PODCAST: What if… social media is dead?

Podcast

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Have you noticed that some big names in the online space are announcing that they’re taking their businesses off Instagram? And these are businesses that built their entire empire on that single platform! What is that about?? Do they know something we don’t know?

We want to know – is social media dying? Or is it just changing?

What is your data saying?

Look, you do need to adjust if your audience is moving away from the platform you are marketing on.

BUT… if you don’t know that for sure and you’re just noticing a lull, the problem could be that you aren’t being consistent enough.

We’ve seen time and again that it does take 90 days to start to see traction in what you’re doing in regards to marketing.

And it’s hard to be patient when it comes to social media. We all want a quick win!

But if you know you’re being consistent and you still have a hunch that something isn’t clicking quite right, there are things to pay attention to.

Continuous Evaluation

How do you evaluate?

Market research.

Big companies invest in market research every quarter. They analyze where the traffic is coming from and where they’re making sales. They’re looking closely at their content and taking note of what’s working – and what’s not working.

We can follow their lead!

By the way, are ALL of your marketing eggs in the social media basket?

100% of your marketing efforts should NOT be on social media alone.

What about your email list??

Email is a platform that’s your own. Every single person in your audience receives the content you deliver to them (and you can’t say that about social media!)

The most compelling fact is that stats show people convert quite a lot better through email than social media. You can’t ignore that!

So – is social media dying or not?

To be clear – no, we don’t think social media is dying. But we do believe that it’s evolving. AND it needs to be a piece of your marketing strategy.

We’re finding that social media is becoming more about brand awareness and not as effective for sales as it once was.

So, our recommendation would be to prepare to pivot how you’re selling.

Our hunch is that this is going to be the most effective way to use all the different platforms in 2021:

Social Media = Brand Awareness
Email = Sales

And we have a prediction… for 2021, searchable platforms (YouTube & Pinterest) will do better than social media platforms for funneling leads that are ready to buy.

Why are we thinking this? Well, we just had to reflect on our own behavior. When we’ve wanted to purchase something, where did we go? Instagram? No way. Facebook? Nope. We searched in YouTube, Pinterest, or Google.

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Social media is an incredible tool for an online business. And we haven’t seen any indication that it’s going anywhere in the near future.

BUT.. it’s always wise to keep an eye on your data. Where is your audience? What about your content is working to engage them? Are you making sales? If so, where are they happening? If the answer is some place other than where you’re putting your efforts, then it’s time to adjust.

And last – consider that social media may not be the most effective place to sell right now. It may be wise to build a presence on searchable platforms like Pinterest or Youtube, and to use social media for the purpose of lead generation and brand awareness.

Let us know what you think about these ideas!