For years now, we have been told about the importance of doing social media for our business to make us appear current and knowledgeable because that attracts new customers.
But it’s only recently that I have begun to wonder about this logic for SMEs, a cost which can range from £30/month to over £300 / month for 10 posts if you sub this out of house.
It’s also important to think about the overall professional values and standards of the social media platform you are using and their real audiences; here is a link which may help:
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-october-global-statshot
Are We Being Sold a Lottery Ticket?
Thinking of Instagram which is currently one of the more popular platforms, recent figures show state there are over 200 million business accounts. We are told to invest our time and money into pursuing leads on this channel as well as encouraging people to “follow” us, but we are all chasing those elusive likes and new customers in a huge marketplace – how are you going to get heard? Oh by spending more on marketing and the hamster wheel continues…
Do You Go on Social Media to Shop?
I have followed two veteran run businesses on Instagram for nearly three months now and not once have any of their posts appeared on my feed. Frustrating for them, but I understand that a lot of social media channels will show people posts from the areas they have the most interest. It’s going to take a lot of effort to get people to change their viewing history so that Insta actually shows me anything from a company or any other business I am following.
Does posting a funny meme or a picture of your product make people buy from you? Science backs the fact that people who “doom scroll” are just looking for hit after hit, not in the right mindset to buy from you for the vast majority of cases.
In order to succeed on social media channels, you are going to have to invest on an advertising campaign. Which is going to require you not only investing in the cost of the advert, but in the research required to determine where you are best placed targetting your effort. Here is a link that gives information about digital platforms which will give you a bit more background and may help you:
https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2024/02/digital-2024-united-kingdom-report-shows-strong-growth-in-social-media/
Yes you might see something that appeals and you think “oh that would be nice to buy for Granny” for example, but unless you make the purchase at the time, will you even remember the site when it comes to Granny’s birthday or is it just easier to buy something for her you see closer to the day?
How Many Social Media Posts Go Viral?
We have all heard about the Holy Grail of that post that go viral, but here is the reality:
You can even pay for streaming content to be delivered to you ad free or watch it on platforms that block these adverts…
So why are you paying for this in terms of your time and financial outlay if you have outsourced this?
Why Are We Signposting Customers Off our Website?
We are regularly told to minimise having customers move away from our website, and yet we are happy to install the very buttons which allow them to click on other platforms where they can be:
a. distracted by seeing a message from a friend
b. carry scrolling on past your post and move onto someone else’s post
c. see an announcement from their favourite football team and forget why they came on in the first place
d. see a paid advertisement from a competitor which somehow pops up on their screen before they see your post, etc
By all means, make sure you own the virtual space for your brand on a social media platform to avoid any issues about cyber squatting, but point these platforms to your website.
Consider Investing in Marketing Your Business via Your Website!
It just seems illogical to me not to bring all your marketing activity onto your website, keeping everything under one roof where you have control when you are starting up in business and until you get to a point where it makes sense for you to pay for an online or real world advertisement.
Your website needs to become more than just a static page; make it entertaining – Build It and they will come.
You can easily create videos and podcasts that you own and be seen by everyone.
You don’t need to be spamming the internet with multiple pieces; one or two good quality ones that clearly and succintly show what you do or produce or sell is quite enough. Don’t bore your audience; just think about real world, do we want to see variations of the same theme; aren’t you like most people and “switch off” mentally or walk out of the room during adverts.
It never harms to question the value of the emperor’s clothes. And yes, be very aware that if you are outsourcing, you won’t get many social media businesses agreeing with this !
If you have any questions about how your website can be set up to maximise your marketing, do contact Alex at Shire Web Design.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-perkins-9395a52ba/
