In today’s modern, digital world, it is crucial to capture your audience’s attention and build positive relationships with them.

This is where email marketing and social media marketing (SMM) come in handy.

Both tools are powerful, making it hard to choose one.

But fear not! This article will serve as your guide in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both contenders here, as well as help you pick the right one to achieve your marketing goals.

Before continuing, we must understand our audience.

Who are we trying to reach?

It is vital to identify our customers. Are they tech-savvy individuals who scroll through Instagram on a daily basis, or are they busy professionals who simply rely on their inboxes for updates?

Knowing your audience’s demographics, their interests, and their online habits can be helpful.

The next most important step is to have a basic understanding of what email marketing and social media marketing actually are.

EMAIL MARKETING

Email marketing involves sending targeted messages directly to a list of subscribers who themselves have opted-in to receive your emails. Delivering a personalised note directly to your audience’s inbox is the essence of email marketing.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

On the other hand, as the name tells us, social media marketing leverages the power of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and connects with a broader audience as compared to email marketing.

It works by sparking conversations, building communities, and creating a buzz around your brand.

Now that we understand how different both of these marketing methods are from one another, we can also understand how their reach and engagement differ. Let’s get to know more about it in detail.

EMAIL MARKETING VS SMM

EMAIL MARKETING:

Beginning with email marketing, it has a more targeted nature. Unlike social media, you send personalised content directly to a list of subscribers who have shown interest in your brand.

This targeted approach allows you to segment your audience, meaning dividing your email list into separate groups based on their demographics, interests, or purchase history. Segmentation also ensures that your emails are relevant and engaging.

Segmenting your email list will eventually lead to higher open rates. Another benefit is that individuals on your email list have actively chosen to receive your emails, which increases the likelihood of them opening your email compared to a generic social media post.

Social Media Marketing:

Social media, on the contrary, has a wider reach. It has billions of users worldwide and enables you to connect with a vast audience. However, things are not as straightforward and simple as they look.

The number of people who view your posts without paying (Organic Reach) has been declining recently. This is where social media management (SMM) tools like Buffer and Hootsuite step in to help you!

These platforms can help you schedule your posts, track and analyse engagement, and even run targeted ads so that your message reaches the right audience.

However, this is not all! It is not only about how many people the message can reach; it is also about fostering engagement.

You want your audience to not just see your message but also respond by commenting, answering questions, etc., and for that you need to plan your strategies accordingly.

What is the difference in content?

EMAIL MARKETING:

Keep in mind that emails focus on delivering targeted content. Here are some popular types of email content:

• Newsletter: It is like your personal news update channel. Its purpose is to keep your audience informed about all the company news, industry trends, or any informative articles related to your field.

• Promotions: It is just what you think it is! Promotions are those emails that contain any special deals or discounts, which can boost your sales.

• Abandoned Cart Reminders: You must have at least once or twice received this email. These emails are to give a gentle reminder to our customers about the products they have left behind in their cart.

• Welcome emails: it is the first email new subscribers receive from the company or brand they have subscribed to. Welcome emails introduce the brand and sometimes also offer special incentives to keep the customers engaged.

Social Media Marketing:

Conversely, social media suits the fast-paced world. Here is how it differs from email marketing:

• Images: As it is said, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. Living in a fast-paced world of social media, good-quality images are the key to grabbing people’s attention.

• Videos: A successful video that showcases your brand or tells people your brand story is also an effective way to keep the audience engaged.

• Live Streams: These live sessions, like Q&A sessions, product launches, etc., are the best for real-time engagement with the audience to build a stronger connection with them.

• User-Generated Content (UGC) has the ability to instantly capture the attention of anyone browsing through social media! You want people to use your product and create content.

Click here to find out more about UGC.

In short, social media focuses on visually appealing and engaging content, whereas emails are more targeted and personalised.

How can you track the audience’s response?

EMAIL MARKETING:

Delivering emails is not the only task to accomplish. It is more about understanding how your audience interacts with it. Here are some important email marketing metrics to track:

• Open Rates: Simply put, the open rate is the number of people who have opened your email. A higher number indicates success, whereas if it is low, then you need to improve your email structure.

• Click-Through Rate (CTRs): similar to the open rate, which tells us the number of people who opened your email, click-through rates tell us the number of people who click on the link in your email. A higher number tells us that the email content is engaging, while a lower number tells us the opposite.

• Conversion Rate: The conversion rate indicates how many people signed up or completed a desired action after opening the link.

Build your email list with 1000+ ChatGPT prompts to level up your marketing game

Additionally, email analytics tools serve as a powerful tool for you. They can help you track the exact number of people who have done each step. This lets you know if your audience likes your content or needs improvement.

