There are so many social networks out there right now and so many of them have millions of users. It’s easy to set up pages or accounts and they’re free! So what could possibly be wrong with just using your Facebook page as your main spot on the web? A lot, actually.

Social networks are fickle. They change their rules and they change their formats at the drop of a hat. They go in and out of style. But your own website? You have direct and total control over your own website. If you still need some convincing about why that free Facebook page won’t cut it, let me explain…

New Rules

One of the big drawbacks to relying on social media is that the rules can change overnight with little to no warning – often at the detriment to businesses. For example, check out the recent changes to Facebook. Citing an increased volume of posts, Facebook has changed how many people see the posts you make to your page. Fewer of your followers seeing your posts is obviously not what you wanted when you signed up.

With your own website, however, you never have this problem. You set your own rules. You decide where information gets posted and if it gets sent out to the mailing list. Instead of relying on social media, use it as a supplement to your website, by making tweets and Facebook posts that lead your customers and followers back to your website.

Own It

Deciding what gets posted to your website is a great and obvious perk. Sure, with social media you can also post your own content and get good interaction with your customers. However at the end of the day some of the content posted to sites like Facebook is owned by the social network. That’s part of the deal you take on when you host your content on a site you don’t own.

But when you host your content on your own site, you’ll always know it’s there until the day you decide to remove it. You don’t need to worry about rule changes that would remove your content or the shutdown of a social network wiping out your posts.

Additionally, you can work on driving even more traffic to your site with SEO keywords. Social media is a great way to drive traffic to your site but when paired with the traffic SEO can bring it’s even better.

Toolbox

Besides the restrictions and fluctuations that social networks present, they also don’t offer as many tools as you can have on your own site. You can better track conversions on your own sites and utilize incredibly helpful tools like Google Analytics. You can set up mailing list signups and any other options you could want on your site.

The tools granted by social networks are often limited and don’t give you as much feedback or as many options to provide content to your customers.

Utilize

Don’t rely on social media to hold all of your content or be your only avenue to get to your customers. Your website should be your main base of operations. Use social media to draw traffic to your site so customers can see all your great content that you’ve customized for your site. Use social media to engage with customers and remind them what your business is about. Social media marketing is a great tool but don’t forget the core: your website.

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