Remember when video killed the radio star? (If you don’t then I think there’s a catchy ditty out there to help you recall…). Well it seems now that maybe something similar is happening to the Newsletter star. Once upon a time e-mail newsletters were one of the ways that web marketers could promote their products and their deals directly to customers.
They wouldn’t have to wait for the customers to find their sites or view their advertising either – with newsletters those adverts would land right in their in-trays ensuring that they get at least noticed. But now there’s a new kid on the block – social networks – and in many ways they completely supplant the role of the e-newsletter. Some businesses these days in fact nearly exist solely on Facebook, and many don’t bother with newletters at all.
Here we’ll look at how this is happening whether or not we need newsletters at all in today’s world of social networking.
Advantages of Facebook Groups
With Facebook groups you can still make sure that people get the message in their in-boxes, and by putting the right settings on Facebook you can get a proportion of your members to receive updates in their inbox that mirror what’s going on in your group. Already that gives them the advantages of newsletters with the added bonus that they say ‘Facebook’ in the subject heading – and social reinforcement has lead us to want to open our e-mails from Facebook…
On top of this Facebook groups have the added advantage of being more easy to manage. Forget letting people subscribe and unsubscribe, or coming up with unscrupulous methods to try and capture people’s e-mail addresses when they half-give permission. With Facebook you have something that’s easy for people to share and join, and that manages itself in terms of members.
The great thing about a Facebook group is that it’s very easy for someone to click ‘join’ when they see it on someone else’s wall (or see a Facebook add), but most people don’t quite care enough to quit. With e-mail newsletters on the other hand there is at least some effort involved in signing up because you have to enter your e-mail address (conversely it’s probably easier to leave most mailing lists).
Facebook groups are also interactive and engaging – you write there and people write back so they can get involved and feel part of a community, and if gives them a lot more reason to come back and see what’s changed.
Don’t Kiss the E-Mail Newsletter Goodbye Just Yet
That said though, don’t start writing that eulogy for newsletters just yet – as they still have some value. For one they have an average open rate of 30 percent, which is pretty good compared to many other forms of marketing. Another benefit is that they let you write far more complex messages and reach your members as and when you wish as opposed to when they choose to visit you (if your Facebook group has too many members you can’t message them all at once).
Then there are those people who don’t have Facebook accounts (yes they still exist) and those people who have their privacy settings on high and don’t use Facebook much at all. The more marketing techniques you use the more people you can reach – and especially as you can easily recycle material to provide each.
And as an added bonus newsletters add an air of professionalism to an outfit and make people feel ‘a part’ of your business and ‘up to date’, which in turn means they’re more likely to get involved other ways.
This is just the same as marketing by post – sure e-mail newsletters are cheaper and have the potential to reach more people, but many people still don’t have e-mail, or make a habit to ignore all e-mails that aren’t from their friends and colleagues.
Big companies are smart enough to continue using both forms of communication, and you likewise shouldn’t be ruling any out just yet either. And if your really smart then your use of Facebook will actually boost the effectiveness of your e-mail marketing and vice versa.
Jeet loves to write articles on SEO, SM and internet/technology as passion. He also runs link building firm named GetLinksPro with the help of his link building team.
February 6, 2012 at 1:17 pm
True! Actually, not only Facebook but also twitter. Now that you’re allowed to post videos and photos.