In the age of social media, everyone and their mother has a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter presence. Many even have all three. This extends to the business world as well. Most businesses, big or small, have a social media presence. This is the first time in history that businesses have such immediate access to their customers, so, of course, they are taking advantage of it. If businesses have such a widely accepted online presence, why do they need a website as well?

To answer this question, here are the things that social media can do and what a website does better:

What Social Media Does for Your Business

Social media is the ultimate marketing tool. These platforms allow businesses to interact with their customers daily. Businesses can brand themselves on Facebook, giving a personality to their business. They can reaffirm that brand identity via Instagram and show the lifestyle that goes along with it. All these tools familiarize customers with businesses because they see brand updates in the same place they see updates from friends and families.

Social media allows customers to interact directly with a small business, knowing that they will get a human being responding through the internet, often immediately. Businesses take advantage of this tool to build relationships with their current customers and offer contests to entice new customers. This tool not only interfaces with current customers but also has potential to reach a vast audience of potential customers. There are more than one billion people active on Facebook – which means one billion potential audience members.

Social media is so popular and effective because it is free and requires no technical or coding know-how. Anyone, anywhere can use it to create an online presence. It’s mobile-friendly, and customers are often on their own social media pages multiple times a day. Social media dependence means that customers willingly expose themselves to subtle advertisements every day.

What a Website Does for Your Business

Reviewing all the reasons why social media is good for small businesses, a keen observer will notice one thing that stands out. Social media is for marketing. A good business manager knows that having an online presence is about more than just online marketing. In the age of globalization, having an online presence means having a space on the internet that anyone interested in this business can reach. Social media is merely a tool. To put it simply, social media may be the mouth of a business, but the website is the brain.

Reasons why a business website is absolutely important in 2022

1. Having a website gives your business credibility

Consumers are bombarded with choices. They can find anything they need with just a few clicks. So when they’re looking for a product or service, they’ll likely turn to the internet to find the best option.

When they land on your website, you only have a few seconds to make a good impression. That’s why it’s important to have a professional-looking website that is credible and trustworthy. 

2. You can track data and measure results

Another great thing about having a website is that you can track data and measure your results. 

You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor website traffic, see which pages are most popular, find out where visitors are coming from, and more. 

This will help generate valuable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement. 

With this information in hand, you can refine your marketing strategies and continue to improve your results over time.

As you can see in the above example of the Google Analytics (GA) dashboard, you see the required information right on the screen. 

3. You control your content and how it is displayed

When you create a website, you have complete control over the content and how it is presented. 

This means that you can tailor your site to match your brand identity and ensure that all of your marketing messages are consistent.

4. Use a website to build relationships with customers 

One of the biggest benefits of having a website is the ability to easily communicate with your customers. You can use your website to provide customer support, offer live chat, and even connect with customers on a personal level by writing about yourself, your business, and the story behind building it.

5. Your website markets your business 24×7

A website works 24×7 to ensure that your business is seen by as many people as possible. As the website levels your playing field, you can begin scaling your business and products across different countries to get even more sales and customers.

6. Answer FAQs

When a customer visits your website or a product page, they will have a lot of questions in their mind. Is the product legit? Does the product come with a refund guarantee? Do you get support after the purchase?

Answering these questions as quickly in the customer journey as possible can help you remove the barriers to a sale. 

The above example from Elementor’s FAQ page answers most of the questions that users may have about the product. If the answer is not available here, there’s always the live chat option where they can ask the question! 

7. Help generate leads and sales

Creating beautiful websites with content is just one part. You need to redirect your visitors to your sales page as smoothly as possible. 

This is called journey design or flow design. Customer flow designing is a powerful way of generating leads and sales with minimal upkeep. 

8. Cost-effective marketing

Websites are one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available for small businesses. 

They’re relatively cheap to set up and maintain, and they can generate a lot of leads and sales with the right marketing strategies in place. 

Invest in a Website for Your Business

A website is worth the time, money, and effort of building and maintaining it. A website is still a necessity for any business that wants to have an online presence in this social media world. Which is why hiring a website designer to build your website is a smart investment