Social Networks Dampen Effectiveness of Email Marketing

From Media Buyer Planner. I find these stats interesting and helpful. My experience is the opposite. I get pretty good open responses from my list of local restaurants but getting them to sign up on social networks is a tough nut to crack.

Better than email?
The popularity of social media networks, texting and cell phone use are having an impact on the effectiveness of email marketing, according to a new report from JupiterResearch.

22 percent of email users now say they use social networking sites instead of email for their communications, writes BtoB. Email is still one of the most effective forms of direct marketing: 44 percent of internet users said email had inspired at least one online purchase, and 41 percent said email marketing had inspired an offline purchase. Those numbers, however, are down from last year, when 51 percent said email had led to an online purchase and 47 percent said it had led to an offline purchase.

Tags: e-mail, marketing., networks, social

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Permalink Reply by Keith Bernhardt on August 17, 2008 at 1:34pm

Great post, Judy. I don't know if the social networks necessarily dampen the effectiveness of email. It's just another way to get more people and , to be honest, it's fater.

I can't remember the last time I got a personal letter in the U S Mail. When email started its popularity, people were using that as opposed to writing letters and or talking on the phone.

I got to wondering if people still know how to communicate. The social networks just give another venue.

There is no such thing as privacy anymore, and our society is so fastpaced, that we need to "have it now" (in the words from 'Willy Wonka' movie). The social network will just be another way to communicate better (hopefully) and to a more vast and diverse audience.

We can still write letters, send cards, call on the phone, send email, use social network, text blah blah blah. It's a never ending process, so we might as well embrace it.

A funny anectdote. i was talking to a young child who saw an old "Twilight Zone" episode. A lady was getting annonymous phone calls. The kid asked me :"She doesn't have caller I D ?"

That's how far we have come. We may as well embrace it...

Permalink Reply by Judy "the foodie" Asman on August 17, 2008 at 1:49pm

I love that episode of the Twilight Zone! The one where she's getting calls from her husband's grave. TZ is one of my all time favorite shows. Not to mention I sometimes feel like I live in the Twilight Zone.

[Moment of silence for Rod Serling.]

As for social networking, I've found it's difficult for many to find the time to sit at their computers and share information. Many of the locals I know have families and are juggling between running a business and taking the kids to McDonald's playland or whereever. Many folks on my mailing list like the newsletters because they're quick and spoon-served to them. With social networks, people have to go to them to access info.

Permalink Reply by John Dumbrille on September 15, 2008 at 9:30am

Hey Judy,

Sure, the food industry is slow to respond, but the key for me is that we call media social (or not social media) has to do with its form, but the use of media is a real key.

For example, the "Im a Mac, and Im a PC" ads are very welcome in my house, spark lively conversation, but they are broadcast media . Another example - is Seth Godin's blog social? He doesnt allow comments. But my experience is that he DOES answer emails, and very thoughtfully... social media? I think so.

I think that permission marketing and the social use of media are here to stay, in the food industry as much as any place. People do like to be lead or spoonfed from trusted sources. But why should I read another newsletter or open an unsolicited email when I have google? - I think that the answer is that I have some kind of actual relationship with you. And social media, and the social use of media, is a mechanism to lay a foundation for an actual relationship.

Permalink Reply by Ken Burgin on December 3, 2008 at 9:14pm