email lists vs twitter/facebook 2424 Responses

Last post: 2 years, 2 months ago | Thread started: Mar 2, 10, 11:18 a.m.

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• DrBombay

  We have had this discussion at work, twitter followers and facebook are great complements to email lists but shouldn't take the place of them. I wouldn't place all of my eggs in any one proprietary basket.

  • Agreed. I can't help but think Twitter and Facebook will be another passing phase - At Some point.– stoplying

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:31 a.m. – Permalink

• DrBombay

  Another thing is with email you can be a bit more sure that your message is actually getting to the recipient. With FB and Twitter, after your messages fall off the page it might as well have never existed.

  • but in mail you could be filtered as spam– scarabin1/3

    Using a professional email provider can help that.– DrBombay2/3

    There is no magic bullet.– DrBombay3/3

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:34 a.m. – Permalink

• dMullins

  Facebook and Twitter should always be treated as a supplemental marketing tactic. Email is still more effective at certain things than Facebook/Twitter ever will be.

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:36 a.m. – Permalink

• DrBombay

  Another thing is (at least with our lists) there is less churn on email lists than there is with Twitter.

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:41 a.m. – Permalink

• Meeklo

  I would like to respectfully disagree with most of you.

  I think these days, it's safe to assume that eMail lists and Twitter posts are SUPPLEMENTAL to Facebook Pages.

  I love a well designed email list as much as the next designer, and I even save them on a folder called "nice newsletters" but truth is, that if you have ever been on the production side of one, you know that they are a pain in the ass, and the vas majority of people won't be able to see it the way you designed it.

  And that right there sucks mighty balls, because its not only de design work that gets lost, but also de message, making these a not so effective way of communication.

  With facebook, (most people under the age of 35 have an account already) people COME TO YOU, not the other way around, (from the perspective of spam email) it's instant, you can attach different media, (audio/ video/ etc) and the best of all, you get instant response from people.

  • I have 5,000 people on one email list and only 185 facebook fans.– DrBombay1/7

    I do agree with stoplying, that both FB and Tw might just be a phase that will fade in a few years– Meeklo2/7

    We have 35% click-thru on the email list.– DrBombay3/7

    Meeklo I think you may be getting caught up on the design angle of it.– DrBombay4/7

    bingo, I estimated 40% but it turns out is less than that!– Meeklo5/7

    I think I'm getting caught in the actual communication side of it, if it was on the design only, then FB wouldn't work– Meeklo6/7

    www.emailgallery.com…– dMullins7/7

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:43 a.m. – Permalink

• Meeklo

  "I have 5,000 people on one email list and only 185 facebook fans."

  From those 5000 people, probably less than 40% those emails dont go to the spam bin, so lets make that what.. 2000 people that might open your email (more than 1/2 of those won't be able to see it correctly, and the other 1/2 probably didn't requested to be on your list..)

  Now tell me, how long have you been collecting the database for those 5000 people, and how long have you had the FB page up?

  Unlike email, You can't send updates to people that didn't request your info on FB, in fact... people MUST voluntarily become a fan of your company in order to receive updates, that means they want to be involved and that they want your info, so from those 150 people that you have now, the % is probably way over 50%

  Imagine if you had 5000 fans, and compare it fairly

  • 35% of those on the list click thru– DrBombay1/3

    how does that stack up with the click through of a FB page– Meeklo2/3

    Harder to gauge. I get wicked stats from our email provider. Not so much from FB– DrBombay3/3

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:55 a.m. – Permalink

• DrBombay

  Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone uses twitter and facebook. Something to keep in mind.

  • And not everyone signs up for email list– Meeklo1/2

    Is this still the "Glass half full" thing? :P– DrBombay2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:57 a.m. – Permalink

• DrBombay

  Are you advocating we get rid of our email list? Didn't think so. :D

  • not at all:
    http://www.qbn.com/t…– Meeklo1/8

    Just giving a voice to the "Half full glass of water" :)– Meeklo2/8

    I think we should do all of these things.– DrBombay3/8

    then we are back on the 7th post and we just created an infinite loop– Meeklo4/8

    The question was should twitter and facebook replace email lists. And both of our opinions equal no.– DrBombay5/8

    The rest of this is strictly supplemental.– DrBombay6/8

    after you:
    http://realestate.ha…– Meeklo7/8

    hahaha.– DrBombay8/8

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 11:58 a.m. – Permalink

• DrBombay

  On a lighter note: I was messing around on a tuesday night and created a fan page for a neighborhood in my city that has about 30 bars/pubs in it. Geo-coded a google map for it that plotted all of the bars on one map. Requested about 25 people become fans of it. Haven't touched it much since about 45 days ago. It has like 750 fans right now. I gave the bars that became fans of it admin rights and they post their specials and events on it regularly. I was pretty happy with that.

