Like this, like that, follow me, follow us, become a fan. These are without a doubt some of the most commonly used phrases at the moment. So why should I? What’s in it for me? Am I simply in love with the brand or is there a hidden agenda to that twinkle in my eyes when I engage with your brand.

The general deception to digital marketers is that consumers are simply showing their commitment to the brand while paying the full price for their products. We as marketers tend to think that our like’rs and followers would never dare to purchase or ‘like’ a competitor brand. Oh no, not a chance of that, this is a truly monogamous and stable relationship and as long as you regularly feed them great thought pieces with bog standard prices they will stick to your brand like glue.

I think not…

This is often a sad, mostly one sided and extremely fickle relationship. Most followers, fans and like’rs would simply snap up the first money off coupon, voucher code deal or sale offer from a competitor brand without a second thought. But please don’t be heartbroken. Human nature is not something new to us. Taking into account the current financial climate and the daily dose of fear that the media strikes into our hearts the simple truth of it is this. Consumers want the best deal, and an incentive to buy your brand.

There are millions of brands, bands, celebs and sporting icons that can be like’d or followed. As a brand promoter your prospective like’rs and followers are not hoping to see your next Facebook post or tweet unless there is some form of reward in it for them. The number of users who ‘like’ your Facebook page or ‘follow’ your Twitter page rarely relates to high percentage of revenue generated from a tweet or status update. Maybe this will be the case in future but were not quite there yet.

2010 may have been the year of social media but it was not at all the year of social commerce. Well… Maybe for Mr Zuckerberg it was.

In short, email is statistically growing larger and faster globally than Facebook or any social sites (fact). Consumers still prefer engaging with their favourite brands in emails and are more likely to impulse buy or convert a sale from a tailored, targeted email broadcast. We all enjoy the mystery behind receiving a tailored email packed full of offers and products that we might ‘like’ from a brand that we have specified our permissions and preferences with.

Email vs. Social Media, no contest and possibly a different ball park altogether.