If you have a strong busines presence on social media, is there any point having a website? The short answer is yes. But why?
With everyone on social media these days, including most of your customers, what’s the extra value in having a website?
There are many reasons to have a website as well as social media channels and a lot of these reasons are to do with long-term growth, visibility, search engine integrity and control.
Social media is for marketing your business
Social media is amazing. It’s free, it’s non-technical, it’s mobile-optimised and nearly everyone is on it, including most of your customers.
However, as much as social media is effective at building your presence within a customer community, seeing your customers interact and all the positives that brings to you, namely that you are creating a positive, engaged audience, you only ever exist as a fragment of your brand, under the huge umbrella of Facebook, Instagram, or whatever other platforms you happen to be on.
Customers can’t shop on social media
Granted. Your customers can send you a DM (Direct Message) and ask to order a product or service, but to actually shop, they have to leave the social media platform and click to get to your website/online shop.
Customers have to take a leap of faith from the persona you are creating on social media, in order to check out your main offer – represented by your website. And that is how customers think of it – social media is the chatting, interacting and marketing; but your website is the real deal – where your shop, product/service info, promises, standards and testimonials are.
Your website is purely you
In terms of representation, and the communication of your brand, and the experience of dealing with you, your website is everything. You have complete control over your website. You’re not relying on the mystery of social media algorithms in the hope that people see it; if you run a campaign that directs people to your website, they will see exactly what you want them to see.
A website offers a customer journey experience unlike anything that social media can offer. And it’s there, steadfastly, 24/7. It’s a journey you can take full advantage of by structuring and designing your content in line with what you want your browsers to do, and the goals you want to achieve.
A website is more professionalism
Most customers, no matter how much you are on social media, expect to see a website. If you have a professional URL, when they search for you, your website is more likely to come up than your social media platforms. Search engines prioritise websites over social media, as they are seen as having more integrity. You will also appear, if you have a website, in related searches that people carry out.
Your links to your shop, downloads, guides, special offers and subscription, and your social media can all be on your website, which is what your customers would expect. In fact, when they visit your website, they are already some way along the journey to buy from you.
To sum up on why you need a website, as well as social media:
- Customers expect to see a website
- Search engines prioritise websites
- You’ll seem more professional
- Show your around for the long haul
- You can go to town on your brand
- Have complete control over your customers’ journey
- Have more revenue opportunities
As much as you need social media for shouting about your business, it can never do what a website does – at least not yet anyway!
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