In 2022, while most of us look up to social media sites for our required products and services, considering professional websites useless is, however, a bit of a loss. There are a few reasons why the websites still play a main role in building a strong online base for new brands.
Advantages of Social Media
Our handy social media applications like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are few of the most frequently used, visited and scrolled places on our smartphones. Similarly, brands too keep a tab on their audience presence, demands, interests and other insights essential for their sale by frequenting these apps. It is because they make it easy for brands to carry out important activities and communicate with their respective consumers. It made branding as easy to build up as never before.
The major advantages of using social media for business are:
Easy to find potential consumer market/buyers
Effective mode of direct communication for brands and buyers
Builds strong customer relationship with diverse facility & advanced options for interaction and engagement online
Better presentation of brand and business
An easy approach to the market
A simplified crisis management platform
One-stop solution for almost all kinds of problems such as enquiry, marketing, advertising, Q&A etc...
Cross-platform selling for more reach
Information extraction regarding customer for better approach and promotion
Developing a better brand image and a community of loyal customers
Disadvantages of social media
The popular apps can also result in disaster if not managed properly, with care and caution. Few of the disadvantages are:
Inability to gain the trust of audiences due to the presence of multiple accounts of similar names
The quick spread of negative publicity due to more real-time operation of social media applications
More prone to spams, hacking, and other cyber threats comparatively
Less discoverable due to presence of multiple tagging system, common user profile presentation/layout missteps
Advantages of Websites
Not to forget that no matter how advanced social media applications grow to become over time, original websites are still a (relative) main part of every successful business. Entrepreneurs and businessmen can never ignore building an authentic website for their brands in order to succeed in the market.
Websites are the virtual proof of the brand’s existence as they provide a unique identity and domain name
Improves brand credibility and legitimises the business (although this has been shifting in recent years and solid Social Media profiles are being valued)
It is more trustworthy as most people respond actively to mail ids with company domains instead of generic ones i.e. salorita@vidooly.com over salorita@yahoo.com
Supports active generation sales with direct payment gateways for buyers that is not possible with social media sites
Paves way for side income with PPC ads where advertisers pay for the clicks on their ads on the brand’s website
Disadvantages of Websites
Requires professional knowledge like coding and programming to begin a website
Comparatively not cost-effective due to the need for web hosting purchases, system upgrades, hiring of professionals for website development etc.
A crashed or hacked website may result in losing the complete business as retrieving data gets impossible without any written backup
Deprives the brand of reaching the right customers thereby, causing loss of potential business and deals (limited access to insights)
Constant updating of reliable information is a must to continue branding online
Conclusion
Although more and more businesses like Samcart are promoting the possibility of growing your business without a website, I still think it is important for brands to consist of both the website and social media accounts for maximum reach, communication, sale and other essential benefits. Website Vs Social media will always remain a great debatable topic due to pros and cons being equally distributed to them. Businesses looking for a steady growth must understand the implications of both but also that Social Media is surely gaining in power over websites.
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