Websites vs Social Media: which is more important to a food brand?

With the proliferation of social media, many food marketers have been tempted to ask, “do we really need to invest in maintaining our brand website…or, do we need a brand website at all?”.  This may be the wrong question to ask, but before this question can be addressed, it is important to understand the three categories of interaction or media that food brands have to reach their consumers.

1. Paid Media: This is “paid for” advertising, pure and simple. For example, display ads, paid SEM and keywords, pay-per-click, content sponsorships, and other paid opportunities available on social media sites.

2. Earned Media: This is “unpaid for” advertising and promotion resulting from organic search by maximizing SEO.

3. Owned Media: This is the gold standard of media in that brands own this space and control the message. Websites are a prime example of owned media.

Websites, which are owned media, are the source of content that feed paid and earned media. For example, most consumers begin with a search engine site (i.e. Google) to find a product or brand, and search results will typically lead them to brand websites. The messaging and experience they have on a brand website is completely under the control of the company that owns the brand. Conversely, consumers may not typically “visit” a brand’s Facebook page, they may “bump” into it by chance, and research data has shown that they rarely return. They go to the source:  the brand’s website, which consumers are confident they can rely on for consistent, accurate information about the brand and its products.

Social media sites are sharing sites and the brand content that consumers choose to share there typically comes from brand websites. For example, pins on Pinterest typically originate from visual content on brand or marketers’ websites. They are not typically repinned from branded Pinterest pages. The organic nature of social sharing is dependent on external source material that catches the fancy of consumers and is brought to social sites.

In website vs  social media , the right question to ask is: how can the power of a brand website be maximized to effectively use the power of social media?  There are four basic areas where branded websites can maximize their ROI: resource for brand and product information and benefits, marketplace for consumer purchases, destination for an interactive brand experience, and connection between consumers and the brand’s story and values. Whether a food brand chooses to focus on one of these areas or all of them, as owned media a brand’s website tells the story the brand wants told and shared.