Website or page on social networks: how to choose a form of presence on the Internet for a business

Miscellaneous / by admin / July 03, 2023

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Much depends on what you are doing and at what stage of development you are.

Almost every business needs an online presence. Even the barbershop in the area can attract more customers through the network. And for entrepreneurs who sell something via the Internet, this is the main tool of work. Before the advent of social networks, it was clear what to do: create a website. It could be one simple page with information about the company or a variant with complex navigation, depending on what business tasks it solved. But social networks have changed everything, because they have provided entrepreneurs with many new platforms. And some companies prefer to limit themselves to them.

But if an entrepreneur only chooses the form of presence on the Internet, how to decide? We asked businessmen to share their experience.

What are the pros and cons of a single site or social media page?

A page on a social network is an opportunity to create your own representation, as they say, with little bloodshed. It's free and simple enough. Of course, with the involvement of SMM specialists, things will go faster. But in general, anyone can register and fill an account. To promote on social networks, you can use the built-in tools. Moreover, such platforms allow you to effectively form a loyal community, stir up the interest of customers and lead them to purchase. It is convenient to inform about new products and promotions there, it is easier to interact with the audience, to easily and quickly update content and test hypotheses.

instagram viewer

Vera Makeeva

CEO of the Bureau of Mass Communications.

In social networks, you build a community of your brand brick by brick, find an audience and warm it up. For example, we gained about a thousand followers in 4.5 months using content marketing on Instagram* and even received a couple of clients from this channel.

In the future, we plan to develop our account, since any brand is not only dry sales, but also recognition, loyalty, trust. In other words, social networks are the most powerful and influential tool for those who need prompt and high-quality communication with existing and potential customers.

But, of course, there are also disadvantages. First of all, it is platform dependent. In addition, the page on the social network cannot be customized, and the available tools are limited.

Dmitry Chernov

Leading marketer of loyalty programs of the Tvoi Dom hypermarket chain Crocus Group.

To start a small business with modest investments, pages on social networks are suitable. Here everything is ready for running advertising campaigns, working with directories and attracting users within the platform.

At the same time, building a big business on social networks is not an easy task. There are not enough tools for working with goods and communication with users, there are no integrations with third-party services that will be needed when scaling business. And remember that at some point the service may limit your actions or be blocked, as happened with Meta* and its Facebook* and Instagram*.

At the same time, do not overestimate the ease of working with pages in social networks. There is much to be done.

Pavel Penshin

Co-owner of Webster web studio.

Successful use of social networks requires creating content regularly. And it should be not only of high quality, but also attractive to the audience.

According to modern standards in the field of SMM, it is necessary to publish at least four posts a week, as well as demonstrate the "behind the scenes" of the business. However, this can be challenging due to the sheer volume of operational work we deal with every day.

Creating a website is more difficult, and it will require costs. Plus, it cannot be made and abandoned, it requires continuous work on optimization. At the same time, it allows you to use more tools for promotion.

According to Vera Makeeva, the site is necessary in order to scale. It is with its help that you can set up contextual advertising, place ad units, maintain UTM tags when purchasing advertising from influencers, as well as use cross-links, email newsletters with the collection of contacts, and so on.

In addition, on the site you can make catalogs and showcases, embed a form of payment for goods. Finally, the web page is more credible.

How to decide what is right for you

Experts advise using both social networks and the site at the same time to cover all the tasks that can be solved with their help.

Alexey Gamov

Head of digital agency WebValley Studio.

With properly built marketing, the site and social networks are not competitors. They complement and enhance each other's effectiveness. In social networks, you can introduce the audience to the product, warm it up, collect feedback, share the internal life of the company, cultivate trust and loyalty. On the site - to reveal the properties and advantages of the product, close the pains and objections of the audience, give comprehensive information about the company and place an order.

However, it is often not possible to cover all sites due to lack of time, money and other resources. To understand what suits you best, answer a few questions.

Who is your target audience

When choosing between social networks and a website, you need to proceed from where your target audience lives and how they are used to looking for information, says Alexey Gamov.

For example, a company sells industrial equipment. A potential buyer, when he has a need, is more likely to type a query in a search engine, go to the site and leave an order. It is unlikely that he will get into the social network, will look for the store account, subscribe, read posts, warm up and then order. "Or ritual services, custom-made grave monuments - who wants to see the content of such a company in their feed? Therefore, it is important to decide where your target audience will look for you, ”explains the expert.

What are the goals of the business

According to Gamow, when choosing a site, one should proceed from business objectives. If you just need to test an idea, then social networks have a much lower entry threshold. You can register an account and basically fill it up in an hour. This way you can check the demand, and if the business idea does not work, then losses will be minimal. If the company is on the market seriously and for a long time, then it is better to look towards the site. It inspires more trust among customers, the company looks more reliable and solid. In addition, the site provides more opportunities and tools for promoting a business on the Internet.

