Social media is a big part of most good marketing plans these days and it has a number of great advantages. Reaching people in the network of their choice is fundamental and delivering relevant content is a must. While sharing information through a social network is great, ultimately you will be in the best position if you bring people back into your website.
Facebook currently has over 600 million accounts and Twitter has more than 225 million accounts. Don’t expect these social networks to go away anytime soon, but it is possible that they will experience a decline eventually just as Myspace has. These media markets should be used to grow your business and your business controls your website, but not the social markets. Because the social media sites are not under your control, it is essential to get people back to your website.
Your website is your main Internet presence and the social media networks are just another way to reach potential and existing customers. Go to where the people are and reach them on their terms, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or whatever. Engage people and then bring them back to your website where you create the terms. Use social networks to drive traffic to your website.
When you have visitors to your website you can collect data that you control such as contact information. It would be very unfortunate to spend years building connections in a social network, only to have that information lost because of factors out of your control. Your website is under your control and that leaves you in the strongest position possible.
