4 Reasons You Need an Email List

4 Reasons You Need An Email List

There’s been some debate lately about the importance of having an email list for your website or business, because social media, right? But here are 4 reasons why you must have a mailing list –

1 – Social Networks Die or Fade Away

For starters, you can’t count on social networks to be your one and only place to be able to reach out to your audience. What if Facebook goes away tomorrow or no longer becomes THE place to be?

Don’t think that will ever happen? I’m sure the people at Beme, Friendster, Google Buzz, Google+, Jaiku, Meerkat, Orkut, Path, Plurk, Pownce, Posterous, Utterz, and Vine didn’t think they’d no longer exist or be relevant either.

2 – Social Networks Crash

A more likely scenario is that your favorite social network will experience technical difficulties and be down for a considerable amount of time when you really need it. This was the case recently for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp when they all went down at the same time. And they’re not the only social networks to have outages. I’ve been around long enough to remember when that was a regular occurrence on Twitter.

So, what will you do when you need to reach your audience and the only way you’ve invested in doing it suddenly doesn’t work?

3 – More People Sharing Means Less People See Your Content

It’s also important to mention that while social networks may not go down regularly, and you doubt that a social platform powerhouse like Facebook will ever fade into oblivion, they are growing exponentially, and the more people using it, the less likely people are to see what you’re sharing.

Even paying to get your content in front of your target audience isn’t always going to get you views, engagement, or traffic because that’s only going to work if they happen to be on that particular network during the time your ad is running.

4 – The Social Media Detox and Hiatus

Let’s face it, people take a break from social media ALL THE TIME, and Facebook seems to be THE social network where people deactivate their accounts and go on hiatus. But, I don’t know anyone, yet, who’s said: “I’m taking a break from my email for the next month.”

Build your Castle

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times…

Don’t build your castle on someone else’s land.

Your website is your property. It should be where you house the majority of your content. And, your mailing list is how you communicate with your community. So, be sure to build your community and build your list as a way to keep in touch with them and offer them value.

Are you subscribed to my email list? Do you currently have a mailing list for your business? If not, grab my growth guide “10 Ways to Grow Your Email List” and start on the right foot! 

[This post was updated in December 2023 but originally written in June 2019]