Social media is emerging as the top tool that marketers seek to embrace in order to reach digital-savvy consumers, but it seems that it works better when combined with other communication channels such as e-mail, blogger Zsuzsa Szabo says in an article for Business 2 Community.
While the reputation of social media as an effective marketing tool is luring more and more industry professionals to make it part of their marketing mix, the truth is that all their efforts would be futile if Facebook or Twitter suddenly decide to change their terms and conditions. As such, putting “all your eggs in one basket” could be a risky endeavour, which highlights the need to approach social media independently and devote time to email marketing initiatives instead.
Social media and email could prove a perfect match if social fans are encouraged to be contacted by email as well. Marketers can achieve this by launching competitions, contests and sweepstakes in order to generate such interest.
Social media is definitely here to stay, but marketers are advised not to over-rely on this particular medium. If the goal of a business is to sell goods to clients, finding the shortest and fastest way to reach them is the key to success. In business, this can be accomplished increasingly with email, Szabo concludes.