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Social Media at the Expense of Your Website?
Don't lose a focus on your critical online home base.
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 by Eddie Velez
Success by Design

Eddie VelezSocial media has become a game changer to not only business, but also the media. Today, news breaks on Twitter, not CNN.

This has caused many companies to focus more on social media and less on the hub of all their marketing efforts – their website. Are you focusing on social media at the expense of your website? This could be a costly mistake.

Facebook Versus Your Company Website

I’ve heard some ruminations through the blogosphere about, “Should I just have a Facebook page and forego the website?” A very serious questions! Without getting into the entire argument, there are pros and cons for both; but the ultimate answer is no. Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros for Facebook
  • Facebook is the 4th highest trafficked website in the world
  • It has over 1 billion registered users
  • Facebook useage has exploded from simply measuring member hours per
    month to hours per day.

Pros for Website
  • You have total control of your brand
  • You control the content with no regulations or restrictions
  • You own the database attributed to blog and RSS subscribers
  • You can sell advertising to minimize overhead
  • You are not beholden to constant changes, upgrades or regulations
     that can water down your following
  • If Facebook or any other network goes down or is hacked, you’re
    still up and running and your data is secure

Cons of Facebook
  • Facebook controls who sees your posts with EdgeRank. It’s a fallacy
    if you have 1 million friends, they all see your posts. Only those you
    have actual interactions with see what you post.
  • Facebook has had privacy-issue changes that were forced down our
    throats that can open you to liability.
  • Facebook gets attacked. When you get this big, just like hackers target
    Windows over Apple OS, they will continue to target Facebook.
    (To be fair, so has Google+ and Twitter; which adds more credence to
    not trusting your business’ online presence to social media solely.)

Cons for Website
  • You have to get the traffic there
  • You have to maintain it
  • You have to blog (weekly recommended)
  • It can be a little costly upfront to get started

So Which One Wins?

While social media is crucial to success, your website is the most important aspect of your marketing infrastructure. Social media is the traffic and pipeline generator, where you create interest in your brand and expertise. Your blog, which resides on your website, is the carrot! Those who want the information you’re sharing, will click on the link to read it – and now they are on your site.

Moreover, no matter what you do for marketing (pay-per click, banner ads, commercials, mailers, etc.) it all leads back to your website. So it is imperative to ensure you have a synergistic marketing infrastructure that has a consistent social media presence and a corporate website to capture the data, and control your message and brand.

If your website is not designed properly, with marketing insight in mind, when all your efforts and money finally gets the prospect to your website, it will be for nothing. They will arrive and leave, never to return. So make sure your website is ready to rock.

So have a social media presence and satisfy the needs of your public. The three reasons people use social media is to be entertained, informed and helped. Then drive that traffic to your website where you can capture their identity for future “drip marketing,” which are your future sales. After all, few people buy on the first visit. If you have no way to keep your brand on their minds, they will not return.


Eddie Velez is a 20-year marketing and PR professional,
web and graphic designer, and blogger. He publishes a
 blog, The Ruminations of Eddie Velez





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