Sponsored Posts or Email? What Really Works Better

Limited budget and need to pick one channel? Find out when sponsored posts make sense and when email marketing is your best bet.

Sponsored Posts or Email? What Really Works Better

Where Do People Actually Click?

You're facing a dilemma every event organizer with a limited budget knows: invest in a sponsored Facebook post or send another email to your database? Not every sponsored post works. Not every email hits the mark. But both have their place – as long as you choose the right goal, content, and timing.

Instead of throwing money at random channels and hoping for the best, it's worth planning smartly. Let's look at when each of these channels truly delivers.

Email Marketing – Your Relationship, Your Rules

Email marketing is like talking to an old friend. It works best when you've already built a relationship with your recipient. We're not talking about contacts "scraped together" from various sources, but a genuine database of people who consciously want to receive messages from you.

When email marketing works best:

If you organize regular marketing training sessions and have a database of 500 people who signed up for your previous events, an email about a new edition can achieve an open rate of 35-40%. Why? Because these people already know and trust your brand.

Email works great when you can tailor your message to a specific segment. Example: you send information about an HR conference to HR professionals in your database, not to all contacts. Such targeted email can generate up to 15% more registrations than a message sent to your entire database.

Remember though: email is a relationship tool. If you haven't previously maintained contact with your database, don't expect miracles on first use.

Sponsored Posts – When It's Worth Investing in Reach

Social media advertising is a completely different story. It's like shouting in a crowded marketplace – you need to be loud and attractive enough for someone to turn around and listen.

Sponsored posts make sense when:

You want to reach new groups who haven't heard of you before. If you're organizing the first edition of an industry conference, you don't yet have a database of loyal participants – you need to find them "externally."

You have attractive graphics or video and can wrap your message in a few words. In social media, you have seconds to grab attention. A long event description in a sponsored post is shooting yourself in the foot.

You're promoting an open or mass event. A conference for 500 IT professionals can benefit from LinkedIn advertising with precise targeting of developers in specific cities.

The biggest advantage of ads: you can test different messages and graphics, quickly checking what resonates with your target group.

What to Measure to Know What Actually Works

Metrics are your compass in the ocean of promotional activities. But beware – not all numbers are equally important.

For email marketing, track:

For sponsored posts, look at:

But remember one thing: the most important metric isn't the number of clicks, but the number of actual registrations. A thousand clicks that don't translate to participants is wasted money.

Channel Selection – Specific Situations, Specific Solutions

Only 2 days left until your event? Email to your database plus SMS reminder. Ads need time to "ramp up," and you no longer have that time.

Just opening registration for an event in 3 months? Use both channels. Email to your database builds the first wave of registrations, sponsored posts attract new people throughout the promotional period.

Want to reach a specific professional group (e.g., CFOs)? LinkedIn advertising with precise targeting. Your database probably doesn't have enough people from this specific group.

Organizing another edition of a recurring event? Email with a "join us again" message to previous edition participants. They already know what to expect and are most likely to participate again.

How Registration Systems Help Make Better Decisions

A good registration system isn't just a signup form – it's a tool that helps you understand the effectiveness of different promotional channels.

With UTM parameters, you can track where your participants come from. An email link can have the parameter utm_source=email, while an ad link has utm_source=facebook. This way you know exactly which channel generates more registrations.

Modern registration systems, such as CONREGO, offer ready integrations with popular email marketing tools. You can automatically segment participants from previous events and send them personalized invitations to subsequent editions.

You also have the ability to test different versions of messages in welcome emails and compare which ones better engage participants.

Not "Which Is Better" but "What Makes Sense Now"

There's no definitive answer to whether a sponsored post is better than email marketing. It's like asking whether a hammer or screwdriver is better – it depends on what you want to do.

Advertising is a wide shot – you'll choose it when you want to reach new people or test different messages. Email is a conversation with someone who already knows you – you'll choose it when you have a good database and a specific message.

Key principle: don't play everything at once, just what really hits in your specific case. It's better to do one thing well than five things poorly.

Instead of wondering "email or advertising," ask yourself a better question: "what will help me achieve my goal in this specific situation, with this budget and in this timeframe?" The answer will be clear.

Try CONREGO for Free Book a CONREGO demo