Social media advertising isn't all it's cracked up to be without the support of other marketing tactics, despite what you may have been hearing. And it certainly isn't the one-stop-shop solution to your advertising problems, considering there are alternatives with more reach and less noise. Forbes reports that TV advertising has 304.5 million viewers versus social media's 209 million and less noise with only 1-3 competitive ads versus saturated feeds.
This doesn't mean social media isn't an excellent means of reaching your audience and staying connected, but it does mean it's not enough to be your only means of advertising. In all honesty, you should be using multiple marketing channels no matter what.
Promoting your business on social media is an essential part of marketing your business, but when used alone, it limits your potential. People need more ways to find out who you are to see a significant reach in your customer base. Here are five reasons social media alone is not enough and how other advertising tactics can help.
1. You aren't reaching your full target audience.
If you're only using social media to reach your target audience, you miss out on other opportunities. There's a reason single-channel marketing is rapidly becoming less popular, and more than half of companies today use at least eight channels to interact with customers.
Think of it this way - each channel has its advantages. Pricing, reach, engagement, and other results are all different depending on the channel you're using. When you allocate your efforts to more than one channel, you increase your potential reach. You also minimize your risks by not narrowing your efforts to one place.
On the other hand, integrating social media with other digital marketing efforts or TV advertising gives you a chance to significantly expand your reach. Nielsen Research found that combining TV and social media results in higher brand lift than they would achieve independently.
2. You are only advertising to those who already know you.
How will consumers who aren’t familiar with your brand find out about you and the services you offer if you’re only advertising to those who already know you? Television can reach a much larger audience, significantly increasing your potential for new customers. People are often using more than one device simultaneously, so you'll likely see a lift in your social media following by integrating television efforts into your strategy.
Then you get the best of both worlds — attract new consumers through other means of advertising and sustain a connection with the ones you have through social media.
3. Social media platforms own your content.
The lesser-known (or talked about) fact about social media is that your content isn't ever just yours alone. According to Lexology, you technically maintain ownership in the content you share — but not exclusively. In truth, after you agree to their terms of use, "they are free to reuse your [content] in their advertisements, repost your opinions, [and] sell your content or sub-license the use [of] your content to third parties." By using other marketing tactics, you have more control over your content, and therefore, the story you want to share.
4. You aren't guaranteed visibility with social media.
When it comes down to it, you aren't guaranteed visibility with social media. In all honesty, that's the case for all advertising methods centered around single-channel efforts. However, integrating more than one channel means you're visible in different locations, inherently increasing visibility when done the right way.
Consider combinations like social media and OTT, for example. OTT allows you to target similarly to how you do on social media but on a much broader level. Statista reports that the share of subscription over-the-top (OTT) service users in the United States amounted to 55.3% in 2019. The figure is expected to increase to 60.6% by 2023.
5. Your ads might be missed.
On social media, your significant pro and con hinges on the fact that you can prompt engagement. There is no way to control how people will comment and react to your posts, so you are putting yourself out there in a big way. This makes your ad reach more important because you don't want to rely on only prompting engagement to reach your audience. But what happens when your ads are missed?
They are likely being missed considering social media is bordering over-saturation. Combining less saturated channels like traditional TV and OTT allows you more opportunities to get your ads in front of the right people at the right time without completely undermining the potential of social media. Remember, social media isn't ineffective — it's just more effective when combined with other channels.
While social media is an excellent means of advertising, and you can see success with it, it's not enough to be your sole means of advertising. Putting all your eggs in one basket limits your businesses' potential and can hold you back from getting ahead of the competition. Working with a media partner can help you make the transition from single-channel marketing with social media to expanding your marketing mix with other opportunities.
