenue through conversion optimization.

Like, follow and retweet all you want but, when it comes to sales, social media is not always your best friend.

Relying on social media alone, and failing to allocate adequate time to other channels to attract paying customers, is a common mistake made by many online businesses.

Social Media and Engagement

Let’s look at an example: Ellen the dress boutique owner.

Ellen designs and sells the most stylish bridesmaid dresses in the greater Chicago area. Her sister keeps telling her she needs to go online to expand her business.

Ellen finally takes the plunge. She invests in a beautiful site, and she starts writing helpful blog posts geared towards the fashion-conscious bride. Unfortunately, no one is reading her great content. Ellen knows she needs to build traffic to her blog, so she turns to Twitter and Facebook.

Ellen dutifully shares great articles, compelling photos and clever DIY bridal projects. She even adds “like” and “follow” buttons to her homepage.

Suddenly, her following begins to grow! Ellen is ecstatic that her hard work seems to be paying off. Then, she discovers most of her new followers are not making it to her site. When she posts or tweets her latest sales, she receives very few clicks.

Did Ellen do something wrong?

Ellen was doing a great job of marketing to her audience. However, they rarely see her posts. Even when they do, they’re distracted and unengaged. That’s right – social media may often fail to move the needle when it comes to engagement rates.

Far too many online business make the same misjudgement that Ellen made, and it costs them the sales they need to grow and thrive. But, what should business owners, like Ellen, do instead?

Why Growing an Email List is the Answer to Engagement

If Ellen had spent her time growing an email list instead, she would have seen 10 – 100 times the improvement in clicks to her lovely new site – and more clicks means more bridesmaids enjoying her hip frocks.

If you still have your marketing plan planted firmly in social media, this infographic from Devesh Design should change your mind. After all, it’s hard to argue with numbers.

Email outperforms social media in views, clicks and even cost (when compared to pay-per-click campaigns).

Take a look at the infographic below. If you want to learn more about growing your email list and email engagement, be sure to read more about that here.

Email list growth depends on a powerful strategy, and powerful strategies require strong data. Get the data you need to enhance your email marketing with a free trial of InstantData.