Can social media platforms replace a business website?
With more people than ever using their mobile phones to access the web, are Facebook/Instagram and Twitter more important to businesses than websites?
Did you know that most of your followers never see your posts? That’s 1 of 5 reasons why you need a website for your business to reach your customers on the web, and not just social media accounts.
Some entrepreneurs may see Facebook, Instagram or TikTok as an easier alternative, where it is “just to create an account” to get started with their online marketing. Sure, social media has become an important channel to be seen on, but still works best as a complement to your website.
- A majority of your followers never see your posts
- Your news stays fresh for a longer time on the website
- Your social media is poorly visible on Google
- A website gives you greater control over your online brand
- What happens if my account is hacked or deleted?
1. A majority of your followers never see your posts
With the constant stream of new posts, photos and news, it can be hard to stand out in the crowd and many of your followers won’t see all of your posts. There is simply too much information on the various platforms.
…and the ever-changing algorithm doesn’t make it any better
In 2018, Facebook began prioritizing personal posts from family and friends and posts with many interactions in Facebook users’ news feeds over posts from businesses and media.
The change means that you as a business owner need to work harder with the content of your posts to raise the quality and get real likes and comments. If you do not have sufficient resources for this, it can be significantly more difficult for your posts to be seen on Facebook and other social media.
2. Your news stays fresh for a longer time on the website
What you publish on social media is fresh produce with a really short best before date. News gets lost in the mass of posts that are published daily, and if you publish posts frequently, it is difficult for your followers to find what they found interesting six months ago. On a website, instead, information is stored for a longer period of time and can be looked up and used again and again until it is out of date or deleted from the website.
3. Your social media is poorly visible on Google
As many as 98% of Swedes google for information about companies and their products and services. This shows how extremely important it is for you as a business owner to appear well among the search results. The best way to do this is with a website filled with well-organized, valuable content that covers multiple keywords and phrases relevant to your business.
An account on social media is not seen at all as well as your website among the search results on, for example, Google. Try searching for something in particular (that is not a company name or brand) in a search engine yourself – how many of the first page search results come from Facebook, Instagram or other social media?
4. A website gives you greater control over your online brand
With a website, you not only control how long your content will be available, but also how it is presented. Another advantage of having a website is that you can fully use your own graphic profile and make it look exactly the way you want it to. On Instagram or Facebook, for example, you get the opportunity to add your logo as a profile picture, change the cover picture, etc., which is good in itself, but by no means as strengthening for your brand as a website completely in your own design.
5. What happens if my account is hacked or deleted?
Relying solely on one social media account is risky. As the companies behind the various social media have full control over all the material you publish, they can choose to remove it at any time if they so wish. That, together with changes to rules for e.g. marketing, can have devastating consequences for your company’s marketing and sales.
In addition, it happens more and more often that people and companies have their accounts hacked and then lose access to a large part of their circle of customers and potential customers.
So, website or social media? Therefore, you need both parts after all
Facebook, Instagram and other social media have a huge number of users who visit the channel daily, which you cannot count on for your own website. Use your social channels in your marketing by arousing the interest of your target group there and then leading them on to your website.
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