Is Social Media Essential For All Businesses?

Time and time again, we’ve heard the same question from many business owners who have come to consult with us. “Should I really start promoting my business on social media?” Now, we understand the advantages of being present on social media.

Aside from amplifying twice as much your brand awareness, reaching new audiences, increasing leads or sales, and expanding business opportunities with partnerships, is this always the case for every business that exists today?

Should every business be working on their social media presence? Let’s weigh in on the matter.

Why Businesses Are Taking Advantage Of Social Media

Let’s take a look at this 2018 social media data summary. Out of the 7.5 billion people in the world, 3 billion people are active on social media and almost 3 billion are checking their social media on their mobile devices every day.

It’s a pretty massive number, isn’t it? Every business would totally dig in on the Internet to amp up their business game.

That’s why most business owners today have this mindset that since they’re relatively new as a business, social media would be a great way for people to get to know them, interact with them, and get them to purchase their products or services. 

Business owners today are going all out for social media because it’s where the people live nowadays. Social media has become the second habitat of the majority who want to seek out new experiences, communicate and socialise with people, discover new products, and catch up with what’s happening around the world in real-time. 

But, here’s the thing. There are several factors that businesses should consider when using social media. We’ve heard a lot of stories from our clients asking why their promotions on social media don’t get too much engagement traction from online users, and we’ve actually identified that some of the culprits behind it are the following:

• They’re targeting the wrong audience online
• They’re just new on social media, there are not many results to look at
• Their content is unappealing or doesn’t push people to conversion
• Their social media presence appears sketchy 
• Their brand reputation online is not looking good
• Poor relationship with their customers (if they have built social media following already)
• Their business’ nature is not meant to be promoted on social media
• Their products and services have their own share of flaws, which therefore needs improvement

Is Social Media Really Meant For All?

Businesses are not discouraged from utilising social media to increase their revenues, there’s nothing bad about expanding your business on greener pastures. But  being universally taught that using social media to promote your business is the best solution seems a bit off, since believing in it puts you in the perspective that you’re only using social media out of social pressure or out of fear that your competitors will outgrow your business’ overall presence and/or makes you think that the ROI in social media is easier to hit, that’s why some owners failed to keep their business alive. 

Social media marketing isn’t for everyone, and that remains a constant fact to this day. Some businesses do not need to be on social media for the following reasons:

Their services are too localised to offer.

If you’re a business that requires only a narrow type of community with an ultimately specific purchasing goal, then your business might not just be for social media. For example, if you’re a quality butcher shop in a small, local town and your only customers are the people in that town — why bother butchering a good opportunity by thinking about having social media account when your market is closer to you?

There are many different excellent businesses out there thriving without a social media marketing plan. Their secret? Providing quality products and services (and even exceeding it by providing extra offers), maintaining good relationships with customers, and upholding their brand’s value through their personality. 

There are more cost-efficient ways for them to advertise their products and services. 

As previously mentioned, some businesses do social media out of social pressure or out of fear that their competitors are steps away ahead of them. Sometimes, businesses get overconfident with social media because they believe that it has the largest capacity to bring them the best results without having to spend too much.

But at some point, it will take a toll on them financially and their business might suffer from it too. Try other advertising alternatives that are more efficient to your business’ nature, is convenient for your market, and will drive good revenue at the same time. 

A business can survive even without including social media in their marketing plan.

Mark Schaefer, an international-acclaimed social media marketing consultant and author, tells a good story about how a woman named Frankie who owns a local barbershop is the best in the neighborhood even without promoting her business on social media or even sending emails! How does she do it? She establishes trust through her personality, she delivers excellent value, she keeps her overhead costs low, and doing extras in order to earn loyalty. 

It might be a tedious job for some people, but it pays even without using social media. And some people don’t have the leisure time to be active on social media, that’s why they make up for it personally to their customers. Frankie’s business might be thriving successfully, but that’s because she has two teenagers, an old mom, and a disabled boyfriend to look after. Sometimes, social media doesn’t always fit in along with a person’s major priorities in life. 

You have personality issues when using social media.

Sometimes, the problem doesn’t lie with the nature of the business itself but with its owner. Countless numbers of brands, from the widely known to the local ones, have sabotaged their business because of their online behaviour.

One of the most common reasons why some marketers think that social media isn’t really meant for every kind of business is because the personality they show on social media will affect how people will perceive their brand. Just take a look at some of the epic and tragic ways on how businesses killed their opportunity on social media.

Not everything naturally works out. 

A business’s progress and growth takes a lot to happen but staying in the wrong lane where your business will have little to no chance to grow feels worse than the actual process of growing itself. Sometimes, not all good things come with a good ending. It doesn’t mean that social media is not a useful tool for your business anymore, the time might not just be today and you have to accept that and then, move on. 

You don’t have to be afraid of not using social media when marketing your business to people. What you can do instead is get creative and utilise other conventional yet proven marketing tactics like blogging, email marketing, print advertising, offline partnerships, or on-ground events.

As long as you deliver value for your customers in every process, your business will survive.