CAN BUSINESSES SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?

9 November 2022

The question on everyone’s lips… Can my business survive without social media (SM)?

In a very small number of cases the answer could be yes. But for most of you, buckle up, it's time to ride the SM train. Having social media marketing (SMM) in your business plan somewhere is essential to maintaining, and more importantly, growing a successful brand.

In this blog, we’ll highlight some key data about SM in the world of business, share some alternative ways of viewing SM you might not be thinking about, and explain why you really do have nothing to lose by just giving it a go.

It’s impossible to ignore the monumental rise of SM

• A huge 93% of marketers worldwide are using SM for business and 91% of executives will increase their budget for social media marketing in the next 3 years and you don’t want to get left behind.

  
  

• 4.70 billion people are using social media right now, according to Datareportal. That’s billions of people you could potentially expose your brand to if you use SM in the right way. 

  
  

• 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media. SM is the modern day word of mouth. For example, if someone shares your content to their Instagram story, and they get 400 views, that’s 400 people they’ve ‘told’ about your new product or service.

  
  

SM is more than just a marketing tool

One big misconception is that your SMM isn’t working because your Instagram DMs aren’t full of people placing orders. That isn’t the case. SM gives your brand extra, and almost constant, exposure to current and potential consumers which can convert into paying customers.

Direct sales are definitely not out of the question. One study found that, of a group of marketers who use SM in a sales capacity, 78% reported achieving an increase in sales numbers.

In the digital world, SM can help you build relationships with current customers. Humans like to be able to trust someone or something; we’re hardwired to do so. Having an online presence allows you to communicate directly with customers in a place where they spend a lot of their time. Engage with customers and show a human side to your brand.

SMM doesn’t have to consist of your employees making TikToks in the warehouse (although that’s a great idea and we whole-heartedly encourage it). There’s so much opportunity for creativity across a whole host of platforms. For example, you could use LinkedIn to drive conversation around a topic related to your industry or Reddit to reach a super niche audience.

You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose by using SM for business

Regardless of whether you deem SM ‘essential’ or not for your business, 99% of the time, it’s going to benefit you in one way or another, provided you stay out of online controversy.

Let’s take the early stages of building a company. Your marketing budget might not be huge, and SMM is the ideal fix for this. The biggest cost is the labour of those running your socials. 

SM also doesn’t have to be a full replacement for traditional methods of marketing. It’s a great parallel to the writeup in your local paper, or the radio ad you recently released. If you peak someone’s interest during the drive time show, having an online presence they can find later on is a great way to keep them interested and encourage them to find out more.

Worrying about maintaining a SM presence alongside your other day-to-day tasks is also not a solid enough reason to avoid SM all together, we would argue. We wouldn’t suggest trying to make your business shine across every platform. Choosing one or two that are most relevant to your company and target demographic is not only much more sustainable, it’s likely to be more effective too as you’ll be producing higher quality content.

Not having social media would simply make some things more difficult

Having no digital presence means your contact points are reduced. If the main access to your company is via phone or visiting a physical store, chances are you’re cutting out a whole group of potential customers. 

Communicating with existing customers would also be trickier, especially on a mass scale. Think about informing consumers about new product launches, changes of opening hours, or updates on company acquisitions. It’s possible without SM, but as well as it being harder, you can’t be as creative, or reach people outside of your mailing list, for example.

Some business can, of course, survive without SM

There are some companies who manage without entering the social sphere. Or some try it, and decide it’s not for them. Last year, cosmetics brand Lush announced their plans to turn ‘anti-social’. However, it’s important to note that they’re still using YouTube, Twitter for customer service, and email marketing.

Maybe this leads to a wider conclusion. Yes, theoretically your business could survive without SM. But could it thrive? Our answer would be no. Having no digital presence for your brand could be detrimental. Humans are fickle. If they can easily ask your competitor a question on Twitter, or vote for a new product line on their Instagram story, they will. Don’t get left behind.