What is the specificity of the product

A lot depends on what you offer. Is this a well-known product that the buyer is looking for? Or something unfamiliar that he might want, accidentally seeing somewhere?

Alexey Gamov

For example, the user knows what a coffee maker is and why it is needed. Demand is formed, for such a product a person is more likely to go to the search results and look for a site where this product can be bought. From here, adequate methods of promotion are selected - SEO and contextual advertising.

But there are new, unknown, little-demanded goods and services. Let's say slime with sequins. Not everyone understands what it is, and they will not purposefully search for it on the Internet. But we know that this product may be of potential interest to mothers with children - as they have characteristics similar to those of our customers. The audience for such products is much easier to “hook out” in thematic publics of social networks or by targeting than trying to collect traffic to the site.

What is the maturity stage of the business and the amount of investment

Internet marketer Elena Kruchinina advises focusing on the type of business. She recommends choosing social networks if you have a small company or offer services in the field of helping professions: psychologists, coaches, consultants, trackers, private freelance specialists - massage therapists, confectioners, craftsmen manicure, tutors, tour guides and so on.

Elena Kruchinina

Marketer, independent expert.

In their posts on the pages, specialists can reveal the value of the services provided and the products sold, their uniqueness. The reader interested in the story first subscribes to the account, gets acquainted with other posts, shares the position of the author, is imbued with confidence in him and gradually "ripens" to the point that take advantage service and/or purchase a product. Now professionals sell goods using content on various social networks: VKontakte, "Yandex Zen", in Telegram, many continue to communicate with their subscribers in Instagram*.

The expert notes that even small clothing and bed linen stores were successfully promoted at a time when the Instagram * service was available in the Russian Federation. Entrepreneurs posted beautiful photos of their products, set prices and accepted payment on the card through the sale in private messages.

According to Kruchinina, when the number of goods and services increases, it becomes necessary to use other advertising channels. And here you can not do without a site. Therefore, when the brand is created and the range of products and services becomes crowded on the page on the social network, make a website. It certainly has more room for unique design and visual presentation of a wide matrix of products. Online store with a large assortment or a manicure studio that has grown to provide customers with a wide range of services, it is necessary to collect this information in one place and structure it, make a showcase. It is more convenient both for the user and for promoting the online store.

A site visitor, unlike a subscriber on a social network, interacts not only with the service he is currently reading about, but also with others. A person does not need to scroll through 100 posts to see if there is something else in this entrepreneur.

How do businessmen make decisions?

Here are two stories from those who have already passed this difficult path.

Vladimir Rovnyago's company immediately launched a website, but then felt that this site was not enough.

Vladimir Rovnyago

Founder of the network of travel agencies "Solntsetur".

Initially, our company started with site creation. It offers much more options for showcasing our product, describing services, making online bookings and making payments. This allows clients to get complete information about our business, as well as learn more about us as an organization. In addition, the website is a kind of visiting card of the company and reflects our brand identity.

However, we have found that being on the site alone does not give us sufficient contact with customers. We realized that social networks are an integral part of modern society and can help us form deeper and longer-term relationships with the audience. Social media offers a unique opportunity to interact with customers on a more personal level, get feedback and answer questions in real time.

Entrepreneur Victoria Smolskaya focused on social networks and, judging by the indicators, did not lose.

Victoria Smolskaya

Founder of the network of dance and gymnastics studios MIRAXY.

We opened our first studio dancing and gymnastics in 2013. At the start, we only had a group on VKontakte and a website. Three months later, they added an Instagram account *, which was only gaining popularity.

Somewhere around 2016, the audience there became more responsive, and we focused on this network in our work. Instagram*, more than VKontakte, is tailored to the visual component that the dance and gymnastics studio generates without significant effort, including at the expense of the clients themselves. The same content can be wrapped in entertaining and motivational, it works well. The social network has become in our business area an ideal platform for attracting an audience and contacting it.

When we started making plans for the development of franchise, realized that in order to grow, we need a reliable flow of customers. It can only be provided by a combination of several channels at the same time. Even if at a particular moment some individual works very efficiently, there are no guarantees that it will be so tomorrow. So we went to TikTok, YouTube and Telegram.

Now only old points of presence show good results: the website, VKontakte, Instagram*. The first brings about 20% of all customers, half comes from "Yandex”, the same number from Google. The share of social networks in the total flow of new visitors is about 15%, of which 10% are Instagram*, 5% are VKontakte.

*Meta Platforms Inc. activities. and its social networks Facebook and Instagram are prohibited in the territory of the Russian Federation.