For years you've marketed your company using traditional advertising methods such as direct mail, door-to-door sales, trade shows and email. But it's 2016 and you're finally ready to update your marketing. The question is whether you should rely more on social media or SMS marketing?

While the case can be made that social media is a viable tool to engage both B2C and B2B clientele, it's not for everyone. In fact, we'll even go as far to say that SMS services are for everyone!

Here's why:

1. People don't see brand posts
Starting in 2012 Facebook began to slowly restrict the organic reach of published content on its platform. By 2014 organic reach was only at 2 percent for pages with 500,000 or more likes, according to Social@Ogilvy research.

For Twitter, over 50 percent of Americans have accounts but just over 20 percent use them, according to a GlobalWebIndex report. About a year ago, Twitter's CFO said during the company's second quarter conference call that "Twitter has only reached early adopters and tech enthusiasts. And we've not yet reached the next cohort of users known as the mass market." For a company that just launched, that statement might be acceptable, but it's frightening for one that's been around for 10 years.

As you can see, social media has its limitations. You're basically hoping the public and your company's followers see your content and interact with it. With SMS, you have a direct line to each opted in reader. You're also at the mercy of other company's operational and marketing initiatives. If a social media company fails to garner a steady mass of followers, your marketing efforts suffer. When using SMS, you're in full control of your marketing campaign.

2. Social media is distracting
Even if your customers follow you, they also follow tons of other brands. The chance yours is seen is slim, and it's even less likely they'll engage with your content and company. With mobile marketing, you can create person-specific messages that are more likely to be opened, read and engaged with.

For more information on how to integrate mobile text marketing into your company, contact a third party today.