Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign

11. Why Does An Email Address Matter?

An email address is one of the most important tools a brand can have. It's a widely accepted form of communication that consumers can use at any given day or time. Less expensive than phones and more efficient than regular mail, email can be used to hold and develop long conversations.

Email addresses are also commonly used for access into protected or membership-only website features. Using an email address for sign-in purposes helps websites to vet users and make sure that they don't have duplicate content.

Using free services can lessen credibility for a brand. The continuity of a brand breaks and may cause confusion for consumers. Also, some free email services are known for spam accounts, which can cause your emails to fail spam filters when sending to people with strict email security settings.

Another benefit to using your own domain for email is that you can better guarantee availability of a desired username. In a small company, a first name for an email address will be easy to obtain and easy to communicate to customers. My email address is [e-mail], which lets me maximize the use of my personal brand while promoting my business brand. Plus, saying “dave at bullfrog” is a lot easier than saying “david underscore peck 2345 exclamation mark at Yahoo.”

By using an email address with your branded website address, you help ...