Socially savvy
20th November 2017
Socially savvy
20th November 2017
- 2 minute read
Social media has created ultra low cost, convenient spaces for small business to set up shop in a digital environment where they know people will congregate. Its a bit like a vast mega mall where there are several million shops rather than a couple of hundred. You know shoppers are going to come to the mall, your landlord has taken care of that, but how will shoppers find you, how do you stand out from the crowd?
With social media you’re effectively renting a space inside someone else’s business for yours. You are governed by their rules and regulations, your customer experience is essentially the same as the store next door and the one next door to that. You have limited options to break the mould you find yourself in and there is always the chance your landlord could change the rules at any moment. Scary to think this could have a seriously detrimental impact on your business to which you would have no recourse.
If you want a unique digital store front for your business, if you’d like to be able to carefully craft your digital experiences to the needs of your customers, set yourself apart from your competition and take full control, then you need your own website.
We should say at this point that we’re not advocating you stop using social media, far from it. Its an incredibly useful tool but if you are looking to stand out, your social media channels should be complimentary to your digital store front. Customers use the internet to not only discover your business but to test legitimacy; if you only exist on social media you are probably not playing to your strengths.
We all know how important search engine rankings are to an online business and they form a vital part of a digital marketing strategy. Yes social media is indexed by the search engines, however you are far less likely to appear favourably in organic search than if you have your own website on your own domain name, because with your own website you are always in full control of your businesses SEO output. For new customers who may not yet know you by name, this is a vital element in your digital strategy.
Yes, of course its true that creating a website costs more than setting up on social media. However think of it this way, if you invest in your own website you are investing 100% in your business, not in someone else’s. You don’t have to worry about the landlord moving the goalposts, you have far more flexibility to respond to changes in your marketplace and ultimately to the growth of your business.
If you think your business is worth the investment and you like the idea of being in complete control of your customer experience, get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you.