Disclaimer: The following article is based upon my opinion from observation and research, this is my viewpoint for you to consider.
How is this happening?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it seems like the world has gone full Terminator overnight. Over the last couple of months, I've been keeping up with all the different updates and roll outs for LinkedIn and Facebook. It seems like in the post pandemic world, the only way to advertise is online, what better medium than social media?
LinkedIn is in the process of rolling out live streaming for everyone and have now created the Creative channel. In the post pandemic reality, it seems like the various social media platforms have taken an increased roll in networking and e-commerce. If I'm connecting with a potential prospect or trying to market to prospects, the algorithm penalizes me because a website takes that user off platform. I find it much easier to post on all platforms uniformly for message consistency and increasing my page following over the traditional website. If you want to attract business in the post pandemic world, you’ll need to grow your social media following instead of driving website traffic.
What about search engines?
I figured out early that search engines are on the way out, I didn't know why, but it was a gut feeling. At the start of the pandemic Google was starting to lose market share to DuckDuckGo, now it seems like it has more than just one competitor. Social media platforms have been in a war with YouTube and Netflix and the only way to diminish the YouTube market share is to control the flow of traffic. If you've noticed all social media platforms have an individual app that doesn't require a browser.
It's not just about the video wars between the platforms, social media platforms are competing for the most users for the longest time in app. If social media penalizes you for taking a user off platform, how long until someone figures out how to maximize social media without a traditional website? Businesses are the ones who have the power to change behavior through the influence of their customer base, social media just happens to be the biggest fish.
What does this mean for Google and Search Engines moving forward? I think that Google will survive through Chrome and its ChromeOS. Google still provides the best tools, so having the Chrome browser will be a no brainer when deciding what browser, you want to use. This will only last until cell phone manufacturers figure out how to allow you to do everything you can do on your desktop on a cell phone, which is why Google is now getting into the cell phone industry.
Social Media and E-commerce
This is all a cause and effect, with each domino falling, the chain reaction continues.
If you're on platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn, you can build your portfolio and keep it relevant while keeping users on the platform. Think of it like this, I’m a video editor and producer. Every project I complete I can upload it to each platform so that other businesses can see. This gives potential clients the ability to see your work in real time and decide if they’d like something like that for themselves. Although I ad my finished content, I also create specific content for my brand to increase my brand following. This allows me to give exclusive deals to specific platform users.
I think in the future social media platforms will have to concede to assisting businesses in their algorithm to reach the level of success they desire. The only way social media can beat search engines is to pander to businesses. Social media is looking for the fine balance between catering to the business community and attracting private users.
I think, in the near future, businesses will market themselves to gain followers through heavy branding, which might lead to branding wars. This will force new startups, in order to compete, to become creative in their messaging. As videos became popular, marketers oversaturated viewers with ads that are now being tuned out. So, it’s only the creative who will be successful, which is the way it’s always been.
Brand Marketing
I think in the future businesses will learn how to create minimal yet engaging content that creates brand awareness that translates into increased customer conversions. Businesses will have to create entertaining content to avoid being lost in the sea of videos while trying to grow a customer base. A great example of this is Mayhem from Allstate or Captain Obvious from Hotels.com. Followers will look forward to your 30-90 seconds worth of content and share it with their friends.
Because a large majority of traffic is on social media platforms, businesses are being pulled away from tradition SEO. If you can create a profile, market that profile, gain followers on that profile, and convert those followers into customers, what need is there for SEO? What reasons does a business need a website if this is the case?
Followers will be currency
In the future brands will be able to use their followers as currency when choosing primary platforms to market on. Think of it like this, if Louis Vuitton decided to only allow retailers to sell on LinkedIn, what do you think the cause and effect is?
Imagine growing a brand from 0 to 75 million followers, what offers do you think you’ll get to offer your product exclusively anywhere? I think the big obstacle will be demographics because each platform caters to a specific demographic. If someone like Facebook is trying to rebrand as Meta exclusive deals could be made with brands that fit Meta’s target demographic.
There has been a wave of websites developed for specific industries and companies to play only their stuff. Just like you have HGTV, websites are popping up with the same concept, however social media is already ahead of the curve. The issue with having a website is SEO whereas with social media all of that has been done. You have IGTV for Instagram, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts and more on the way. If you’ve already created a following on social media, why would you create something new that requires more attention?
Moving forward
Having realized this for myself recently, I’ve already started the migration from my website. For 2022 my New Year Resolution is to become independent from SEO. I do plan on maintaining my domain into the future, I might be wrong, or I haven’t figured out a best way to use it. I think that I may redirect traffic to my LinkedIn since I’m a business-to-business brand.
As a promise to whoever finds this article interesting, in 6-12 months I’ll give an update on what benefits I’ve enjoyed and how much it helped in my marketing strategy. One thing is for sure, SEO is one less bill I’ll have to pay to keep the lights on. I think I’ll redirect that budget into Social Media ads designed to get likes and follows so that I can organically market to my base.