Social media rivals email for marketing supremacy
By Harriet Fancott, Limelite PR Senior Associate
Email is still the queen of marketing tactics but social media isn't far behind.
If you’re a small or medium-sized business (SMB), you need to take social media seriously. The latest research by Pitney Bowes in a post by E-marketer indicates that social media is rivaling email in marketing effectiveness for SMBs.
Researchers asked SMBs to rank marketing tactics such as email, social media, direct mail, advertising, QR Codes and mobile marketing based on ease of use, cost-effectiveness, comfort and knowledge, effectiveness, channels used by competitors. Email came up top on almost all parameters and social media was a very close second.
Whereas 60% ranked email first for ease of use, 53% said the same for social media. In terms of cost-effectiveness 59% ranked email first, and 54% said social media.
What can you take from this as a mom-focused business? When we look at statistics around the popularity and use of social media tools for moms, it’s clear that email may be the reigning queen but Facebook, Twitter and blogging are rapidly vying for supremacy.
That said, the research indicated that old-fashioned direct mail campaigns and advertising ranked ahead of social media in “proven effectiveness.” Still we all know how costly direct mail campaigns and print advertising can be, so when you’re looking at bang for buck, social media is clearly the best area to educate yourself, experiment and make connections with moms online.
Consider the stats, which we outlined in our post The Power of Moms: 85% of Canadian moms regularly use Facebook logging into the site two to four times a day. They are connecting with each other, spreading the work about events, issues and brands (47% liking one to five brands, and 25% liking 16 or more brands). Similarly, 25% of Canadian moms and 78% of bloggers regularly use Twitter. It’s easy to see the importance of connecting with an influential segment of consumers, who will re-tweet your messages, enter your contests, and engage in friendly banter.
Moms average 109 word-of-mouth conversations per week about products, brands and services, which is not surprising when you consider that 94% of moms rely on recommendations from other mothers to make purchasing decisions. Moms’ community of peers and friends (including their online community) are the primary source for information and recommendations on products or services, so when you connect with one mom you reach a whole community of moms.
No one is saying dethrone the queen. She’s proven her worth, and will certainly live to a ripe old age. Social media simply adds some much needed sparkle and vitality to her reign.
How does your business connect with moms online?
