The email marketing versus social media debate has gone a couple of rounds, with email marketers fretting over the possible demise of their industry as social media continues to gain huge numbers of followers.

But consider the point of view of Mary Spio, partner at Gen2Media, which works with such musical artists as John Mayer and Black Eyed Peas. Based on campaigns run by artists under the company’s umbrella she has come to the conclusion that many of marketers see double and triple the conversions rates with direct email compared to social media posts. She compares two artists under contract with the company and their divergent approaches to marketing.

One, let’s call him/her Artist A, is Latin musician with 20 million views on YouTube but little inclination to pursue direct contact with fans via email. The other, Artist B, "has said from the beginning it was all about data collection and wanted direct access to the fans," she tells MarketingVOX.

It has built up a 2 million email list and in one weekend released 'exclusive' tracks to its fan base via iTunes through an email compaing. It made $700,000 in a single weekend, she says. “Emails can be close and personal as you individually address your customers versus posts that are impersonal and don’t offer that one-to-one experience. Conversions for social media posts are much lower, says Spio. "The goal of amassing a large audience should be actual direct contact aggregation, so that you can communicate on an ongoing basis with posts, and move your potential customers i.e. fans to action directly."

Stay tuned for part two: When Social Media Does Make Sense