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As a small business, you’re trying to figure out where to spend your marketing time and dollars. You’re considering the pros and cons of blogging vs email vs social media. You think you can get away with one channel, but you’re not sure.
Well, that’s why I wrote this blog post!
Blogging vs email vs social media: Partners, not enemies
This isn’t an either/or choice. These marketing channels work together and support each other, and they are all valuable in their own way.
So let’s break down the value of each channel and the supporting role they play for the two other channels.
Blogging
Blogging is the foundation of your content marketing strategy. Can you do email marketing and social media marketing without a blog? Yes, but I don’t advise it.
Keep reading, and I think you’ll agree that blogging is super-duper valuable.
H4: It establishes your brand
Back in 2022, my friends at Sage SEO told me:
“Creating content is not enough for search engine optimization. Doesn’t matter if 100,000 people come to your website, take a look, and quickly leave. They need to hang around and reach or watch that content. That’s how Google knows your content is high-quality and relevant to your audience.”
High-quality, relevant content is the blog post that only YOU can write.
It is focused on your specific point of view or experience. It answers questions your audience have.
By writing content only you can, in your voice, with your personality all over it, you will build trust with your audience. They will start turning to YOU for advice, and when they need you, they will buy.
It helps with search rankings
Search engines (Google) like to see websites with fresh content – it sends the signal that you are an active business. They also like to see people spending time on your website. This sends the signal that your content is relevant to them (as noted above).
There is a lot more to search engine optimization and rankings, of course, but you get the gist. By regularly posting new, quality content on your website, you will be more visible online.
It supports email and social media marketing
You need to content to share in your email newsletter and on your social media channels, right? Where does that content come from? Do you really want to spend the time creating unique content for each channel on a regular basis?
Of course not! What a time-suck.
Instead, turn to all that great content in your recent blog posts.
My monthly newsletter features a short introduction to the previous month’s blogs and a link that allows people to read the full blog on my website.
Over on LinkedIn, I share tips and insights from recent blog posts with – you guessed it – a link so people can read more.
So not only am I using my blog for new content on other channels, I am using email and LinkedIn to send traffic back to my website.
Email Marketing
I absolutely love email marketing for the following three reasons:
Email has a high ROI
Email has an ROI of 4,200%, a number that hasn’t changed in years, because it’s cost effective.
It doesn’t take a lot of time to create a valuable email, because you need to keep the content short. I only include headlines and introductory blurbs to content for my own newsletter and for my clients.
Like I mentioned above, pull content from existing sources, like your blog. If you have a special offer, upcoming event, or free resource to share, pop those in, too.
Finally, one email per month is fine. As long as the content is high-quality and relevant, you will see results.
You own your list
You can’t control who comes to your website, and you have ZERO control over social media platforms. But you own your email list.
Your email list is one of the most valuable marketing assets your company owns, because people have opted into it. They have told you, YES, I want to hear from you!
Where else do you get that kind of positive reinforcement? (Reviews and testimonials from clients, but not leads.)
You can use email to drive sales
One of my clients offers special promotions every once in a while. We send the announcements out on email, and the conversion rate is fantastic.
For example, in August 2023 we ran a special promo: a steep discount on a two-week trial for all three services this client offers. Eighteen people subscribed for the trial. One full year in the service is $3,000 – and we did keep a few people from the trial. So you do the math, and I think you’ll agree that we got a great ROI from one email!
Oh, and don’t forget the importance of email subject lines. You can read more about that here.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is not as valuable as the two other channels, simply because it takes a lot longer and is a lot harder to see results.
However, it is still a valuable part of your content marketing strategy. I just wouldn’t put all your eggs in this one basket.
Grow your audience
As long as you are using the channels that your ideal client is using, you will grow your audience. It will take time, though, so be patient!
Use appropriate hashtags so your posts are easier to find by new people.
Post often: Two to three times per week on LinkedIn and Facebook; daily on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. If your account appears to be active to the algorithms that control people’s feeds, you will show up in more feeds.
Follow potential clients, current clients, partners, vendors, etc. and comment on their posts! They will be more likely to engage with your posts, too. And again, this will send the signal that your content is valuable and should be seen by more people.
You can find more tips on improving your social media engagement here.
Build relationships
Social media is not a sales channel, it’s a relationship channel where you have conversations, learn from each other, and get to know each other.
As that trust grows, people will click over to your website and hopefully join your email list, set up a sales call, or maybe even hit that buy button. But this won’t happen on day one.
Get quick feedback
One of the best things about social media marketing is the instant feedback you get on post content. If your posts are showing up in people’s feeds – you are getting good reach and impressions numbers – but no one is liking or commenting on your posts, you know they want different content.
Or, your content could be good but it’s not the right audience/channel for you.
All feedback is good feedback, even if it’s not the most positive in the world.
Which marketing channel works best for you?
I would love to hear what channels you use, and which works best for you! I use all three channels for Jansen Communications, and I find them all valuable.