Not an either / or decision.
“I have a small business. Should I spend the money on a website, or can I just use social media?” This is a question small businesses wrestle with every day. The appeal of social media on its own is understandable. It’s mostly free. The reach gives instant gratification that can be so satisfying in the moment. It will often even be translated into sales for a business.
The issue? Consistency and control. Social media can be a fickle friend. One week you’re gaining followers by the minute. You post; people like it, share it, and encourage their friends to share it. Your small business is standing out among the thousands of others trying to compete for the same sets of eyes that you are. The next week, you post and notice that suddenly you’re old news. Something else exciting has captured the attention of your audience.
Several weeks later, you have gotten busy running a business and haven’t had a lot of time to dream up new ways to engage your audience and just like that, your posts increasingly are seen by fewer and fewer people. Small businesses who rely on social media platforms alone are at the mercy of the algorithm. Statistically, only about 5% of people following a profile will regularly see the content put out.
Social media is an important tool in the marketing bag of tricks. A fantastic space to offer tips, acknowledgements, or specific sales promotions to clients. However, the reality is when you have a business to run and have to dedicate time daily to creating new posts, after a while you realize there just isn’t enough you to consistently to make your business grow while doing all the day-to-day tasks that make your business run.
But, what about a website? What does that do for that same small business? A good website will do a lot. It is like a storefront window all decorated to entice the user to come through the door to see what else is there. A site should offer all the basic information someone might be looking for right there in writing, including hours the business is open, what products or services they offer, location, what credit cards are accepted, and some information about the business and how it came to be. All these pieces of data are gathered by search engines to present to visitors.
A business with a website is automatically more legitimate in the eyes of visitors. The longer a site is active, the more trustworthy it can be viewed as. 
A clever combination of engaging content, imagery and search engine optimization (SEO) will not only keep potential customers on your site but bring new eyes to your business regularly. It is a constant and you control the message. The information provided does not disappear with the speed of a scrolling newsfeed. Best of all, it doesn’t need to be updated daily to get the most out of an algorithm.
That is not to say that a business’s website is “set it and forget it”. Though it doesn’t typically need constant attention, it is important to spend a little time making some updates. Whether it is keeping information or images fresh or adding something completely new, search engines like Google and Bing will find those changes and find new sets of eyes that have searched for information on businesses like yours.
A website should be able to grow with business. Whether you want to start offering retail products online by adding an ecommerce option, offer classes, sell tickets, allow RSVPs, or a way for customers to pay for services, your website should be able to accommodate it.
It is tough to do business in the digital age without having a presence online and utilizing more than one way to reach that audience. Unless you plan on spending all of your time researching what’s new this week, and what might trend next week the question really isn’t should I have a website or just use social media. The question should be how can I effectively use social media and my website together.
About Kristy Overlock
Kristy is the Client Liaison at REACH Maine, a website design company that specializes in the design and management of custom sites for small businesses and organizations throughout Maine. REACH Maine is a division of The Ellsworth American.