Here’s something to think about, email is the only channel which is not controlled by someone else – it’s controlled by the consumer who wants email marketing. With every other marketing channel, you have to pay someone else to reach those consumers. We’re all excited that Facebook has 500 million users. However, the reason they’ve been so busy building those numbers up is so they can charge you to reach them.

That sums up Alchemy Worx CEO, Dela Quist’s view of social marketing. He’s got a good point too. Social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook are owned by people who have their own best interests at heart (which is understandable) and their objective is to generate revenue.

What happens to a Facebook or Twitter focused marketing campaign if one or both of those channels suddenly decide to change the rules? As a marketer, you might find yourself in a situation where all that “marketing equity” is suddenly gone.

Dela is certainly right when he points out that email is controlled by the consumer. What content they wish to read is completely up to them as is what email they may choose to allow into their inbox or not. You have to admit this simplifies things quite a bit since you have pretty clear and easy to understand rules which if followed will hopefully keep your subscribers engaged.

Dela constantly drives home the message that email marketing is a powerful branding channel. In fact, he likes to point out that just having your email in someone’s inbox is a good thing because that carries branding power.

Email is that connective tissue which enables social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Email alerts are the most effective way for these networks to drive consumers to them.

Dela’s challenge regarding social and the excitement around it is the idea that we are going to use our email list to drive our customers to a site that’s owned by someone else who is going to charge us to reach them in future. As well, you may be driving customers to social networks where your competitors are advertising and that’s something you really have no control over.

“It seems to me that it’s a kind of suicide. I have these people on my list and I’m really excited to send them to my fan page where my competitors can reach them also. This doesn’t make sense to me.”
– Dela Quist