In the last decade, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have revolutionized the way small businesses connect with customers. At a glance, these platforms offer an alluring package: cost-effective marketing, direct customer engagement, and data-rich insights. For business owners in South Africa, the UK, and across the globe, it’s tempting to make social media the heart of an outreach strategy. However, as we’ll explore in this post, relying solely on social media is a risky business strategy that could leave your company exposed and vulnerable.

The Pitfalls of Platform Dependency

Firstly, it’s essential to recognize that social media platforms are businesses themselves, with their own objectives and susceptibilities such as algorithm changes, platform outages, or even the potential of being shut down. When small business owners put all their marketing eggs in one social media basket, they’re at the mercy of these corporations. A single algorithm update can obliterate your content’s visibility overnight, jeopardizing your hard-won customer base and revenue streams.

Meta is also known to revoke your advertising privileges without warning – and often for no reason at all. Enya, a small business owner and artist using Instagram and Facebook to sell her artworks, was recently victim to Meta’s automated system, which shut down her advertising privileges without warning and without allowing her access to human beings who could rectify the situation. Enya’s business has been devastated by the unwarranted restrictions on her ability to advertise her products to new customers.

Lack of Ownership

The most significant risk is ownership—or the lack thereof. Social media profiles are ultimately rented space; you don’t own your followers, your account, or even the content you post. That means that the platform can change the rules whenever it likes, and there isn’t much you can do about it. Censorship can be an issue for business owners in certain industries, too. If the policies of your preferred platforms change to exclude your particular views on a topic, your content – and your revenue streams – could be directly affected.

Evolving Algorithms

Algorithms are notorious for changing unannounced, leaving your reach and engagement at the whim of unseen decision-makers. The visibility of your products and messages can significantly decline, drastically affecting your business unless you continually adapt to these changes—a time-consuming and often confusing process.

Platform Outages

Outages, while infrequent, do happen. The downfall? When a platform goes down, so does every aspect of your online presence if it’s your only outlet. That’s lost sales, lost contact, and lost trust that can’t be quickly regained.

Diversify or Risk Extinction

The key takeaway here is diversification. Here’s why it’s pivotal:

Strengthen Customer Communication

By expanding beyond social media, you can develop a more robust communication strategy with your clients and customers. Email newsletters, a dynamic website, or a blog gives you direct lines of communication that are independent of platform risks.

Personalized Customer Journeys

With your own digital property like a website, you can shape the user experience and the customer’s journey through your products and services, something that’s limited and dictated by the layout and rules of social media platforms.

Data Control

When you direct customers to your website or engage them via email, you gain access to a wealth of data that’s yours alone. Social media platforms typically own the data on customers’ interactions with your business’ social account, restricting how much of it you can use and when.

SEO Benefits

Engines like Google and Bing can bring customers directly to your door through searches related to your products or services. But if you’re not visible on search engines—because you’re only on social media—you’re invisible to a vast portion of potential clients.

Building a Balanced Strategy

Here’s how small business owners can offset the risks associated with social media reliance:

• Establish a solid website: Your business’s home online where you own the content and control the narrative.
• Implement email marketing: Engage customers directly through their inbox, building loyalty and driving sales.
• Utilize SEO: Improve your site’s search rankings to attract organic traffic and reduce dependency on social media referrals.
• Explore alternative platforms: Don’t concentrate all efforts on one platform. Spread out your presence to mitigate the impact of any one platform faltering.
• Consider offline methods: Engage in community events, network locally, and investigate print advertising to diversify how you reach customers.

Conclusion

For small business owners, whether in the vibrant markets of South Africa or the competitive landscapes of the UK, it’s clear that social media should be a part of your marketing strategy—but not the whole strategy. In the shifting sands of the digital age, building a diversified approach to business growth and customer communication is not just smart, it’s essential for sustainability and success.

In your business strategy, apply the wisdom of not putting all your eggs in one basket. Perhaps then, your business will not only survive the rocky waves of the digital era but thrive.

bootstrap your enterprise for future stability. Use this guide not as a critique of social media, but as a map to chart a more secure, prosperous course for your small business.