Why Your Small Business Needs an Email List
When it comes to marketing, social media tends to get most of the attention - it can be so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on new people finding your business and looking at likes and reach as a metric of success.
But building on social media means building on unstable (and rented) ground:
Platforms changes
Algorithms shift
Trends evolve
And you don’t have control over any of it - so your choices are to shift what you’re doing to go with the flow or branch out into other social media platforms and hope you can stay ahead of the changes in the new space.
An email list, on the other hand, is the one channel where you're not renting. It's a direct line to people who have already told you, in the clearest way possible, that they're interested in what you do.
Whether you’ve had an email list (and possibly neglected it) or you’re exploring email marketing for your small business for the first time, having an email list gives you a direct line to audience you can reach out to at any time (and without having to worry about algorithms or a require to dance or point to be seen).
What is the difference between email marketing and social media marketing?
As a marketing strategist, I use lots of different marketing channels for my clients (including SEO, content, social, email, and more) depending on their needs. My approach is holistic meaning I look at how all of these pieces work together rather than treating any single channel like it operates in a vacuum.
Comparing email marketing and social media directly is a little difficult because we’re looking at different numbers, but if we’re purely looking at whether or not the people who want to see your content (meaning they follow you on social media and signed up for your email list) email marketing wins - hands down.
What does that mean for reach?
A typical email reaches somewhere around 85% of the people it's sent to.
Even with unopened emails or getting caught in the spam or promotions folder - the vast majority of the emails you send show up in someone’s inbox.
What does that look like on the social media side?
It is a little harder to calculate because there are multiple platforms involved and several variables to consider. And we’re also looking at a shifting landscape that prioritizes discovering new content and tailoring your algorithm to your unique tastes and behaviors.
Instagram - 3.5% to 7% of followers see your post and smaller accounts seem to have a better chance of having their content shown - 8% to 15% (RTN House, 2026)
Facebook (business page) - 2% to 6% for image posts and up to 20% with Reels (Heropost, 2026)
LinkedIn (personal page) - 20% to 30% and much, much lower for company pages (ADictive, 2026)
TikTok - 10-20%, but varies wildly depending on account size and other factors (Shortimize, 2025)
But what about email engagement vs. social media engagement?
First, we need to account for privacy changes over the past several years that make open rates a less reliable indicator of whether or not someone opened your email.
To make this as close to a one-to-one comparison as possible, let's compare click rates instead of open rates and on the social side, let's compare engagement as a percentage of your total followers, not just the people the algorithm happened to show your post to.
I’m trying to keep the comparison as fair as possible when asking "What percent of my whole audience that follows me is engaged?" (instead of everyone who could potentially see your post).
Email click rate varies by niche and email type, but overall a click rate of just over 2% is average (Mailerlite, 2025)
On social, that same "percent of your total audience" changes depending on the platform (and it will also change depending on the type of post you make):
Instagram - around 0.45% of followers engage with a given post (Socialinsider, 2026)
Facebook (business page) - around 0.13% to 0.15% of followers (Socialinsider, 2026)
LinkedIn (personal page) - around 2.9% of followers (SociaVault Labs, 2026)
TikTok - around 2.6% of followers (Socialinsider, 2026)
So while TikTok and LinkedIn may have better engagement by this specific measure (as an average), you don’t control when your audience sees your content (or if the algorithm changes).
That 2% click rate is 2% of everyone on your list, every single time you hit send. A 2.9% LinkedIn engagement rate is 2.9% of followers if the algorithm decides to show them the post at all.
Explore more ways to market and promote your business without relying on social media.
Is Email Marketing or Social Media Marketing Better?
Instead of thinking of one as better, think of them as different ingredients in your marketing that work together.
Liking or following you on social media takes almost no effort. It is largely a passive action (and may even be forgotten after it happens!).
On the other hand, giving someone an email address? That’s more personal! If someone's on your list, they've already signaled real interest in what you're selling, teaching, or offering (and they had to take several steps to do it!)
That's also why email marketing should be given more thought and consideration than many businesses give it. Think of it this way - if the only thing a business sends you is sales pitch after sales pitch…how likely are you to open their emails in the future? Or even pay attention to what they send?
In my experience as a marketing strategist, the businesses that get the most value out of email are the ones that treat it as a relationship, not a broadcasting megaphone. By sharing things that benefit their audience, asking questions, and giving people a reason to keep opening clients see higher engagement and more sales from their email marketing.
Do I think it is time to ditch social media?
No! Although this is a common problem I see in clients.
They’ve worked hard to build their social media strategy or an email marketing or their SEO and website - but none of those pieces talk to each other. So they end up with silos - completely separate areas of marketing effort with no bridges between them instead of one connected system.
Your email list should promote your social media.
Your social media should promote your email list.
Your website should be feeding both.
When I audit a client's marketing, one of the first things I look for is whether their channels are reinforcing each other or working in isolation, because the difference in performance between those two setups is significant.
A quick example of what this can look like: a service-based client who's dormant on social media but has a warm, engaged local audience got traction rebuilding their email presence after we created a branded welcome sequence and a simple opt-in.
Why? Because it reconnected them with people who already trust them and moved that audience from social media to email - where the client didn’t have to fight an algorithm for visibility. Once that foundation was solid, the social strategy expanded to include a branch that focuses on moving the audience from social media to email marketing.
What to Do if You’re Starting Your Email List from Scratch
If you don't have an email list yet, the good news is that you don't have to have every step figured out before you start. You can start with the basics and then build the automation, the opt-in, and the other parts as you grow.
Here’s what you need to start:
A real email platform to build on (not your personal inbox, and never a bbc blast to your contacts)
Here’s a quick rundown of pricing and feature differences between the major email marketing platforms.A way for people to sign up, even something as simple as a link on your website
Something worth opening once they're on the list
Everything else including segmentation, automation, opt-ins, discount codes, a long-range content calendar can be added later.
Only have three people on your email list? Give those three people something amazing and it will be easier for the next three to sign up (and so on).
Social media will (probably) always be part of a healthy marketing strategy, but it shouldn't be the only part. And it definitely shouldn’t be the only way you are reaching your audience. An email list gives you something social media can’t - consistent, direct access to an audience that has already said “I’m interested.
Further reading:
How to Get Better Results from Your Email Marketing
7 Ways to Grow Your Email List
