If you are self-employed, or in the small business/non-profit world, chances are you are significantly undervaluing your most powerful marketing tool: your email list.
While many of us lean on social media for reach, email remains one of the most effective tools for connecting directly with your audience. Here’s why email is uniquely positioned to connect you with your most engaged audience.—and why it deserves more attention than you're giving it.
Who Really Owns Your Audience?
Owned media are channels where you interact directly with your audience without any intermediary. Your audience opts in by subscribing to your email list, newsletter, or podcast. No one controls your access to these people except themselves. Everything you send them, they get, without any algorithm involved.
Rented media (like social media) depends on third-party platforms that control who sees your content. Even if people follow you, their exposure to your content relies on the platform’s algorithm, not on their choice to see it.
This isn't all bad. I'm planning an upcoming post about how "the algorithm" is, if not a friend, at least a "frenemy" that pushes us to market better, create more engaging stories, and earn attention. But that said, it's still a significant limiter.
The Oatmeal, a longtime favorite in online comics, summed this up hilariously and succinctly waaaay back in 2017:
And then followed it up a few years later with this updated version where he explicitly asked fans to follow him directly by subscribing to his newsletter.
Social Media vs. Email: Which Gets You Seen?
I am not in the least surprised that the Oatmeal chose to push people towards email because here's the truth: for over 20 years, email has proven to be the most reliable and profitable way to communicate with your audience.
Social media has its place. It’s where you can connect casually with new audiences and test content ideas. However, it’s not where you reach the largest segment of your audience. Despite having 'followers,' only a small fraction of them see what you post. Platforms decide how many—and which—of your followers get your content.
Across all major networks average organic reach is now below 5%. This means that if you have 100 followers, fewer than five are likely to see, let alone engage with, what you share. (Makes all that time stressing on Canva feel a little pointless, doesn't it?)
Do you know what your "organic reach" is for your email list? If you are a typical organization with a relatively standard list, northward of 90%. If you have a well maintained list (bounces removed, etc) it could be nearly 100% of your list that is seeing your message every time you send.
Organic Reach:
Average social media reach: <5%
Average email deliverability: 90% or higher
Email Engagement Outshines Social Media
Ah, but that's just getting to their inboxes, I hear you say. What about actual engagement?
Let's look at social first. Engagement is perilously low here, too. The engagement rate chart from Search Engine Land, below, is slightly outdated (if the use of "Twitter" over "X" didn't give it away) but I promise you nothing has gotten better in the 2 years since.
But what about email?
Let's call opening your email engagement. It might not be the "click" you're looking for, but it shows they were intrigued enough to check out what you had to say.
No matter where you collect your data, we've seen consistenly over the last 10-15 years that average email open rates fall somewhere above 30%. (source, source, source)
Thirty percent. Thirty percent! That is more than one hundred times more than the average engagement on any social channel.
Organic Engagement:
Average social media engagement rate: <0.3%
Average email open rate: 30%
However you feel about email personally (there is a really great podcast episode of "You're Wrong About" that might convince you email is the nexus of all our modern work/life balance issues) if you're trying to reach your audience, your email list should absolutely be where you're putting your efforts.
Email: The Last Digital Frontier of Choice
I think people get scared off of email because it feels harder than social media (though anyone who's put genuine effort into social content creation knows that's no easy road either). But sending an email feels weightier. It feels like it needs to be valuable.
Because it does.
Email is one of the last bastions of modern communication where I fully control what I consume. Sure, we all probably receive stuff we wish we didn't (how did I even get on this list? Haven't I unsubscribed three times already? NO, I DO NOT NEED ANOTHER 5% COUPON FOR SOMETHING I BOUGHT AS A GIFT 6 YEARS AGO). But ultimately, and by law, you control what lands in your inbox. You can unsubscribe. You can send to spam. No one is allowed to pay your email provider money to get into your mailbox without your consent.
Your inbox is yours.
Think about how rare that experience is in our modern world. How seldom we actually have control over the totality of what we consume. You don't have it anywhere there's ads. Or anywhere there's an algorithm (ie almost everywhere). Even if I pay for YouTube premium I'm still getting nudge-y suggestions of all the rabbit holes it wants me to fall down. Everyone is aiming to keep me watching for as long as possible, by any trick necessary.
But not my inbox.
And maybe it's because our inboxes are so precious, so unique in this modern age, that we react to them so very differently than we do to anything else.
The real ROI of your email list
No matter how small your list may be, all the people on it want--or at least wanted, at one time--to hear from you. And removed from algorithmic involvement, you have a direct chance to keep convincing them, over and over again, that they made the right choice, and your messages are valuable.
I've heard marketers claim they'd rather have 100 people on an email list than 1 million followers on Instagram. They're being intentionally provocative, but there's a nugget of truth to that.
Social media is important. It's more casual, lets your brand have fun, and gives you a chance to reach people who don't already follow you. (You've got to get them on that email list somehow).
But once you have them? Treat your subscribers like gold. Be the best, most generous guest in their inbox, and respect the fact you have a personal invitation to be there. Put even half the amount of time, effort and creativity into your email communications as you're spending building social content.
Nurture the audience you already have. Your bottom line will thank you.
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