Do you find yourself communicating more and more through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat? Excellent! That way your customers can reach you more quickly and easily. Yet despite having all these different channels, having your own website is still essential.
“I can’t see the added value of having my own website”
“You wouldn’t build your own house on a plot of leased land, would you?” This unlikely comparison clearly demonstrates the value added by having your own website.
Social media are like leased land. You may use them as a platform, but you don’t have any control over them yourself. Which means you are no longer the owner of the information you share through those channels. Plus you’re dependent on their terms and conditions to use them, as well as any changes that may be made. So, if a particular platform ceases to exist for some reason, you lose all of the information connected with your account.
But your own website, linked to your own domain name, is your property. You’re in charge. You set the rules, and you have total control over the content you choose to post.
Philip Du Bois is the general manager of DNS Belgium, the non-profit organisation that manages all .BE, .VLAANDEREN and .BRUSSELS domain names
“I already have a Facebook page. Everyone can find me”
Which do your customers (and potential customers) find the easiest to remember? Your own, short and concise web address: www.mycompany.be or the longer, more complicated www.facebook.com/mycompany? Um, let me think…
To feature in the results of search engines such as Google, having a website is also the first step.
In order to be found, having your own website is of great importance. After all, it’s the focal point for all your business details: how to contact you, your opening times, your areas of expertise, your blog and so on. Plus, it’s easy to use your website to refer to your Facebook page, Instagram, Snapchat and all the other social media networks where you might have a presence.
“Creating a Facebook page is a lot easier than setting up your own website”
Creating a page on social media is child’s play and costs (virtually) nothing. Unless you want to advertise, that is.
However, setting up your own website doesn’t have to be complex or expensive either. Even if you’re a small business and don’t have any technical knowledge.
“Great! Now I have my own website, I can keep away from Facebook”
Well, not really.
Because in addition to having your own website, you can also benefit from the power of social media and use them to communicate efficiently with your customers. In fact, social media are a good way of encouraging your customers to visit your website.
Which means that having a website, plus a presence on the social networks, is the smartest choice for you.
Conclusion
Your own website and social media: the two can’t do without each other. Your own website is the beating heart of your communication, the place where users can find all of the information they need about you.
Social media are more ‘volatile’, you might say. You can use them to communicate quickly and efficiently with your customers (campaigns, promotions, sending a new blogpost or video out quickly, tackling technical problems or telling people when you’re open or closed).
Leave everything to social media? Absolutely not a good idea.
About the Author: Philip Du Bois
Comments are closed.