The use of Social Media is now a matter of course for organizations and companies in order to gain followers, brand advocates, likes and shares as well as increasing their brand awareness and creating a direct channel of communication with customers.
Running a successful social media channel requires the production of regular, high-quality, value-added content as well as being seen as an approachable brand. This requires time and expert content creators and should not be underestimated or under resourced – poor use of Social Media at a brand level can be as damaging as having no presence at all. A professional social media management strategy at a brand holder level requires significantly more effort than just posting colorful pictures accompanied by a few hashtags.
Companies need to carefully evaluate what they expect to achieve from their social media channels, what resources they have available to achieve these goals and what the resulting strategy looks like.
Any ambitious brand needs to have a strategy for Social Media Marketing today. It is unthinkable for any organization that has the corporate objective to build their customer base, their revenues and their reputation not to have an active presence on Social Media.
The value of having a presence is clear for all to see:
In view of the power and reach of social media and the fact that registering an account and creating content does not incur any direct costs, the question that many newly created brands are now asking themselves is "What is our priority: the creation of a professional website or a social media account?" The answer today is nearly always the latter.
However, it should remembered that a strategy based purely on a social media presence has some fundamental weaknesses. Whisper this quietly but not everyone has access or chooses to interact with Social Media, so there will be potential customers who are not registered with the respective social media network. It is rather unrealistic to think that potential customers will set up an account simply to follow or engage with a company.
Use website analysis tool for measuring the success of social media communication
Link Social Media profiles clearly visible on the website
Link website prominently in your social media profile
Link to the website in social media posts
Since Social Media isn’t censored in most of the countries around the world, there will be some geographical areas where it is part of every day life and so a brand is reliant on the social media network to get its messages out there. There is a possibility of third party cyber events or malicious attacks on the network itself that may disrupt the brand holder’s strategy. In general, there is a dependency on the network with regard to the accessibility of company pages, if malfunctions or maintenance occur, content may be offline for a long time without the company being able to influence this. From a legal point of view, rights to uploaded texts, images and videos are also transferred to the third-party provider.
It is one thing to push content out through social media channels but it is another thing as to whether it is being seen by the right audience. Reaching the target group is handled by algorithms that can be changed at any time. For example, since the beginning of 2018 Facebook “prefers” content published by friends and family as well as content that encourages interaction in the news feed of Facebook users, much to the detriment of corporate sites and advertisers.
In general, new content on social networks is more likely to disappear more quickly given the wealth of information on offer especially when global news stories, such as the COVID-19 virus, dominate, while a dedicated website can provide a complete, lasting image of the products. There is no limit to the amount of content, as new pages can be added at any time.
Therefore, having your own website is essential for being able to build your brand online within your control and with freedom. Furthermore, compared to social media sites, your own website offers better options in terms of data security and SEO optimization.
A well-designed, technically accurate and mobile-accessible website with SEO-friendly content is the basis for a successful Google ranking (and thus the resulting website clicks) and presents a company as modern, reputable and professional, significantly influencing the image of a company or brand.
Companies and brand owners should see their own website as a key point of contact and use social media primarily to increase website traffic. At the same time, website visitors should be made aware of the social media presence so that they can find you, increase awareness of the company/brand on the social web and recommend it to others.
An organisation’s Web and Social Media presence should work together to promote the success of the company. A suitable domain name, which is readable, meaningful and memorable, is the basis for a successful web presence, on which well thought-out content and convincing design can be developed. Therefore, it makes sense to invest some time and effort in choosing the right domain name for any new business or brand. Since domains are our business, the experts at BrandShelter will be happy to advise you on what names are available and which TLDs would work best for your organization. We are also able to advise on the protection of intellectual property and your reputation on Social Media and the security of your corporate domain portfolio and support you in developing and optimizing your organization’s domain portfolio strategy.
For further information on domain registration, trademark protection and social media monitoring, please contact our team.
