Your Website Isn't Competing With Social Media

It’s the Hub That Makes Everything Else Work

Let’s clear something up: the question isn’t whether you need a website or social media. It’s not an either/or situation, and anyone telling you to pick sides probably hasn’t looked at how digital marketing actually functions in 2025.

Here’s what’s really happening: your website, your social media presence, and your email list aren’t competitors. They’re parts of an ecosystem. And if you’re trying to build an online business with one piece missing, you’re essentially trying to ride a bicycle with no chain.

The Myth of “Just Use Social Media”

I see this advice floating around constantly. “You don’t need a website anymore—just build on Instagram!” Or TikTok. Or LinkedIn. Or whatever platform is having its moment.

And look, I understand the appeal. Social platforms are where the people are. Search engines drive 93% of website traffic, but adults are also spending over 2.5 hours daily on social platforms. A substantial 26.7% of social media users specifically use these platforms for discovering new activities and items to buy.

The numbers are real. The audiences are there. But here’s what no one tells you: building exclusively on rented land is a terrible long-term strategy.

Social media platforms can—and do—change their rules overnight. Algorithms shift. Features disappear. Accounts get suspended for reasons that make no sense. I’ve watched creators with hundreds of thousands of followers lose access to their entire audience because of a platform policy change they had no control over.

Your website is the only digital property you actually own. It’s your home base. Everything else is an outpost.

How It Actually Works: The Digital Ecosystem

Think of your online presence like a solar system. Your website is the sun—the gravitational centre that everything else orbits around. Social media, email marketing, paid ads, SEO—they’re all planets that serve specific purposes but rely on that central hub to function properly.

Here’s the flow that actually works:

Social media creates awareness and discovery. About 80% of weekly Pinterest users have found a new brand or product on the platform, and social is now the number one channel for product discovery across all age groups. This is where people stumble onto you, where they get their first impression, where they decide whether they’re interested enough to learn more.

Your website builds trust and provides depth. Once someone’s interested, they need somewhere to go that demonstrates you’re legitimate, professional, and worth their time. 97% of users check a business’s online footprint before engaging with them. Social profiles are great for quick impressions, but when someone wants to understand what you actually do? They’re looking for your website.

Email marketing creates relationships and drives revenue. This is where you actually build something that lasts. One jewellery brand using integrated email marketing was getting 29% of its revenue from automations, with a single post-purchase email bringing in over $10,000 in additional sales. But you can’t build an email list without somewhere to capture those subscribers, which brings us back to your website.

Each component feeds the others. You can’t optimise one in isolation.

What Your Website Actually Does (That Nothing Else Can)

Let’s get specific about why you need this central hub:

It’s your conversion engine. 80% of e-commerce sales in 2024 occurred on the web, not social media sites. Social is brilliant for discovery and engagement, but when it’s time to actually make a purchase or sign up for something? People want the security and functionality of a proper website. You can implement checkout systems, lead capture forms, sales pages, and all the infrastructure that turns interest into revenue.

It integrates your entire marketing stack. Your website connects to your email platform, your CRM, your analytics, your payment processor, and your social channels. 60% of marketing professionals actively seek integration functionalities in their marketing automation provider, because email marketing automation integrated with other platforms can increase revenue by 320%. This is where everything flows together.

It provides permanence and control. Unlike social platforms where your reach is determined by algorithms you can’t influence, your website is yours. You control the design, the messaging, the user experience, and most importantly, you own the relationship with your visitors. No platform can take that away or change the rules on you.

It establishes credibility. A professional website signals that you’re serious about what you do. It’s where you can showcase testimonials, case studies, your full story, and all the social proof that turns browsers into buyers. You simply can’t do this comprehensively on a social media profile.

The Social Media Connection You’re Missing

Here’s where it gets interesting: your website and social media aren’t just coexisting—they’re actively enhancing each other.

Google is increasingly highlighting social media results in search, including forums like Reddit and Quora, alongside short-form video from YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels. The lines between traditional SEO and social visibility are blurring. Your social content can drive traffic to your website, and your website provides the destination that makes that traffic valuable.

41% of consumers say they’ve discovered a new product on social media in the last three months. But discovery alone doesn’t build a business. You need to funnel that interest somewhere that can capture it, nurture it, and convert it. That’s what your website does.

