This post is a guest post from Hiyamail, The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Higherclick KFT.

Social Media protagonists would have you believe that email is dead… well I have some news for you… email isn’t dead at all, far from it!  Those that are out there saying that it is are overwhelmingly uninformed. For some, and the list is getting longer by the day, it works better than anything other direct marketing mechanism.

Of course the introduction of Social Media has seen the landscape change and at Hiya we have been working hard to look at ways in which email can dove tail into social media to accommodate this. There are however, distinct differences between email marketing and social media.

With email the recipient receives a message, it sits in the inbox and they have to act on it. Where as with the flow tools that are prevalent in social media the flow moves past you whether or not you actually see the message or not. This re-enforces the power of email, it is a direct message and not just a piece of paper floating past in the wind.

Those companies that are getting the best out of email are creating precise and unique email campaigns. Those who still “batch and blast” have found their open rates drop and their lists growth slowing down.

The focus on Social Media is creating a conundrum for companies with budget restraints and the increased furore and reach of social media at the centre of all the trouble:

According to eConsulatncy’s “Email in Action Survey”

> 75% of respondents describe competition with social media as “somewhat” or “very” challenging.

> In a similar vein, 69% believe that young people are abandoning email as a primary channel.

> 65% report that it’s a challenge to get the budget that their email programs deserve.

Yet agencies report that the majority (60%) of their clients who use them for email are increasing their email usage.

It asks that with social media pulling focus and resources from email, how well are companies integrating the two channels? Less than one in four organizations has a documented plan to integrate email and social. Other than the widespread use of sharing icons (69%), only 35% of companies have incentives for email subscribers to join their social programs.

Companies need to accept that online behaviours are changing in a profound way and on a massive scale. Certainly this means that email strategy will need to be re-evaluated within the context of social media and forgotten at it’s peril.

If you would like to discuss how you are managing the balance between email and social media please contact Hiyamail on 0207 047 8110 or inspired@hiyamail.com

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