Think Social Media is a Replacement For Advertising? Think Again.

In Social Media for Small Businesses, we talked a lot about why and how wedding business owners can use social media to engage with their audiences in more meaningful ways. But, we’d like to dive deeper into another reason wedding pros may use social media: advertising. More specifically, we’re going to talk through why, even though social media is a great way to connect with your audience and even engage with prospective couples, it’s not a sustainable advertising strategy. 

It’s important to advertise your wedding business so you can get in front of couples, and on the surface, social media seems to fit into that box. But, when you peek just below the surface, social media isn’t built to consistently introduce you to new people who are actively looking for a wedding pro. Because of this, you’ll eventually find that the time, money and resources you put into your social media advertising strategy aren’t yielding the results you think they should. 

There are a lot of reasons why social media isn’t a sustainable advertising strategy on its own, but let’s start with the top three that pros need to consider when designing their marketing and advertising plans. Read on to learn more.

3 Reasons Why You Aren’t Seeing Success with Social

You may not see the ROI you want consistently

This is probably the most important reason why social media isn’t a sustainable advertising strategy because it directly relates to your bottom line. Whenever you invest time or money into something, you want to ensure that you’re getting the most out of it (aka you receive some sort of return on investment). Because, even though you love what you do, it needs to pay the bills at the same time. 

Social media is all about how much your audience engages with your posts and how far they reach (to your audience and beyond), and these are not guaranteed metrics. For example, one post could have a ton of engagement and a far reach while the next post could completely fall flat. Because of this, it may be hard for you to hit the advertising goals that you’ve set for yourself, which could lead to you not seeing the ROI you need to have to know that everything you’re doing is worth it.

Couples aren’t in active-planning mode when using social

When people are using social media, they’re likely just scrolling through their feeds looking for the next best thing to distract themselves from work, social situations or even the TV show they put on. And, even if they see a post they like, they’ll likely look at it, like it and keep scrolling, even if it’s for something that they want to look more into. This is because they are not in the mindset to be sold on something–they just want to enjoy their feeds.

Social media, in essence, is a pastime, and it’s hard to switch people’s brains from a state of passive viewing to one of active buying. Even if you do succeed, it can take a lot of time and effort to get them over that edge. And, as a small business owner, this is all time and effort that you could put towards something else that would sustainably grow your business.

You may not burst your ideal clients’ social media ‘bubbles’

Social media bubbles are a phenomenon that all of us experience, but aren’t fully aware of. Have you ever noticed that the ads you receive and the people that are promoted to you are usually within your interests, even if they’re niche? That occurs because social media platforms keep track of the things and people you like and expose you to similar things and people. And, again, while this seems to be great on the surface, it’s not super effective when it comes to advertising. 

Even though you want to target your ideal client with your social media, you need to cast a fairly wide net to reach a substantial audience. And, if couples haven’t been researching pros for their weddings or your specific category, then your targeted posts may not be able to burst through their social media bubbles. So, even if your ideal is gearing up to start researching pros in their area, they may not be able to find you. 

So, what is the best advertising strategy?

Ultimately, that’s for you to decide for your business. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to advertising in the wedding industry, but it’s important to understand that you can’t rely on social media to be your primary advertising channel. Instead, it’s best to leverage social media with your advertising channels to create a holistic strategy. 

One of the best ways to do that is to showcase your services in a way that stands out and makes people want to learn more whenever they’re ready to. In other words, use your profiles to drive awareness of your business and push them to other places where they can learn a lot more relevant information about your services, like your website (or Storefronts!). This will accomplish two things.

1. When your audience does flow from your social media profiles to your more advertising-heavy channels, they’ll be much more likely to make a desired action because they’ll actually be in the mindset of wanting to learn more.
2. Because you’re not relying on your platforms to get leads, you can spend a lot less time worrying about ROI and more time posting content that’s fun and engaging that will deepen your relationship with your audience.

Social media is a great way to connect with your audience, and using it to bolster your advertising should be the goal you strive towards. To learn more about how you can create a holistic advertising strategy using channels that draw in couples who are in active-planning mode, talk to our team.

Photo Credit: Color Joy Stock