Social Media Weakens Your Consumer Connections

We are so busy engaging with consumers on social media, we tend to overlook one key issue: the social networks own those connections. We don’t. We have no way to keep in touch with our audience (read: potential buyers) except via a platform someone else controls.

That’s a big problem. It means our marketing effectiveness is at the mercy of businesses trying to monetize their services and algorithms that change.

Over the summer, Instagram modified how it orders users’ feeds. Many brands hate the new approach because fewer followers see their posts. But, there is little they can do. They are using another company’s platform, for free.

What’s the solution? Brands need to be active on social because that’s where consumers are. But, we need to dramatically increase our focus on moving those relationships to channels we control: our email list and website.

That means we need compelling mechanisms to gather emails from social followers. Engaging ways to convince our social audience to visit our website. And, valuable website content that incentivizes potential buyers to connect directly with us.

Sources: Content Marketing Institute 2016