Social media is dying as a sales tool. It’s just that no one knows it yet.
It’s true: brands are spending less money on social media advertising, and consumers are using it less frequently to complete purchases.
Forrester Research’s Retail Topic Insights Survey 2022 showed that 62% of online adults never complete purchases inside social media networks. But it works for younger consumers. The Forrester data showed that 61% of U.S. online adults under 25 have completed a purchase within a social network, compared with 29% of 45-54 year-olds. Social media advertising is slowing.
. That’s about 10 times slower than in 2021, according to estimates from eMarketer Magna cut its estimates for worldwide social media growth.
One reason why Social Media Marketing will continue to lose effectiveness in the future is that social media sites generate most of their revenue through paid advertising.
If you learn how to advertise on Facebook and convert the clicks into leads and leads into sales, you can afford to spend more money on ad platforms and get more reach. However, most businesses do not have a marketing funnel in place and naively believe that simply increasing their social media activity will lead to more sales.
A lot of small-business owners think that if they just get their products in front of enough customers, sales will follow. But it’s not as simple as they imagine. The truth is that social media marketing, though similar to advertising, has its limitations and shortcomings. As more businesses try to create free accounts in order post stuff that’s not interesting–yet still expect it go viral—their reach will eventually decrease.
The amount of time people spend on social media is not increasing, new user growth has flatlined and if more businesses try to reach the same internet users, according to basic maths, the reach of each business should go down because now the attention is divided between all the users who follow many business pages at the same time (on top of following more individual users).
But don’t count out the power of Facebook and Instagram just yet—they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
The reason for this shift is simple: social media isn’t dying; it’s just changing. The problem is that marketers have been so focused on how much money they can make from their ads—not what customers want—and that’s not always more ads.
The key to understanding why social media isn’t dying is that it’s no longer just about the ads. It’s also about what those ads can do for your business—and that means more than just driving sales. Social media is a powerful tool for brands because it gives them an opportunity to connect with customers on a deeper level, which in turn can help them build trust and loyalty over time.
In 2022, consumers want more personalized experiences—and they want them everywhere, including in their social networks.
They want an experience that feels like it was designed just for them instead of being pushed into using an app or service with no regard for what they actually want out of it.
That means companies need to work harder than ever before to make sure their products are accessible and easy-to-use across all platforms (including social media).
