Is Social Media Overtaking Email? Latest Data

I’ve seen some articles and blog posts claiming that social media is overtaking email because social is monopolizing so much of people’s attention. When you have any new medium that’s demonstrating explosive adoption, like Facebook, Twitter, or You Tube, it’s natural to think another medium will suffer as a result. Didn’t Internet advertising deal a fatal blow to newspapers as advertisers moved from print to digital?

But social media and email are far more synergistic, even when you measure them by people’s attention spans vs. ad spends. To begin, email has always had a social aspect – after all, “Tell a friend” and “Forward this email” are the parents of viral communication. And from email came instant messaging, which is really what Twitter is about. Social media thrives on interactive communication, and while email is definitely “push marketing” vs. “pull marketing,” it still holds a strong place in the interactive communication universe.

While Twitter has about 75 million user accounts (with about 10-15 million active)¹ and Facebook recently hit the 500 million mark (half of them active)², it’s estimated that there are a staggering 1.4 billion email users worldwide.³ Basically, a lot of people use social networks – but everyone has an email account.

So, no, I don’t think social media is overtaking email, especially in B2B marketing. People love a fight – but email vs. social media isn’t a valid one. For businesses, the key is to understand whether the marketing channels you’re using are generating the best return for your money and time investment, according to your objectives. This includes both marketing you do yourself and tapping into the online marketing expertise of partners and affiliates. If you’re advertising on and generating leads from other websites, chances are, the best ones are familiar with which acquisition strategies are optimal for their sites and their audience, i.e. the right mix of email, social, search, etc. Here are some notable stats on email marketing and social media usage:

Social Media Users Engage with Email More

In a survey of over 3,000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older, time spent emailing had not changed in the twelve months leading up to the time of the survey (fall of 2009), despite the growing popularity of social networks during that period.

71% percent reported spending 20 minutes or more each week with email.

Active social networkers check their email inboxes far more regularly than those who spend less time on social networks.

42% percent of social networkers check their email accounts four or more times per day, compared to just 27% of their non-networked counterparts.⁴

Business People Still Rely on Email Newsletters

In a study of over 380 executives:

79% said that even in the age of Facebook and Twitter, email newsletters are as, or more, important than ever.
97% percent rate email newsletters an important or very important source of business management advice; more than print and broadcast media, major company websites, and social networks.
57% spend more than a minute reading an email newsletter in their inbox, and 73% spend more than a minute reading (or watching) content that they click through to from the newsletter.
Email marketing continues to bring significant value to businesses with more than 82% of respondents planning to increase their email marketing efforts over the next year.⁵

Business People See How Email plus Social Media Is Greater than the Sum of Their Parts

70% of business marketers surveyed employ some kind of social marketing.
77% indicate that integrating email marketing and social media is either “very important” or “moderately important” for their business.
54% surveyed are using Facebook to help build their email lists.
36% post newsletter content on Twitter and 35% send blog posts via email.
20% believe integrating email marketing and social media increases customer loyalty.⁶
In another survey, the inclusion of social media sharing buttons in email generated click through rates that were 30% higher than email sent without any sharing options.⁷

Email marketing and social media are cut from the same cloth, and the latest data shows that marketers will get more bang from their buck with a strategy that integrates the two. However, as with any initiative that’s going to require money and resources, you want to make sure the program is directly benefitting your bottom line.

Be sure to see the complementary article to this one: “Does It Make Sense to Integrate Your Email and Social Marketing Strategies?”

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9148878/Twitter_now_has_75M_users_most_asleep_at_the_mouse
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://www.radicati.com/?p=3237
http://wwww.merkleinc.com/.../WhitePapers/Social%20Inbox%202010%20WPaper%20Final.pdf
http://fuelingnewbusiness.com/2010/06/01/combine-email-marketing-and-social-media-for-ad-agency-new-business/
http://www.affiliatetip.com/news/article003345.php
http://fuelingnewbusiness.com/2010/06/01/combine-email-marketing-and-social-media-for-ad-agency-new-business/