Social media fuels consumerism, and being a business online will, well, get you business. 

That shouldn’t be hard to realize in theory, but a lot of businesses seem to be missing both the memo and the money.

The impact of social media on marketing and consumerism

According to the Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behavior by Voramontri & Klieb (2018), social media users find it easier to make decisions about what products and services to engage with. 

This easy decision making leads to more spending – and online shopping is the way of our modern world. Because of e-commerce, consumers can reach products and services far outside their locale, and this globalizes the economy even more.

Consumers are more easily convinced by marketing targeted to them on social media, than more traditional methods of advertising – such as TV, radio and newspapers. That means that social media has made it easy for marketers to access and monitor the opinion of the crowds that their products are being viewed by. 

As a result, they can adapt their methods and marketing, and they can drive sales by simply paying attention to their potential customers. With targeted adverts, businesses have the potential to reach millions of customers at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. 

With this kind of reach, the possibility of creating or expanding an audience and the revenue of a business is immense, and the ROI is likely to be high. So, it sounds obvious that an online presence is the way to go, but there are still businesses that exist in 2021 without one.

The growth of ecommerce in recent years 

Though some businesses don’t have online presences at all, there are many that do but still refuse to take advantage of e-commerce platforms. 

There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing a business that you would love to support, and finding that there is no way to buy from them without going into a store. Beyond just stores, businesses without e-commerce sites are invisible in the international market. 

In 2019, the global e-commerce market size was valued at USD $9.09 trillion, and was expected to grow at an annual rate of 14.7%. You can find more reports on that here. 

With now more than USD $9 trillion floating around in the international e-commerce market, and the ease of international fulfillment, if you’re a business that’s not online, I’m looking at you funny.

What will happen if businesses refuse to adapt?

The Balance Small Business gives some very good reasons why adapting to the online business world is so important. 

Think about it. ALL of your competitors are online – and your potential customers are already engaging with their products and content. All the revenue you could be making is slipping away because your business just doesn’t exist on the internet. 

Let’s face it. Just like everything else in 2021, if it isn’t online, it doesn’t exist. Your business will fall into this pit. It already doesn’t exist to customers, and since customers make business, yours will cease to exist altogether if you don’t get on it.

Go hire a developer.