ALB Web Design Perth

Facebook is all over the interwebs at the moment and incase you have been living under a rock, Facebook is now the most visited website in the world. So does this mean that Facebook should be used as the primary marketing tool for your business? Here is some food for thought over the debate Facebook or Email.

Ease of Communication

Facebook has Email beat hands down in this department. As Facebook prides itself on its real time update and ease of use, as a business you can let your followers know instantly of content updates whether it is a simple status update, photo, link or video it can all be done within seconds. Email is not real time and to create a successful email campaign it would most likely be a HTML based email which takes time to construct and then even longer to send out to your database.

WINNER: Facebook

COUNT: Facebook 1 v Email 0

Content

With Facebook comes limitations on it’s pages and on the tabs. As a business you are confined the the Facebook parameters when updating content on your Facebook page. Photos are a specific size, visual links can’t be status updates & personalised tabs can be tricky. Email however and more specifically HTML emails means that you can present your content however you like. This means that you can construct an email that will increase click through rates, although obviously you will need to have someone that knows how to create a visually appealing HTML email.

WINNER: Email

COUNT: Facebook 1 v Email 1

Cost

Well this is a no brainer… Facebook is free! To create a Facebook page and to start obtaining followers is free. Email however can include software to collect/register users and then there can also be a cost associated with sending emails to your database (depending on the size). Not to mention the added cost of someone being able to create the HTML email.

WINNER: Facebook

COUNT: Facebook 2 v Email 1

View Updates

Facebook operates in real-time unless your followers are on Facebook at the time or near the time of the post your update could possibly go unnoticed. Email however will arrive into each members inbox. This means that all content sent in a email won’t be missed, although it is then up to the member if they wish to view or delete.

WINNER: Email

COUNT: Facebook 2 v Email 2

Reporting/Tracking

Email a few months ago would have won this hands down, Facebook though have recently added the ability for pages to see the impression of each post. An impression counts as the number of times that post has been viewed on the screen of your followers. Facebook have also added with the impression the feedback percentage ie. followers who have commented or like the post. This is amazing as it can help your business determine which post gained more impressions and feedback due to the numerous variables ie day, time of post, content & interaction based.

Email has had the ability to track the amount of opens and the click through rate of each email campaign. This is much like Facebook and then allows your business to determine why certain campaigns had higher open/click through rates than others. Variables such as day, time of post, email title & content.

WINNER: Draw

COUNT: Facebook 2 v Email 2

In conclusion which is best for your online marketing strategy? I would recommend that you do both! Why not? Facebook and email both offer different solutions for your business and combined make for a very powerful tool. I would suggest though that only create a Facebook page if your business can truly get some value out of it. Treat Facebook as a gateway to inform your followers with real-time content updates ie New In-Store Today. Email should be used as your primary tool to inform your members of all the latest and most important content updates.

Links of Interest:
North Social – Facebook Marketing
Mail Chimp – Powerful Email Marketing
Aweber – Email Marketing Software
Corporate Super Parents – Online Marketing with a Blogging Network