Can social media replace traditional media?
For business at the smaller end of town, the answer is a resounding yes. This is for a multitude of reasons with the most obvious being cost. Traditional media remains very expensive and for the vast majority of small businesses, it is not even an option.
You may have read articles pitting social media and traditional media against each other, however, there remains a place for both. For large businesses and large brands, both social and traditional media can work together to give a global brand placement. Utilising both areas is essential for global brands like Nike or McDonalds.
For a small business, we now have more opportunities than ever before to market our businesses. Social media has provided us with the almost endless ability to get in front of our ideal clients and remain top of mind.
Can you believe that there are still businesses that ignore social media?
Traditional media
With traditional media, your advertising is going to a broad audience and the plan is to be in front of as many people as possible. You have to pay to play in this arena. Unpaid traditional media may come in the form of an interview if your business is deemed as being newsworthy as you may have seen on some of the morning shows.
- Television
- Print ads
- Radio
- Billboards
- All other non-digital forms
Social media
With social media, your paid advertising is combined with free organic social media posts. This makes it quite unique to traditional media, and far more accessible. In reality, you don’t have to spend one cent to share content about your business. You can share it every day, several times each day and to as many social media platforms as you choose.
When you choose to pay for your advertising you can be very broad or you can be very targeted. If you are being targeted there are a range of demographics that you choose to position your ad. I’m sure you are familiar with these social media sites.
- And others
Your own behaviour
Think about where you go to learn about brands or to find information. Is it mainly traditional media or is it via social media or is it a combination of both?
Traditional media remains a passive experience while social media gives users an active experience in being immersed in the platform itself.
Statistics show that social media is the number one preferred way of finding new brands with less than 20% of consumers preferring TV and Radio.
Social media and customer experience
One of the benefits of social media is that it is also a communication tool giving consumers the ability to communicate directly with their favourite brands.
Your followers and customers feel connected to your business/brand and are able to have an enhanced experience because of social media.
You just don’t have this ability to connect with traditional media.
So can social media replace traditional media?
It is not about replacing traditional media, social media is a complementary addition that supports the marketing efforts of a wide range of businesses. To my fellow small business owners, when your marketing your business to your ideal clients you need to think about where they are and meet them there with your marketing.
For small businesses the answer is simple, you need to have an integrated marketing plan that includes social media and exposes your business in as many places as possible.
Do you need help with your marketing and/or social media – contact Kelly @ My Sassy business!
