As some of you may know, I submitted a presentation topic for the upcoming Product Camp SoCal. This is an “unconference†where session topics and presenters are not determined until attendees vote online and during the check-in hour at the event.
For the past week (since Oct. 15), I’ve been promoting my session using nothing but social media. I’ve posted about the session on my Facebook page and sent it out via Twitter. This was enough to get me into second place with 120 votes.
Here Comes The Email
This morning (at 9AM EST), I sent out an email asking subscribers to vote up my session. Within three hours, my session went from 120 votes to 514 votes! In just three hours, my email list was able to generate over four times more votes than Facebook and Twitter did in an entire week.
My email list isn’t bigger than my social media list. I have about 97,000 people following me on Twitter and about 20,000 fans on Facebook. Combined, this is a higher following than my 100,000 name email list. But as you can see, the response rate to email is far greater than social media.
When It Comes To Getting Results, Email Is Number One
I have said this many times: when it comes to getting results, email is number one. While social media marketing has made huge inroads and received tons of press, it’s still no match for good old fashion email marketing. If you need more proof, just look at all those “social media guru” marketers. They all use email to market their social media products!
Most new bloggers are using social media marketing to help build their blogs, and that’s great. However, they’re really missing the boat if they don’t have a mailing list. A lot of this have to do with cost. Social media is pretty much free. Email marketing requires a service like Aweber, which starts at $19 per month. For many, this creates a mental barrier of entry.
I say mental because people think it’s costing them money. The truth of the matter is, it’s costing them more money by not having a mailing list. If you’re making money off social media, you’ll be making far more if you combined social media with email marketing.
After today, I have a feeling those other presenters at Product Camp SoCal will be looking at the session leaderboard, and will be wondering what just hit them. 🙂
Try Aweber for Only $1.00
Aweber offers a $1 trial account for all new customers. The account is just like a normal Aweber account and includes unlimited email campaigns, newsletter, broadcasts and follow ups. It’s a great way to test drive Aweber to see what it can do for your blog. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you find that email marketing is not for you, contact Aweber within 30 days and they’ll give you the $1 back.
