Facebook is plagued by misinformation and data breach scandals. Divisive politics drive Twitter. Instagram is fake and everyone knows it. Snapchat has yet to gain a solid footing. With the enthusiasm for social media waning among both consumers and shareholders, what’s the next best thing for marketing to and reaching real customers?

The answer is shockingly simple. According to experts, the “hottest” platform for reaching customers is email. Yes, boring old email might be the best choice brands have for directly reaching consumers.

Why Email Stands Tall in the Age of Social Media

Email these days is largely relegated to work or school.  We use is every day, but give it such little thought. When social media platforms started reaching sky-high popularity levels, brands scurried to create profiles and take advantage of surprisingly cheap advertising opportunities, usually replacing email marketing with social media marketing. But times have changed, and email is appearing as a winner.

There are several reasons why marketers are turning back to email. For starters, email is preferred because a mega-monopoly doesn’t get in the way of a brand and a customer. Sure, you and your customer may use Gmail as the email client. However, the messages sent are strictly between you and the client. Gmail isn’t in the way of the content.

Compare that to posting on Facebook. The social media behemoth is certainly a middle-man when you post content that promotes a brand to a consumer. Facebook may collect data or even charge your business advertising fees.

Email offers freedom from corporate giants. But there’s another reason why experts like Shout Agency Melbourne continue to hawk the merits of email marketing—it’s far more effective than social media marketing.

If your brand could choose between 1,000 email subscribers or 100,000 Twitter followers, which would you choose? To David Hieatt, of Hiut, the answer is simple: the email subscribers. Business is always better with the email subscribers, Mr.Hieatt explained to The Wall Street Journal. His company, Hiut, was formerly a jeans store that nearly went bankrupt. When that business cooled, Mr.Hieatt created an acclaimed email newsletter to attract customers. Hiut is now a celebrated boutique fashion brand with clients like Meghan Markle.

Email may be boring, but as the Hiut example shows, it’s more effective than social media.

Deciding to Use Email in Digital Marketing Campaigns

Could your business, like Hiut, benefit more from email than social media? Is it better to invest in an email campaign and ditch Facebook altogether?

Don’t be too hasty to get rid of a social media campaign, especially if it still drives customer engagement for your brand. It’s recommended to start or revamp an email marketing strategy, in addition to social media. In case your social media campaign completely falters, you can then fall back on the email.

Email marketing is ideal for just about any business. Both B2C and B2B companies can benefit from email. It’s suitable for any target audience above the age of 13, as we all frequently use email. However, email marketing plans, unlike social media campaigns, take a long time to build. Adding subscribers is a bit more difficult compared to getting likes and follows.

If your business can commit to email marketing, the benefits would be enormous. Your brand could attract a loyal following, stabilizing sales. Plus, you can be sure that you are interacting with real people, and not bots, with email.

Doing Email Marketing Right

Email marketing is highly effective, but only if brands get the campaigns right. Marketing ideas would naturally have to battle spam on inboxes. The trick would be to keep customers subscribed without having them unsubscribe on a whim, or worse, mark your promotional content as spam.

To do email marketing right, brands need to think outside the box. Content in emails has to be highly relevant and minimally intrusive. Don’t email customers a catalog full of your products every week. Hiut, for example, had a high-end content planning strategy that included sending subscribers gift guides, article roundups, and videos. Emails even included products not made by the company.

Huit succeeded largely thanks to its innovativeness. The company understood what their target audience wanted. Similarly, analyze the target audience for your brand and understand what would make customers want to read an email from your company.

Emails need to be sent at the right time on the right date as well. This would require running several analytical tools. Don’t expect to get it right from the start. Your company may require professional help to design an effective email marketing campaign. The investment would certainly be worth it when the conversion rates are high.