Is social your main channel for sales? It’s big trouble for small businesses.

Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. They’re visually appealing, where everyone seems to be, and they feel like the perfect place to showcase your amazing products. It’s no wonder that in recent years, small businesses have faithfully jumped headfirst into social as their primary (or even only) sales platform. While each platform can be a powerful tool, relying solely on social for sales is like putting all your eggs into one filter-heavy basket, where your business is the only element at risk of getting scrambled. Here’s why:

1. You're not (and NEVER will be) in control of the algorithm

The social algorithms are fickle beasts. They change constantly, so what worked last week might be invisible to your followers today. In the most recent Instagram change, our feed was flooded by posts from small business owners, apologising for not ‘being present’ as they grappled to find extra hours for re-sizing grid images from square to rectangle (P.S. If you haven’t resized your grid images yet, don’t bother because no-one cares anyway.) One change to the algorithm can mean that overnight, your beautifully crafted content isn’t reaching your target audience anymore, and the impact on sales is noticeable. You're at the mercy of a system you don't control, making consistent revenue generation a real challenge. When unpredictability rules over cash flow, financial forecasting and future business planning become the stuff of nightmares.

2. Platform Dependence - what if it disappeared?

What nonsense, we hear you mutter… well, the truth is that social media platforms come and go. While social platforms seem dominant now, there's NO guarantee it will be the same for your target audience in five years (Facebook falls behind TikTok, Instagram and SnapChat across the 16-24 age bracket compared to 5 years ago, for instance). Building your business on a platform you don't own is incredibly risky. If that platform were to disappear or drastically change its functionality, your business could be severely impacted.

3. You don't own your audience, or your account, or anything else, really.

While each platform will provide analytics, you don't own your audience data. You can't export email addresses or develop detailed customer profiles, so it’s virtually impossible to build a customer base, or engage in targeted marketing campaigns outside the platform. Furthermore, most platforms can suspend, disable or shut down your account at any given moment, and we’ve heard several examples of this happening to clients in recent weeks. When you’ve spent years building a following for your brand, to have your account eradicated overnight with ZERO input usually means your business goes with it.

4. Glitchy transactions will impact your brand

While Instagram and TikTok shopping has improved, the experience for customers is far from seamless. Checkouts which look the same across every seller, a lack of trust in platform security, the potential for scams and a fragmented customer journey can lead to abandoned carts and frustrated customers. If lost sales aren’t bad enough, unfortunately, it will also be your brand that gets associated with a second-rate experience in the customer’s mind, not the social platform.

5. Standing out is tougher than ever

Social media is a crowded marketplace. When you're a small business competing with millions of other brands, you could quickly find your precious time and energy simply gets swallowed chasing a diminishing return when it comes to building brand recognition and attracting loyal customers.

So, what can you do? Diversify to multiply!

Social media is undoubtedly, a valuable tool for reaching potential customers, but it shouldn't be your only sales channel. Take back control by diversifying your approach and building a multi-faceted strategy with the best interests of your business at its heart, because what you can be sure of, is that none of the social media platforms do.

Not sure where to start? Get in touch!