Email vs. Social Media

A battle is raging online. And not just between those mighty search engines. Email and social networking are in a blazing hot contest. At stake are the hearts and minds of thousands of users. Chadwick Martin Bailey reports that three-fourths of all online visitors very likely will share content with friends and family via one of these channels.

According to studies, email currently reins as the preferred channel for content sharing. Coming in at a distant second, social networking accounts for but a fraction of all shared data. However, social networking holds the number one spot in one key area – clicks. A staggering 60% of all clickthroughs generated by shared communications take place on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Email gets a meager 31%.

More to the Click Than Meets the Eye
Clickthroughs often are regarded as the end all-be all of marketing success, opening doorways to both ad revenue and awareness-building. Appearances may be deceiving, however. Remember, emails aren’t limited to blurbs. So messages sent via email typically have the necessary details packed into one convenient spot. Readers don’t need to click to linked content to learn more about a product or service. Social networking users hungering for more than a blurb must take this extra step. Hence, the higher clickthrough rate on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Marketers should also be aware that shared email content typically generates higher reader engagement than social networks. This includes more viewed pages and more conversions. Basically, email readers are staying in touch for longer periods of time.

So the question remains -- email or social networks? Which is the most advantageous? The grueling contest likely will rage for quite some time. Most experts would agree that exploiting the potential of both channels is the key to marketing success.

If you’d like to learn more about harnessing the power of both email and social media to reach more customers, we’ll be delighted to help. You can connect with our Young Company team at 949-376-8404 or email me at byoung@youngcompany.com. And be sure to follow us for the latest industry news and tips.

Utilizing Angry Critics to Build a Better Product

Virtually anyone selling a product or service has a few of these ticks in their fur – brazen, big- mouths tearing a company to shreds with torrents of criticism. Most executives wish they simply could wave a magic wand, and POOF! -- the restless discontents would just vanish. In reality, however, these bothersome opinion-shouters could be providing companies with a golden opportunity to connect with customers in a very productive way.

Rather than ignoring the critical voice of John Q. Public, marketers should be putting their comments under a microscope in order to uncover trends. Such trends could very well be revealing weaknesses in urgent need of improvement.

Criticism can be particularly valuable when a new product or service is being introduced to the marketplace. A robust outpouring of opinion can have an impact at an early stage, well before time, energy, and budget is squandered on something that doesn’t click. With this in mind, executives would do well to utilize social networks as both an educational and early-warning system. Here are some of the ways companies can tap into this powerful online resource.

• Identify the loudest users cruising through your social media sites -- get them tuned into product development well before beta testing. That way, you’ll know what to fix. Think of the headaches you’ll prevent and the money you’ll save on pain relievers.


• Build a community -- Encourage feedback and use online collaboration tools so everyone’s comments are in full view of everyone else. Remember, you’re creating a big, beautiful community of loyal followers. Such shared feedback tightens this neo-community and ultimately helps sharpen the focus of product development.


• Convert criticism into improvement – This will increase the success potential of a product and motivate users to continue providing all those valuable insights for future products.

By following these basic steps, companies will be much more familiar with the people who matter the most – customers. Such knowledge, of course, can have a significant impact on marketplace performance.

If you’d like to learn more about harnessing the power of social media to reach your customers, we’ll be delighted to help. You can connect with the Young Company team at 949-376-8404 or byoung@youngcompany.com . And be sure to follow us for the latest industry news and tips.