Website or Social Media ?
Well, 2021 is almost upon us and we have been getting many questions from businesses of what they should pick for their online presence. Website or Social Media?
So, we have decided to try and explain the options a bit more here and how they should not be seen as competing systems but instead products that work together.
One way to look at it is a website being your HUB, an area for all your information to be stored and your content to flow from. Social Media channels are great Marketing Toolsallowing you to reach customers more quickly and allow them to get in touch with you.
When building your brand, it is important to buy anything you can that connects you to that brand. Hence why many businesses buy logos and put that on their business cards or their work vans. It’s a physical thing that a business owns. When building your brand on social media even though you are using your Logo and your information you are essentially renting space and a social media channel is now your landlord. They don’t really care if your business succeeds or fails, they are advertising other businesses like yours on your page anyway. You are building a page that is locked to the terms and guidelines set by someone else and those are the same guidelines and terms that if you breach can see your online presence removed overnight.
Using social media as your only online presence also limits how much you can make your brand stand out from your competitors. Social Media is not only making all their business pages look similar just with different images and information but also actively advertising other businesses on that page. How many pages have you visited that have advertised a similar company that you may wish to follow. ?
Then we have the reliability of social media channels. How often have you heard or seen someone else or another business account being hacked? Or a fake one being setup. If you type in Argos on Facebook how many different accounts do you see? Are these all owned by the official Argos page? probably not. These fake pages can and do damage brands. For your business how easy would it be for an ex-employee to set up a fake account for your business simply by adding the number 1 to the end of the page name and filling it with negative reviews and information? VERY EASILY!
Many Strong Businesses see Social Media as a Marketing Tool rather than their Hub for online presence simple because in this day in age social media networks rise and they fall. The options available are ever-changing and if Facebook shut down tomorrow it would not mean the end of business for them.
If you are interested in building your online presence, we are Eirmis Solutions can help guide you through the options and create a Taylor-made plan to suit your business needs.