Email is still more powerful than Social Media?

[$5 submissions]

Interesting article. Source: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011...ial-media.html

According to a new report from ForeSee Results, fewer than 1% of website visits came directly from a social media URL.

Their report also says that 18% of site visitors reported being influenced by social media, which would mean that 17% of those folks visited the site in some way other than clicking on a social media link. This plays into the idea that social media is best used for brand awareness, but still, 18% isn?t that great.

In yet another attempt to measure social media ROI, ForeSee developed their ?Social Media Value Benchmark,? which ranks web visitors based on how the customer came to the site, how much they spent, how they felt about the experience and whether they?re likely to return.

ForeSee?s initial results, after surveying nearly 300,000 consumers, is that people who were influenced by social media spend more and are more satisfied and loyal customers than those who aren?t influenced by social media.

This is all well and good until you go back to the top and the stat that says only 18% of visitors were influenced by social media and only 1% came in on a direct link.

What is the takeaway from all this? Social media = a BRANDING tool.

Here's the CLINCHER

ForeSee admits that some companies pull in as much as 5% of their customers from social media, but email is known to influence 32% of customers. Hmm. . maybe it?s time to go back to basics?

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

Email is still more powerful than Social Media?

Exactamundo. It is still a powerful tool.

I actually see commercials on TV here locally trying to get businesses to use the 'power of email' for $15.00 a month or something. Contact something or another. It's also in a bunch of marketing nesletters mentioned at least once a week if not more.

If used correctly, and highly targeted, it can be a game changer.

[alias]

Mainstream product + Aweber + converting landing page = profit.

[sadiedazzle]

Yeah I see lots of mainstream businesses using social media and email harvesting tricks.

[BJ]

If I send out 1000 emails to customers and post the same message to my facebook fan page that has ame ammount of fans, email wins every time by a mile