Email marketing is a more effective marketing tool as traffic driver than social media.
A study conducted by the research analysis firm ForeSee Results found that people preferred to hear about what a particular company was doing via email rather than social media.
The survey covers the websites for 40 retailers and the survey group totals around 20,000 people. It found that only 5% said social media interactions are their primary influence when it came to driving them toward a particular website. And when they do visit the website because of a social media prompt they are less likely to purchase anything than those who visited either from a link in an email or via search.
19% of website views came about thanks to promotional emails and 8% due to search engine results, nearly a quarter thanks to traditional e-marketing methods compared to the fractional results produced by social media.
In terms of converting time and money spent into revenue and profit social media is valuable but its much more a long game than a well placed email and an efficient SEO campaign.