No Strategy is an Island: Why You Can’t Rely on Social Media Alone for Your Marketing Strategy

You may have read the title of this blog and felt confused because you have seen how powerful social media marketing can be for your brand’s growth. You are not wrong in thinking this! Social media marketing is an incredibly important part of your strategy, but it is not a silver bullet. Social media is but one piece of a well-thought-out marketing plan puzzle. 

Leveraging social media (and only social media) as a singular marketing strategy is akin to having a three-legged table: it is unbalanced and does not fully support the many marketing needs of your business. A well-rounded marketing strategy can (and really should) encompass several efforts that work together: public relations, display advertising, radio, television, email marketing, geofencing, Google ads, SEO., etc. Each of these marketing and promotional elements works together, in concert, to support your growth.

If your strategy only focuses on social media and you have a limited ad budget, you must have realistic expectations as to how far you can go and in what timeframe. The more narrow your focus by way of multi-channel marketing, the more restrained your growth as a brand will be.

It’s also important to keep in mind that no matter how big your social media following is or how much money you’ve spent on the platforms, you don’t own them, nor do you have any control of what happens on them. Even though they are your followers, they are the customers of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Each social media platform has complete control over what users see and do. 

That is why we can’t stress enough how important it is to use these outlets as only one piece of the overall marketing puzzle. By leveraging social media, you can accomplish things like building brand recognition, attracting visitors to your website, and collecting emails. When you build up a customer list outside of just social media followers, you’re able to own that list and ensure that you don’t lose any contacts. 

There are over 4.5 billion people online every day, and there are many ways to reach them. Aside from just social media, Google ads, and your organic search result placements, impacted by SEO efforts, are other ways to get new eyes on your products or services. Even if your business is not in a position to spend a lot of money on ads, you can show up in more search results organically just by incorporating relevant and strong keywords into your website content.

Putting all your eggs in one basket, in any situation, is never a good idea. Think about your marketing strategy in the same way. By having a unique, diverse plan, you can ensure that it never fails you. If part of your plan doesn’t feel like it’s working anymore, you can pivot instead of feeling like you have to start over. Successful brands are trendsetters, not followers of what has worked in the past! 

At Bennington Brookstone, we work with many leading brands. One thing market leaders have in common is this: they have stable ad budgets, and they use multi-channel marketing strategies. They also, more often than not, have a dedicated, experienced marketing manager who clearly understands and oversees the “big marketing picture” and works directly with their agency partners.   

 Does your brand need help to figure out the bigger marketing picture? Call, DM, or email us at sbellem@bbrookstone.com to get started. We would love to help expand the reach of your company and generate more business for you.