  • You're an angel.– Ruffian1/2

    Religion had nothing to do with it.– DrBombay2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 12:12 p.m. – Permalink

• Meeklo

  ^
  Wait till it hit 5000 fans, if you are an admin you should be able to track stats and monitor fan responses :)

  Also, just for fun..
  post a question like..

  What's your favorite beer?

  watch the chaos unravel in front of your eyes in a matter of minutes, this level of interaction does not exist with email.

  • Great idea. I am going to do that.– DrBombay1/2

    my polling app has 6.5 million registered users..... don't laugh...the kids like the polls– linearch2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 12:26 p.m. – Permalink

• acescence

  thanks for the input everyone!

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 3:21 p.m. – Permalink

• SoulFly

  it will all go away when Facebook starts charging... I'm sure you heard the rumors.

  • I have not heard rumors, and makes no sense, so I doubt its true, but if it is... I agree it will fade away– Meeklo

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 3:25 p.m. – Permalink

• ismith

  I sign up for email lists from record labels and a few friends who are event/concert organizers, stuff like that. If they want to be on facebook then whatever but I'd rather see it in my email or on their own site. Facebook imo makes things less personal... if it can't be "liked" or commented on or whatever it tends to weed out those that actually care about the info from those looking at it to look cool or just signing up for it with no meaningful cause... headache sorry

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 4:12 p.m. – Permalink

• instrmntl

  friending ur clients or using facebook to send invites is the worst thing i've ever heard.

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 4:19 p.m. – Permalink

• airey

  it's an interesting point.

  i've started recommending facebook as an alternative to an html newsletter for some clients. the target audience is interested and signed up the content, the delivery is 100% compared to an email bounce / fail rate and it costs nothing. did myself out of a few bucks but have made happier clients in a few cases.

  • still doing plenty of email newsletters for certain clients though.– airey

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 4:35 p.m. – Permalink

• airey

  at least this is a genuine method of using social networks. i'm fucking tired of so-called marketing experts touting 'social media' as a way to reach the public in a 'unique way'.

  my argument against it is if everybody does it then there's no longer a point of difference, just more noise.

  • life is noise– ismith1/3

    sometimes it sounds good– ismith2/3

    sorry, i can't hear you over my tinitus...– airey3/3

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 4:40 p.m. – Permalink

• dconstrukt

  email is still your best bet.... even though deliverability sucks, and even then maybe like 5-10% of the emails you send get opened.

  You need a lot of emails, and more important is to build a good relationship with your list so they know like and trust you. Then you can sell them stuff and make money.

  yeah, everyone i talk to is dropping their twitter accounts...

  waste o' time.

  just sayin'.

  • twitter is a waste of time, I personally compare it to the initial days of the "chat room"– Meeklo1/2

    everyone wants to yell, but no one pays attention..
    FOLLOW ME!– Meeklo2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 2, 10, 6 p.m. – Permalink

• Point5

  I know I'm close to dropping my FB account. It's boring as shit. Yes, I did the Farmville thing. Yes, I became a fan of shit I thought I gave a fuck about but in the end never even visited the pages afterwards. Yes, I posted photos of high school and shit. I get it; everyone is "blessed" or their lives suck, or their kids just lost a tooth, or their dog wore a cat costume during Halloween ... Now what?

  For me, Twitter is leaps and bounds above FB for the simplicity. It's daily humor and breaking news in one fantastic feed. I actually click-thru on a lot of shit in Twitter on a daily basis, and it's so much nicer than an RSS feed. And I'm not getting bugged by my mom's sister's roommate's daughter to be her Farmville neighbor.

  • +100000000– must_dash1/3

    hmm, i guess maybe you just need more interesting friends?– acescence2/3

    yeah dude.. I second the interesting friends theory– Meeklo3/3

  

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  Dog-earMar 3, 10, 12:15 a.m. – Permalink

• SPECTACULAR

  YOU GUYS NEED TO LIVE IN THE FUTURE... FB AND TWITTER WILL BE GONE, EXPLORER 15, 5, 6, and 7 WILL RULE THE WORLD, GOOGLE WILL BUY BING, MICROSOFT WILL INVEST IN BLANKETS, AND YAHOO IS WILL DIED LAST OVER YEAR...

  • Your use of caps and shocking grammar in your last few words amuses me greatly, please continue.– BuddhaHat1/2

    yes, the future is semi-literate people who shout all the time obviously.– airey2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 3, 10, 12:29 a.m. – Permalink

• Stugoo

  &feature=player_embedded

  

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  Dog-earMar 3, 10, 3:04 a.m. – Permalink