It’s common knowledge by now that social media is a vital tool for the majority of businesses, whether you want brand awareness, sales, to promote a new product or service or want to find your community, social media can help with all of this.
There’s two important words from the above sentence, and that is ‘can help’.
Of course social media has the potential to sell out a new product, to go viral and reach millions of people and find a portfolio of new customers / clients. But it is vital for businesses to know that social media does not guarantee these outcomes, even with a solid strategy.
Why would a marketing agency who specialises in social media write an article about how social media doesn’t guarantee phenomenal results? Because it’s realistic.
For your business, multiple purchasing funnels are better than relying on one. Social media can support these funnels and be a funnel in itself, but only in exceptional circumstances can it cause your whole product ranges to sell out singlehandedly.
But that doesn’t mean that social media isn’t essential…
Having a social media presence for your business should be for the right reasons, it isn’t a case of appearing popular, having lots of followers and painting a perfect picture. The intention behind your social presence should be to want to genuinely engage with likeminded accounts, celebrate your businesses positive ethos, to proudly showcase your great product or service etc.
By simply approaching social media with the attitude of being genuine, relaxed and audience aware / personable, you will not only have a more enjoyable experience as a social media user, but it will also simultaneously push positive messages to your online audience, which will then be associated with your brand / business. Your audience can tell when you’re on social media for the sake of it, so always keep it real.
Of course an agency such as ours will know the tips and tricks to maximise results, but the combination of a client with the right intentions and a marketing agency with the expertise is the perfect combination to create the best results for your business on social media.
Another reason to have other options alongside social media is to be able to proactively respond to changes within the platforms. They are ever evolving and occasionally this may not be in favour of businesses, whilst you change and adapt to a new strategy to overcome this, you’ll need other options to keep your business flowing.
Lastly, just like social media may have to be supported by other avenues within your business, it also works the other way round. Increasingly people are using social media to search for a brand or business to see how trustworthy or successful it is. This means that if you have no or poor presence, this may harm your progression even if potential customers heard about you from elsewhere. If you are a new business, you may notice that it will take some time to build and find your space in the social media world… and that’s completely fine! Do not feel pressured or expected to become a sensation overnight.
So to conclude, social media is very important, but it isn’t everything. Have some fun with it and be sure to enjoy the process and challenges it brings!
