Do I Need a Website When I Already Have a Social Media Presence?

The advantages many companies enjoy from having a social media presence are many. So they can’t be blamed for wondering why they also need a website.

The Benefits of a Social Media Presence

Having an active presence in the right social media mix delivers lots of benefits. These are but a few.

1. Zero Technical Expertise Required – Keeping a website up to date can be a daunting exercise in technical know-how and/or expensive updates. A content management system can help. Still, it can be difficult and/or time consuming to update content, change an image or add a promotional event.But even your Grandma quickly posts all her adventures on Facebook. She lists Events she plans to attend, changes her profile pic seasonally and posts endless photo galleries.
2. Instant SEO – Unless you have an active and effective digital marketing program, chances are that when you google your company name, the top results are your social media business pages.
3. Direct Communication with Your Customers & Communities – Maybe you regularly have the extremely rare good fortune to be standing on the street next to someone who voices a need for your exact product or service. Just in case you don’t, you can make it an almost daily occurrence with a social media presence. And there’s no better way to keep in touch with other relevant communities for your business, including suppliers, competitors and influencers.

Like we said, considering just those three benefits, it’s easy to see why you would wonder if you still need a website.

Yes, You Still Need a Website Even with an Active and Productive Social Media Presence

Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you from the dream of just needing to be a good tweeter to successfully market your business online!

But there’s no replacing a website as the platform for all your digital marketing and here’s why:

1. You Have Total Control of Your Website and Its Content – This might not seem like anything different than what you do on social media. After all, you have total control over what you post on Instagram or Snapchat.But having your business’ online presence solely at the mercy of social media platforms is like running your company as an offshoot of someone else’s. It’s like having your store in their store. If they change the store layout, affecting how customers find your business, you can’t do anything about it.

   A practical example of this happened in early 2015. Facebook updated their algorithm in a way that reduced the reach of Business Pages. Of course, that also reduced any revenue or interaction those pages generated. And business owners could do nothing about it. Social platforms can also fall out of favour with users. MySpace was the most popular social media site in the world from 2005 to 2009. But it lost over 30% of its dwindling user base in one year between March 2010 and March 2011.

2. Your Website Gives Prospects a Place to Convert – Your website gives a base to your social media activity. Of course you can turn leads into customers exclusively on social, but each one might need to be nurtured individually.But your website is a place where anyone who finds you on social media can go to get a better understanding of you and your offering. And a place where they can convert into a customer. Without you having to make any additional efforts.
3. It’s a Competitive Advantage – Yes, there are many companies who use only a social media presence to market their business online. Heck, there are companies out there who don’t have an online presence of any sort. But let’s say a potential customer has shortlisted your company (of course you have a website) and a social-only marketer. The mere fact that you have an active website with quality content can be the deciding factor.When they only have online information to work with, potential customers look for reasons to choose one company over another. They can have a ‘fear factor’ of doing business with a company they don’t otherwise know. Your website can be the confidence boost they need to choose you over the competition.

With more structure to it, you’ll be better able to build and reap the rewards of your digital marketing. Your website is the foundation of that structure, and your social media can lead your customers to it.

Want to learn more? Get in touch with nvision’s digital marketing team today!