Social media platforms have become the cornerstone of many businesses' marketing strategy. But such an approach is unstable and unpredictable.
Consider TikTok. Its future ownership is unclear, and it faces a possible ban or ownership change; many brands that have built their audience on the app are facing uncertainty.
But it isn't just a TikTok problem—it's a loud reminder that social media space is rented, not owned.
What happens when the platform you've invested thousands of hours and dollars into changes overnight? The hard truth is that your social media following never truly belongs to you.
As a result, savvy brands are rediscovering email marketing as their most reliable owned communication channel and audience-building tool.
The Social Media House of Cards
On social media, brands are fully reliant on algorithms to meet their target audiences.
Those algorithms determine how effectively content is meeting target audiences; but as platforms continue to shift, so does the algorithm, causing engagement to drop.
Again, consider TikTok. Many small brands that launched on TikTok rely on the platform to reach their target audience and generate sales. In fact, a recent study found that 39% of small businesses using TikTok consider the platform essential to their day-to-day. However, TikTok shared that small businesses would lose more than $1 billion in revenue in a single month if the ban goes into effect.
The solution is clear: Building your business on an unstable channel comes with major risks.
The Channel You Actually Own: Email Marketing
Email marketing offers invaluable, truly owned media. When building an email list, you're creating a direct, unfiltered connection to your audience rather than renting a few moments of their attention. According to Omnisend, the average ROI for email marketing ranges from $36 to $40 for every dollar spent.
Email marketing offers advantages that other platforms simply do not, including direct communication with your audience, precise targeting and personalization capabilities, and perhaps most important, stability. Once potential customers choose to join your email list, they remain accessible until they actively choose to leave.
Beyond stability, email provides creative freedom that confined social formats cannot match. Your brand voice, visual identity, and messaging remain consistent without platform-specific constraints.
Consider Pixistock, started by Alicia Powell after her exhaustion with the cycle of creating engaging content that matched her brand and beat out other social media distractions. Pixistock helped to empower entrepreneurs to create, plan, and share content that resonates. By tapping into templates, Alicia has been able to serve over 10,000 female entrepreneurs and increase business revenue six-fold.
Email marketing helped Alicia create an audience that's completely her own, not one that could disappear at any second.
Practical Steps for Social-to-Email Transition
Social media isn't going anywhere, and it's a strong complementary asset to your business. We're not recommending you forego social platforms completely; rather, marketers should be using email marketing in partnership with social to protect businesses' long-term growth.
With that in mind, we recommend following these three tips, to transition from prioritizing social media to email marketing:
- Create compelling email capture points. Transform your social media bio links into powerful lead generation tools. For example, Flodesk's Link in Bio tool allows you to capture and segment email addresses right from your social media profile, helping to ensure that your audience is yours to keep, engage with, and grow, regardless of platform shifts.
- Develop content that encourages list growth. A great way to capture the attention of followers is to create content that directs users to "get the full story" or receive a perk by signing up for your newsletter. Sharing small glimpses of newsletter content, testimonials from happy subscribers, or a behind-the-scenes look can help encourage others to sign up.
- Design engaging email campaigns that convert. Regardless of a marketer's design experience, templates are available (including from Flodesk) that allow anyone to create professional newsletters to reflect their brand and also drive action. Studies have found that personalized, aesthetically pleasing emails have an 82% higher open rate vs. generic emails, ultimately encouraging conversion.
Email marketing is the foundation of digital marketing strategies; it's something that brands have relied on for decades, and by leveraging email platforms, reaching your target audience is easier than ever.
The Future-Proof Media Mix
Email marketing isn't just about avoiding social media pitfalls, it's about transforming communication into a brand-building powerhouse. Our approach would elevate email from a basic messaging tool to an immersive brand experience that resonates with audiences with each note.
The most resilient marketing strategy combines the reach of social media with the reliability of email. When TikTok trends fade or Instagram's algorithm shifts, your email foundation remains steady.
Find a balance by using social platforms for awareness and community-building, but funnel those relationships into your email list, where you can urge followers to convert.
As digital marketing evolves, ownership becomes the ultimate advantage. With email, you're creating a direct line to your customers that no algorithm change or platform ban can sever. In an increasingly uncertain digital world, that kind of stability isn't just good marketing—it's essential to your business's longevity.