To find some of the best email analytics tools, click here.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

While social media seems like a popularity contest, let me tell you it is more than that. Here are some social media metrics you should monitor:

• Followers: Attracting followers who are genuinely interested in your brand is more important than simply increasing the number of followers.
• Likes, shares, and comments are indicators of engagement. The more people engage in your content, the more people enjoy it.
• Brand mentions refer to the number of people who discuss your brand online. The higher the number of brand mentions, especially if it is on a positive note, the more your brand becomes famous!

Additionally, you have multiple social media analytics tools to track these metrics and measure your return on investment (ROI). These tools make it easier by providing valuable insights into your audience’s demographics, content performance, and even campaign effectiveness.

This data then helps you to improve your social media strategies and maximise engagement to achieve your goals.

This ebook aims to grow your Instagram to a million followers in 30 days. Check it out

Find more about social media analytics tools here.

Can we combine email marketing with social media?

We all can agree that email marketing and social media marketing are very powerful tools on their own, but using them together is a winning strategy. Here is why:

• Reaching a wider audience:

Since social media has a vast reach, you can make use of it to spread the word to a wider audience and spark interest. Email marketing then steps in as the nurturing expert, converting those intrigued individuals into loyal subscribers.

• Building a Community:

As social media allows us to engage with customers in real-time and understand their interests, you can compose your email content accordingly. This two-way communication fosters a sense of connection and community around your brand.

• Creating Hype:

You can broadcast any exciting news regarding your brand, any promotions, or exclusive content teasers on social media platforms. This lets you know who reads your content and who doesn’t.

Then, you directly email those details to the interested people.

Here’s an example for a better understanding of how you can combine them:

• You can use a social media video to introduce a new product

• Include a call to action (CTA) in your video description to encourage viewers to subscribe to your email list for exclusive deals and discounts.

• Once your audience has subscribed, you can then send them targeted emails with more details about the product and personalised recommendations based on their social media activity.

Is social media marketing better than email marketing?

So far we have learnt about email marketing and social media marketing and the different areas they both excel in. Let’s have a quick recap:

Thus, we cannot declare any one of them as the winner. Both of them are the best depending on your specific marketing goals and targeted audience.

SOME SMM TOOL SUGGESTIONS

Social Media Management (SMM) Tools play a crucial role in managing multiple platforms and maintaining consistency. Here are some popular SMM tools:

1. BUFFER
2. HootSuite
3. SPROUT SOCIAL
4. LATER

Buffer has a user-friendly interface and is the ideal choice for beginners or those new to social media management tools.

Strengths:

• It excels at content scheduling; you can plan your social media posts across various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
• It also provides basic analytics to track your post’s performance.

Weaknesses:

• As compared to its competitors, Buffer offers a basic set of features.
• It has a limited free plan, meaning that it has limitations on the number of accounts you can connect and the number of posts you can schedule.

2. HOOTSUITE

Hootsuite goes beyond just scheduling; it has much more features to offer, including team collaboration, in-depth analytics, etc.

Strengths:

• It contains powerful features for the management of complex social media campaigns.
• Secondly, it allows you to track your brand reputation, has a collaboration feature for managing multiple users, and provides in-depth reports about your social media campaigns.

Weaknesses:

• Because of the features it contains, it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.
• It is expensive, making it difficult for smaller businesses or individuals to afford it.

3. SPROUT SOCIAL

Sprout Social provides powerful tools for managing comments and messages across platforms while also offering social listening features to identify brand advocates and influencers.

Strengths:

• It focuses on social media engagement; therefore, it is ideal for fostering conversations and building communities.
• The platform provides analytics to track engagement metrics and also measure ROI.

Weaknesses:

• It can be expensive for small businesses that are just starting out with social media engagement.
• Although it integrates with major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it might not cover some of the newer platforms, such as TikTok or Pinterest.

4. LATER

Later, she excels at scheduling and publishing visually appealing content.

Strengths:

• It is designed for visual content management and is ideal for Instagram and Pinterest marketing.
• This feature allows you to schedule posts for later.
• It offers features for managing user-generated content (UGC) and collaborating with influencers.

Weaknesses:

• Later is a great tool for Instagram and Pinterest, though it might not be as good for other social media platforms.
• It lacks numerous sophisticated editing features that you might require.
• Although it offers a free plan, a paid subscription is required to access better features.

How can you choose the right SMM tool?

Always remember that the best SMM tool fits your needs and budget. Always consider:

• The number of social media profiles that you have to manage
• The features that you need like scheduling, analytics, etc
• Your team size and collaboration needs

Not to forget, SMM tools are valuable assets; however, they’re not magic wands. Using these tools requires extra effort to achieve the desired goal!