Email vs social media reach calculator

Compare how many real people you actually reach with one email vs one social media post. The result usually surprises people.

What this calculator does

This compares how many real people see one email vs one organic social media post. You enter your list size and open rate for email, and your follower count and the share who see each post for social.

It shows you both numbers side by side, plus how many times bigger one is than the other.

Why this surprises people

Followers and subscribers feel like the same thing. They are not. A subscriber chose to give you their inbox. A follower can scroll past your post in less than a second. That is why a 2,000-person email list often beats a 20,000-follower social account for actual engagement.

Organic reach on social platforms has been falling for years. Most of your followers will never see most of your posts unless you pay. Email goes to every inbox, and a real share of people open it.

What to do next

If email reaches more of your audience (it almost always does for businesses that have built a list), make it your main channel for offers, news, and updates. Use social to reach new people who do not know you yet.

If you do not have a list yet, that is the gap to close. The list growth calculator helps you set a realistic timeline, and you can start free with Minutemailer, up to 1,000 emails per month, no credit card.

For a longer take on the comparison, see our blog post: email vs social media for small businesses.