Why Using Social Media Alone Doesn’t Guarantee Business Success

What’s the hill we’ll always die on here at Dash of Social®? Social media isn’t responsible for your sales — and if increasing your sales is your company’s absolute top priority and nothing else matters, you need a salesperson, not a social media manager. If you’re working with a social media manager and not seeing the results that you want, keep in mind that the social media portion likely is working as it should — but if you’re not backing up your social media presence with other marketing strategies, you’re not going to get what you’re looking for.

In other words, your social media manager is doing a great job on their end — but their effort and work aren’t making as big of an impact as they could because they’re the only one pulling the weight in the relationship. As Salesforce shares, it takes six to eight touchpoints for a person to become a lead, which means businesses can’t rely on social media alone to make that happen. If you want to really be “wowed” away with your results on social media, it’s crucial for you to either hire someone who can execute the other pieces of the marketing pie or delegate it to someone in-house who can, as shown by these reasons.

Marketing Strategies That Play a Role in Business Success

Is Your Website Customer-Focused?

In our opinion, this is what matters most. You can be producing the most outstanding marketing strategy, but if your website is terrible, all of it is going to go to waste — as all of the traffic you drive and interest you accrue will be lost because:

• Your website looks like it’s stuck in the 90s.
• Your website is difficult to navigate.
• Your website doesn’t clearly explain who you are, what you do, and how you help.

Social media acts as a vehicle for your website. It attracts a new audience and gets them really excited about your business and what you have to offer, therefore encouraging them to go to your website to learn more. If those people immediately drop off from your website upon landing there, then you know you have an issue with your website, and it needs to be resolved. To be blunt, if you can see in your analytics that your social media presence is driving a lot of traffic but people aren’t taking any action once they land on your website, it’s an indication that your website sucks — and it’s time to do something about it.

Are You Nurturing Your Email List?

If your social media presence has led to new email list subscribers, that’s amazing! But you know what’s not-so-amazing and actually ends up being a waste of time and effort? Not doing anything with that email list that you’ve grown.

People may follow you on social media, but with the algorithms that we’re all constantly worrying about, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re interacting with or even seeing all of the posts you share. That means it’s crucial to pair the value you provide on social media with consistent newsletters that also educate and support your subscribers to ensure your target audience isn’t missing out on anything.

How Are You Securing PR Opportunities?

Do you want to reach a bigger audience of people who are full of your target market? Pitch yourself to a publication to feature you who will be able to highlight your expertise in front of their audience. By being a guest on a podcast, writing a contributed blog post, getting interviewed for an article, or something else, anyone who enjoys that content will then go to your social media profiles to learn more about you and what you do and therefore follow you. Because of the consistent posts you’ll have published on your profiles, they’ll see the value in what you have to offer and will continue to stay within your circle.

Plus, social media helps you to get recognized for these features as well. If a publication sees that a business has an active presence online, they may be more tempted to highlight the organization because the publication will benefit from you sharing their content. It’s a win-win situation for all!

Are You Pairing Virtual Connections with In-Person Connections?

Despite COVID making virtual networking much more “the norm,” nothing can replace the value of in-person networking. Being able to see someone face-to-face helps to establish and build trust, which makes them more likely to hire you themselves or refer you to someone who will. Although virtual networking is convenient, creating in-person connections holds a lot of weight and brings positive impacts for years to come.

Plus, if you meet someone in person and they follow you on social media afterwards, they’ll be impressed with the content you’re consistently publishing, which will help you to stay top of mind for them.

Follow Your Audience Throughout the Customer Journey

Developing a Robust Marketing Strategy

If you’re only honing in on social media, you’re missing out on several opportunities to meet your customers where they’re at in the customer journey, which would do so much more for your sales in the long run. You can’t use only social media and expect it to carry the weight of the success of your business. The more seeds you sow, the more growth you’ll see.

Are you looking for a partner who can bring your entire marketing strategy to the next level this year? Request a consultation with us to find out how we can help you achieve your goals.