Think about the actual customer journey: someone sees your content on Instagram, clicks through to your website, signs up for your email list with a lead magnet, receives an automated welcome sequence, and eventually makes a purchase based on your follow-up emails. Every step requires a different tool, and your website is the hub that connects them all.

Email: The Missing Link

Let’s talk about email for a moment, because this is where the ecosystem really proves its worth.

Your social media following is brilliant—until the algorithm decides it isn’t. You could have 50,000 followers and reach only 2% of them with any given post. But your email list? When you send an email, it actually reaches people. Between 25 to 30% of monthly active users of email platforms leverage integrations, allowing companies to generate up to 15% of revenue monthly from these integrated approaches.

But you can’t build an email list without a website. Well, technically, you can try using link-in-bio tools or social media lead ads, but you’re still at the mercy of those platforms. Your website is where you host the lead magnets, the opt-in forms, and the landing pages that actually convince people to subscribe. It’s where the integration between your email platform and your content management system lives.

Marketing integrations reduce cognitive load for professionals who no longer need to switch between multiple data sources to get an overview of everything they know about customers. Your website is the foundation that makes this integration possible. It’s where visitor behaviour connects to email sequences, where purchases trigger automated follow-ups, where every interaction becomes data you can use to build better relationships.

Getting Started Without Losing Your Mind

I know what you’re thinking: “This sounds complicated and expensive.”

It’s not. Not anymore.

You don’t need to be a developer or have a massive budget. Most hosting providers offer one-click WordPress installations, and you can have a professional-looking site running within an afternoon using free themes and basic page builders. The technical barriers that existed ten years ago have essentially disappeared.

Here’s the minimum viable setup:

A domain name and hosting. You’re looking at around £30-50 per year for the domain and £3-10 per month for basic hosting. That’s less than a couple of coffees per month for digital real estate you actually own.
A homepage that explains what you do. Not fancy. Not complicated. Just clear information about who you help and how.
An about page. People want to know who you are. Tell them.
A way to capture emails. This could be as simple as a newsletter signup form or a lead magnet download. Use a free email platform like MailerLite or the free tier of ConvertKit.
A blog or content hub. This is where you’ll publish the content that drives traffic from search engines and gives people a reason to keep coming back.

That’s it. You can add products, services pages, and more sophisticated features later. But this core setup gives you everything you need to start building an actual business rather than just a following.

The Integration Game

Once you’ve got the basics, you can start connecting everything properly. This is where it gets powerful.

Connect your website to your email platform so subscribers are added automatically. Embed your social feeds on your site so visitors can see your latest content without leaving. Set up tracking so you understand where your traffic comes from and what they do once they arrive. Link your social bios to strategic landing pages rather than just your homepage.

The beauty of modern tools is that most of these integrations are either built-in or available through simple plugins. You’re not coding anything. You’re clicking a few buttons and following setup wizards.

What Actually Matters

None of this works if you’re creating content that doesn’t resonate or building an email list you never actually use. The infrastructure is important, but it’s not the business itself.

Your website is a tool. Social media is a tool. Email marketing is a tool. They’re all means to an end, and that end is building genuine relationships with people who care about what you do.

The mistake most people make is focusing entirely on one channel and ignoring the ecosystem. They build a massive Instagram following, but have nowhere to send people when they want to buy. Or they obsess over their website but never promote it. Or they collect email addresses but never send anything valuable.

The magic happens in the connections. When someone discovers you on social media, clicks through to your website, subscribes to your email list, and receives genuinely useful content that helps them—that’s when you’ve built something that lasts.

The Bottom Line

You need a website. Not because websites are inherently superior to social media or email, but because they’re the foundation that makes everything else work properly.

Stop thinking in terms of either/or. Your online presence isn’t a choice between platforms—it’s an ecosystem where each component supports the others. Social media for discovery, your website for conversion and credibility, and email for relationship building and revenue.

Build the hub first. Then extend outward. That’s how you create something sustainable rather than just chasing algorithm changes and hoping the platform gods remain favourable.

Your business deserves a foundation you actually own. Start there, and everything else becomes easier.

Until Next Time