Right to reply: Is Email Dead? Gartner predicts but StrongMail says no!
- Added:
- Feb 25, 2010
Following the recent Gartner survey that claimed that email will be dead by 2014, Paul Bates, MD of StrongMail, argues why email and social media work best when they complement each other, rather than compete against each other.
The blogosphere is a buzz with tired arguments over whether or not social media signals the death of email. The most recent prediction comes from Matt Cain of Gartner, signaling that “by 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.” This very well might be true, for the 20% that need to collaborate, however it in no way replaces the need for bi-directional communication.
Anyone that engages in a debate over which channel is superior is approaching this from the wrong angle. Not only do both channels complement each other from a marketing perspective, they are significantly more powerful when used together than either channel alone. What’s most interesting is that while the talking heads continue to debate the value of one channel vs. another, the 800 pound gorillas in the email marketing and social media spaces are answering this question for us by taking convergence to the consumer.
In the past three weeks, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have all announced plans to integrate email and social media for their end users. Google and Microsoft plan to integrate social functionality into Gmail and Outlook respectively, and Facebook is rumored to be launching its own webmail service. These announcements are significant in that, if all three are successful, the consumer’s view of email and social media will become highly integrated during the next year or so. As email marketers, it is important to prepare for this shift by developing an integrated marketing strategy for the two channels now. Get ready for your viral marketing programs to become exponentially more powerful.
By Paul Bates
Managing Director
StrongMail
********************************
Get Netimperative updates on Twitter
