E-mail marketing complements social media
When we say social media marketing, we tend to think of all of the social media platforms that are available – Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and the numerous others that have populating the social media universe.
There is, however, another form of social media that has been around before Facebook and the many others – e-mail. Yes, e-mail, those messages that arrive in your inbox several times a day.
With the rise of smartphones and iPads to complement desktops and laptops, people have various devices on which they can check their e-mail. As I noted in an earlier post, mobile phone usage has grown exponentially, with 64% of Americans owning a smartphone, according to Pew.
Think about when time you signed up for Facebook. Weren’t you asked for an e-mail address to which your login information would be sent? The for LinkedIn and others. Also, each time you purchase something on the internet, or make reservations, you’re always asked for an e-mail address at which you’d receive confirmation.
According to research from The Radicati Group, “The number of worldwide email accounts continues to grow from over 4.1 billion accounts in 2014 to over 5.2 billion accounts by the end of 2018. The total number of worldwide email users, including both business and consumer users, is also increasing from over 2.5 billion in 2014 to over 2.8 billion in 2018[,]” as shown in the graph.
For B2B, “For B2B, “Email remains the most pervasive form of communication in the business world, while other technologies such as social networking, instant messaging (IM), mobile IM, and others are also taking hold, email remains the most ubiquitous form of business communication[,]” as shown below.
Good news! Obviously, e-mail marketing should be a part of your marketing strategy.
When it comes to selecting which time of day, or which day of the week to e-mail your target audience, it takes testing. For some brands, their target audience may read their e-mails on Friday night at 10 pm, while for others, it may be any other day or time of the week.
