Choosing Between Social Media or Website

Why Not Both?

In free consultations, clients often ask PxO Ink LLC whether a free social media page is just as good as a fully-featured and paid for website. What they're really asking is whether the return on investment, or ROI, of a website, is worth the cost. The reality is that it's not an either/or question. Now that social media is prevalent, business owners need both.

Over time the Web has evolved. Initially surfers relied entirely on Web rings, curated indexes, and word-of-mouth to navigate the World Wide Web. As discussion platforms, like forums, became more popular, we saw our first foray into consolidating the Web for the sake of improving the user experience. With the advent of search engines, this trend continued, and the Web became more convenient to navigate. Now, with social media, the Web (and the Internet to a larger degree) has become nearly fully consolidated into centralized platforms where most traffic originates from.

If social media is so important, then why are websites still necessary? Can't businesses save on expenses by just having a social media page? They certainly can, but they do so at their own peril. Websites are not lost income, they are business expenses for further opportunity.

As discussed in Do You Really Need a Website?, a website is the full digital storefront of your business. It's your business card and pitch all rolled into one. It's where you centralize traffic, send customers to convert, and measure the results of those efforts.

Social Media for Discoverability and Traffic

Social media on the other hand, even though it offers the ability to create business pages to promote your business, is primarily a source for discoverability. Although websites offer that too, through search engines, social media has pushed curated algorithms for this purpose. As people discover a business through social media, they will naturally want to learn more. Social media isn't about deep-dives on research, it's about engaging content. Where do you send your potential customers to learn more in detail?

The truth is that social media is better as a source of traffic than a target for conversions.

On the topic of conversion targets, how do your potential customers translate into actual customers? Do they call your phone number or walk into your business? How do they send you an email? Do they purchase a specific product, or sign-up with your newsletter? If you're only offering one method of conversion or contact, then you might be leaving money on the table.

The Path Toward Conversion

We know from an exhaustive amount of publicly available data, that most people use social media, and web search, to perform necessary research to make financial decisions. Potential customers may discover you through social media, but they will read testimonials, reviews, and judge you based on your Web presence; all of which happens outside of social media. As technology continues to evolve, customers will rely on generative responses from AI and LLMs to help them make decisions. AI and LLMs heavily leverage web search and crawling technologies to provide contextual responses for their users. Sometimes social media doesn't cut it. If you don't have a fully developed Web presence, you simply won't be discussed.

Both Are Essential

The reality of the situation is that a website is absolutely essential, because it acts as the digital closer for your business. Furthermore, you can't skimp on social media either, because that can cripple your discoverability. You can't choose one or the other. You need both.

With social media, businesses aren't necessarily finding a way to lower costs. Instead, they're being offered an opportunity to expand their reach. As more and interesting platforms are created to allow users to discover new things, consider these as opportunities to expand your digital marketing profile; not to try and cut costs.

If you're looking for help ensuring your website offers a robust call-to-action, or you want to discuss these concepts further, PxO Ink LLC can help!