Can You Make Your Online Business Successful Without Social Media?

by Avneet

The question is important and has been asked before. If you are successful in market but are not present on social media, does this affect your sales or popularity somehow?

Let’s explore.

Facebook has 901 million active users, Twitter has more than 140 million active users and YouTube has 106.7 million unique visitors per month. By not being on social media, you are definitely missing out on the chance to connect and engage this world out there!

More than 70% of businesses today are present and active on social media, obviously! Businesses have witnessed instant popularity with the social media’s unmatchable word-of-mouth and snowball-effect potential which makes it absolutely indispensable in terms of marketing and promoting a brand.

From a buyer sharing a purchase or appreciating a service provider’s promptness and quality on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, the platform is simply too important to be ignored by businesses and online retailers.

But still there are those who have trodden the unbeaten path and have consciously (or unconsciously) opted out of utilizing social media’s unbound reach.

There still are some popular Global brands which are not present on social media – Apple, Marlboro, Viagra, Trader Joe’s (ref: Mashable http://mashable.com/2012/12/03/brands-not-on-social-media) and there would be others as well. Who would believe that a powerhouse like Apple does not believe in interacting with their public on social media networks! The point is they don’t need the fan following and are hence not much inspired to be on these social websites. Also, most importantly their market does the talking for them and not the other way around. For Marlboro and Viagra they have marketing restrictions that they have to abide by, limiting their scope for any customer-engaging activity on these media.

But one thing that every brand has to agree with is the momentous exposure that social media provides to any small/ medium/ big brand. When there is an interaction on any of the social networks you are always at the rainbow end of the spectrum not far from bounty of customer attention and response to your marketing efforts.

So Yes to Social Media or No?

Well if you have your buyers sharing your products and services online on their own and doing the marketing for you then you can perhaps skip but if if you don’t see this happening for a few months or years then you better jump on the bandwagon and start reigning on those social media horses.

It’s not so much about a business’s absence and presence on social media, since businesses and brands are going to be talked about, regardless of whether the business owners are doing it or their target market. What is more important is how social media presence is managed and how far does its impact carry.

Having a well-managed and interactive social media account will definitely not be harmful and on the contrary will provide your customer base a great point of contact which must be regularly updated, checked and innovated to keep yourself in the newsfeeds of your customers/ fans and followers.

Social media has become one of the most relied upon tool for branding and promoting and has given businesses far more reasons to cheer about than cringe.

If you still are not convinced, check this link for the most interesting marketing moments of 2012, which happen to be viral 🙂
http://maps.brandrepublic.com/lab/moments/2012/

And see if this changes your mind about the ever-pervasive and omnipresent social media and not Apple’s conspicuous absence.

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Avneet

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One Reply to “Can You Make Your Online Business Successful Without Social Media?”

Nickolas says:

November 6, 2013 at 10:51 am

Good post Aastha. And thanks for the link,
never heard about marketing magazine.

I have to say that social media can make
you reach new customer, but only if you
use it right. Gary Vaynerchuk is a good
source if you want to learn how to use it
to stand out.