Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs More Than Social Media

We can focus so much of our time and attention on building a business or brand on social media that we forget to look at our other avenues of digital strategy.

Digital marketing can be a whole cluster of automated postings, blog schedules, and website changes! It can leave your head spinning with all of the things you feel like you need to create, plan, and offer out to customers! 

Here’s the truth. Social media, by itself, isn’t cutting it. 

Um, what? Did you not expect that from me considering my absolute love of social media? Don’t get me wrong; I’m not telling you to quit those apps. But hear me out. Your marketing strategy can’t only be social media.

Have you ever discovered a person or brand on social media, and do you love everything about them? Maybe they post content that is exactly in line with what you need, or they inspire you. So, you like and comment on every post. 

Have you ever had a time when you think to yourself that you haven’t seen posts from that person or business lately, gone to check out their page, and missed so many of their posts and were disappointed? You wanted to see it all. You would read every post they write and buy any product they shared, but it just didn’t reach you? 

Let’s go a step further and imagine what we would do if social media someday disappeared? You might laugh at the thought, but sadly we do not own our social media followers. So someday, the owners of our favorite social media platforms could decide to change it in any way that impacts us. There’s also the possibility of hacked accounts or getting banned for reasons that out of your control.

So, what would happen if Instagram shut down tomorrow, and you lost everything?

All of your followers and relationships that you had created were gone! What would you do? It’s a tough question to answer, and I get a little uneasy thinking about it, but it’s a reality that every business should be prepared for. You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” So don’t bank your business’s entire marketing strategy on your social media profile! It’s time to start making sure you are well-rounded and investing in other avenues of marketing to build your business! 

1. You Don’t Own Your Social Media

And we don’t OWN our social media followers; the social media platforms do. Don’t get me wrong, social media is still a CRUCIAL part of your marketing strategy, but it shouldn’t be the ONLY thing.

We don’t have control over social media, and more importantly, we can’t offer personalized 1-on-1 experience via social media. Because of this, the goal of social media should be an introduction. Use your profiles like a handshake and a warm invitation to a place that offers a more in-depth experience like your website. 

Social media is an essential first step in this strategy, but we have to continue the process on our websites and email marketing strategies so that they are all working in tandem.

2. Social Media Algorithms Change

Did you know that your audience sees only 6% of social media posts? So for every 100 posts you share on social media, it’s likely that only 6 of those posts have been seen by the people who follow you. These social platforms are overflowing with content, and you’re competing for a spot in your audience’s feed with every other brand. We need more than 6% if our businesses are going to be profitable. 

If it’s difficult to reach even the people who want to hear from us, how can we expand our reach and growth?

We can’t magically hack the algorithms to present our posts more often to our dream clients. We can only continue grinding to cultivate a loyal following or maybe even investing in paid advertising. 

But, a message is 5x more likely to be seen in an email than on Facebook. So by taking some of the time we were using on social media, and using that to build and nurture an email list, we’ll be able to reach our audience more consistently.

3. Email establishes a more personal connection

If you write your emails right, you can talk directly to your subscribers and get across your personality and thoughts! It’s much more challenging to do this in social posts that you are writing to your thousands of followers. 

Email campaigns can become a routine for your subscribers to look forward to reading your updates. In a way, emails can become the new way to keep your subscribers in the loop! It also is THE BEST way to inform your subscribers about what is happening with your company! So if you’re making a change, offering a new service, or running a sale, well-written campaigns can inform your audience.

4. Higher Conversions

Many clients come to me and think that email is old and outdated and that people don’t read, let alone buy from email campaigns! Well, friends, those are all misconceptions! 

Did you know that 72% of people prefer to see your promotions and updates via email? Or that email generates 174% more conversions than social media will. Those are some big numbers!

Even though your social media followers may be a bigger number than your email list, your email subscribers will always see your emails and are ten times more likely to buy!

Email marketing is, for sure, a whole other beast to tackle! You have to be sure you write them correctly to engage with your audience and offer enough insight into your business. Email is genuinely one of the BEST facets you should have in your digital marketing strategy!

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