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Is your business’ marketing strategy over-reliant on social media?
We explore the dangers of a social-only marketing strategy and why it’s no substitute for a business website.
There’s no denying that social media is a beneficial tool for businesses; it can help you reach new audiences, connect with customers and grow your brand. However, some businesses make the mistake of relying too heavily on social media, at the expense of developing their own website and this leaves them highly vulnerable. Here are some of the risks in pursuing a marketing strategy that is over-reliant on social media.
1. You don’t control social media
It’s worth thinking about that for a moment. Would you normally invest the majority of your time and money in an outlet that is beyond your control?
You can’t control the future or survival of a social media platform and you can’t control how your content will be pushed out or received. Algorithms change all the time in social media and successful businesses find themselves dropping in engagement overnight.
If you run your own website, you may still experience changes in rankings and discoverability when search engines like Google change their search algorithms. However, you have the power to act and respond and make improvements when this happens – you can improve your content, blog strategically, refine your metadata and work on your SEO. With social media, you have much less control over your changing fortunes.
2. Social media platforms disappear and die
It may seem unthinkable, but social media platforms have a lifespan, even the highly successful ones backed by major companies.
• Remember Google+? Google’s answer to social media had 200 million users by 2019. However, the platform was permanently shutdown, after just 8 years.
• iTunes Ping, a music based social network, lasted just two years, despite launching in 23 countries and with an opening membership of 1 million people.
• Friends Reunited had a solid run of nearly 16 years. By 2010 it had 23.8 million users, however it was shut down in 2016.
It’s highly possible that one or more of the social media sites that business currently invest substantial sums of money and time in, (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok) will shutdown in the next 10 years. If this is your main source of marketing and connection with customers how will your business survive this?
3. Not everyone is on social media…but nearly everyone uses the internet
Did you know that just 67% of the UK population is on social media, whilst over 95% use the internet. Putting that another way, if you only use social media, you’re immediately losing out on access to 33% of the market. Depending on which social media channels you use, this could be an even greater loss. A business website, by contrast, helps make you accessible to all but 5% of the population.
4. Social media use can decline
Overall, the global trend continues to be that social media usage is increasing. However, when you break this down by platforms and demographics, we see a different story. As an example, Facebook usage amongst those aged 18-24 has declined from 24% in 2012 to 16% in 2020. That’s a significant decline in an audience’s usage of a channel and if that’s your target demographic the change will hit hard.
External events can also trigger big changes in social media audience usage. Consider the recent Twtter buy-out by Elon Musk. The firm BotSentinel tracks Twitter account usage and believes that in the period October 27 – November 1 (the week of Musk’s takeover) 877,000 accounts were deactivated and 497,000 suspended. This is more than double usual behaviours and the firm point to an exodus from the platform by genuine users as the reason.
5. With social media you’re only renting a space
Axies Digital perfectly describe the impact of a business only posting on social media (rather than their own website).
“You may be tempted to post your articles on LinkedIn or Medium, instead of your website because there is a bigger audience there. But, here, keep in mind that you will be posting on rented locations.”
It’s entirely true. You’re investing time, effort and your business’ future in a platform that you’re only renting. This means that…
• Any money or time you spend directing audience traffic to your social media output, you’re investing in someone else’s business and space on the internet, not your own. That rented space can be taken away at any time.
• You’re not investing in your own future. All websites have a domain authority score. Put simply, it’s a measure of how likely your website is to display well in search rankings. It’s made up of a number of components including the number and quality of backlinks you have and the age of your website. If you post on your website, you can improve your domain authority and ranking over time. If you’re only posting to social media your business’ online growth potential is effectively being capped, you’re only investing in the now and not in your future.
6. Social media platforms have outages and downtime
All internet platforms are vulnerable to outages. But if your website goes down, you can take action with your hosting provider and get it resolved. If a social media platform goes down and it’s your only source of contact with customers, you’re cut off.
In October 2021 Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram services were down for around six hours, affecting nearly 3 billion users. In 2019, a similar outage lasted nearly 14 hours.
If those were days when you had planned a major marketing promotion or sale such outages would have had a devastating impact on your ability to connect with audiences.
What does all this mean for businesses?
In short, we believe it means you shouldn’t be relying solely on social media to sell, market or communicate. An over-reliance on social media leaves you vulnerable. Social media usage can decline, social platforms fail and they experience outages.
There’s undeniably a place for social media in the marketing of a strong business. But it’s not intended to be the only tool in your business’ box. Maintaining a business website alongside social media reduces your vulnerability and means that in the event of issues or outages on social media your business can continue to operate.
Having a business website also…
• Provides you with a stable platform for sales and communication that is under your control.
• Enables you to invest in the long-term success of your business, building your website’s domain authority, SEO and discoverability.
• Inspires confidence in your customers – you’re here for the long term and you value your business enough to invest in it.
• Allows you to tap in to the global market of five billion internet users.
Help with website design and creating content for websites
At QuayClick, we’re strong believers in the need for businesses to have a website alongside any social media marketing they undertake. We can design an appealing and engaging website that showcases your business and helps you reach new customers. Our Exeter copywriters can also help with creating content, including website text and regular blog posts. To find out more, contact us today.
QUAY HOUSE
KINGS WHARF
EXETER | EX2 4AN
01392 793633
HELLO@QUAYCLICK.CO.UK
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We’re a website design and digital marketing agency based in Exeter. We help businesses grow online and have over 20 years of experience in Web Design. We offer several inbound strategies, including paid search and SEO. In addition, our content team can help with copywriting and email campaigns.