In a time where social media dominates as a platform for conversation, advertising and just about all other methods of communication between brands and their audience, are websites still relevant?
We can all agree that having a digital presence in this day and age is essential, but to what extent? Do you really need to spend that extra cash on a fancy new website? Is the Facebook page that you threw together last night, sitting in your tighty-whities and sipping R100 scotch not enough?
The short simple answer is yes, it is enough. If you are only planning on marketing your homemade marmalade to the neighbourhood. And are above manually delivering the flyers your children spent the afternoon drawing up for you on Microsoft Word.
The problem with limiting yourself to a social media page alone is, quite simply, how much you sacrifice. A fully customisable website tailored to your needs can capture a potential client’s attention. Many times far more effectively than the limitations in appearance and functionality that a social media page imposes. This is unfortunately a result of the platforms on which these pages are built.
Let us delve a bit deeper into exactly what personalised websites and social media pages have to offer, and where they might fall short in comparison to one another.
A website is a home
Someone once described a website to me as a “home” for your online presence. It’s a space where you create a digital version of your brand or idea for the entire world to see.
You have full control over everything. From the layout and style of the site, to the content you choose to display. Thus making it the perfect platform to present your vision, your ideas and ultimately, what sets you ahead of your competitors.
Website Pros
Total, uninhibited control
Owning your own website allows you to create a look and feel that suits your brand right down to the features that you implement.
Referrals
The ease and simplicity behind existing customers being able to refer their friends and family to your site by a simple link will aid in the promotion of your brand by word of mouth.
The formidability of a strong, established online brand identity cannot be overstated
The credibility behind having your own domain immediately builds trust between your brand and audience.
Email address associated with your domain
Custom email addresses are also great for credibility. Owning a domain allows you to create custom email addresses for yourself and your employees.
Operating costs at a fraction of the price
If your website is commerce based and you’re selling something to your clients, you’re already cutting out massive costs like renting a physical store or having to pay wages to multiple employees.
Online stores have no down time
You’re open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!
Complete activity tracking
How many people visit your site per day. Where your visitors originate from. How long each of them spend on an individual page. How many people initiated contact in the form of messaging or emails. Information like this is all tracked for you automatically. Which makes in-depth analysis reporting a breeze considering how many metrics you have at your disposal.
Link building
Having other websites linking back to your website will increase your website’s authority and organic search engine rating. Resulting in you receiving more visitors per day due to your website’s authority. This of course requires strong, valuable and consistent content creation.
Increased sales
One of the biggest advantages of having a website over a social media page is taking advantage of how Google and other search engine’s index their websites. A social media page will not show up as a first page result to the average users searching for ‘hardware stores’ – but a website that has been optimised correctly might – thanks to the fact that social media pages cannot be optimised for search engines.
Website cons
Maintenance
Keeping a large website’s hosting rich content up to date can be costly as well as time consuming
Required Marketing Investment
In order to gain and maintain traffic through to your website, you will need to put together an in-depth marketing strategy. This might only cost you time and effort, fortunately.
Infrastructure and Design
It goes without saying that the more complicated the functionality and design of your website is, the more it will cost to set up.
Social Media
One of the biggest draws of a social media page from regular websites is, quite simply, simplicity. Social media pages are far easier, and far quicker to set up. A social media novice could do around 30 minutes of research and have their page setup within the hour.
The global metrics regarding the usage of social media are actually ridiculous. A staggering 3.08 billion users have been noted as using social media in 2020. Compare that to 0.97 billion in 2010 and you’re looking at a growth rate of 217.53% over the course of 10 years. And this number is only going to be increasing. The audience is out there. Paid advertising and targeting will enable you to reach them and help build up brand awareness.
Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of social media marketing strategies:
Social media pros
Your audience is massive
With the sheer volume of people using social media, your marketing campaign is bound to reach a large amount of users
You’re directly connected with your audience
You know exactly who is interested in your business or brand because they choose to follow you. This enables you to get to know them better and, as a result, provide better customer service.
The ability to FREELY post organic content
Social media platforms enable you to post a variety of content to engage with your audience. Photos and videos can go a long way in captivating the attention of your target market. The best part? It doesn’t cost you a cent.
Access to paid advertising services
Obtaining new leads is the cornerstone to brand and business growth. Social media’s paid advertisements allow you to reach these potential clients through ads. Tailored to appear in the feeds of people who are looking for what you have to offer.
Marketing campaign performance evaluation
Social media platforms make it easy to monitor the general response to your marketing campaign through their statistical tracking. How many people viewed your post, commented on it, liked it, shared it, etc. Metrics like these are useful when reviewing the success of a marketing campaign and identifying what worked and what didn’t.
Funnelling traffic through to your websites
A social media page is a great catalyst for driving up traffic. Compelling, captivating content can incite curiosity in users. Posting a link to your website on your page will provide them with easy access. Allowing them to learn more about what you have to offer.
Viral content
People love to share things that they enjoy with others in their network. If you have a wide reach and your content is shared regularly, your content is being spread on an exponential scale for free!
Social media cons
Negative feedback
They say that there is no such thing as bad publicity, right? WRONG. Negative feedback directed at your business or brand can have disastrous effects on your potential client conversions.
Opening up the doors for potential embarrassment
As mentioned earlier, in the viral portion of the pros of social media, people love to share things that they enjoy. But what they love to share even more, are ideas and posts that they find controversial. One tiny oversight could lead to a maelstrom of negative publicity that will require a lot of damage control to come back from.
Lack of response
You already know that you need to invest a substantial amount of time into a marketing campaign for it to succeed. 10 hours spent on creating content that results in little to no engagement can be incredibly disheartening.
Highly competitive market
Your posts are not the only posts your potential leads will be seeing. Your content doesn’t just need to be good. It needs to be better or at least on a par with your competitors.
It can be expensive
Without investing money into paid advertising, you might not be able to achieve the reach that your brand needs in order to grow.
Limited stat tracking
The feedback statistics you receive may seem underwhelming compared to those from a website, as these stats are limited to what the chosen social media platform provides.
Your content might not your own
A price you pay when using social media is checking ‘I agree’ in that terms and conditions box. You might not be as in control of the content you publish as you may think. Better read that fine print.
Conclusion
We can see that social media pages definitely have their uses when considered as marketing tools. Rather than your one-stop-shop to online success. When implemented and promoted correctly, they can reach a wide variety of potential clients all over the globe. However, consider this initial contact the first step in presenting your brand. Use it as a tool to drive traffic to your website, aiming to convert a potential client’s curiosity into genuine interest.
If you want your business to thrive in this digital age, having an active social media page linking back to professionally produced websites would be considered the basics. The bare minimum required to market yourself properly and put yourself on the map.
If you have only one, or even none, of the above, get in contact with us today. See what we at KOKIO can do to grow your business!
Check out more of our articles here
