The real role of social media in companies’ Digital Marketing

Why being present is not the same as creating impact and why the value of the channel depends on how it is positioned within the system.

Introduction - social media became mandatory, but remains widely misunderstood.

Today, almost every company is present on social media.

They publish regularly, share updates, promote products or services and show signs of activity. On the surface, it appears that they are “doing digital marketing”.

In practice, however, many companies struggle to answer a simple question:

what role do social media actually play in their growth strategy?

This lack of definition is the core issue.

Not the lack of content.

Not posting frequency.Not the algorithm.

Social media is a powerful channel but only when its role within the overall Marketing system is clearly defined.

Social media is not a marketing plan. It is a channel within one.

1. Social media does not usually sell directly, but it influences most decisions.

One of the most common misconceptions is expecting social media to function as a direct sales channel. In most sectors, this rarely happens. And when it does, it is the exception rather than the rule.

The real impact of social media is indirect, but significant.

It shapes perception, reinforces credibility and influences decisions long before any commercial conversation takes place.

In practice, social media acts as a layer of validation. When a potential client visits a website, requests a proposal or responds to a sales contact, they have often already been exposed to the company’s social presence, even if they never interacted with it.

2. The mistake of treating social media as content production

Many companies approach social media as an operational obligation: content needs to be published, accounts must stay active, feeds must be updated. The focus shifts to output rather than outcome.

Without a strategic framework, the result is predictable: disconnected posts, generic messaging, repeated themes and constant effort with limited impact.

Social media should not be managed as an editorial calendar alone.

It should be understood as a continuous influence channel within the decision journey.

Publishing without strategic intent creates activity, not positioning.

3. The real function of social media in modern Digital Marketing.

When used effectively, social media fulfils three critical roles:

1. It builds familiarity. The market becomes accustomed to the company’s tone, perspective and way of thinking, reducing friction when a decision moment arrives.

2. Second, it reinforces authority. How a company explains, contextualises and interprets topics in its field shapes perceptions of competence without overt promotion.

3. Third, it supports decision-making. Social media often acts as a silent “background check”. It rarely convinces on its own, but it can either enable or block the decision to move forward.

4. Social media without strategy amplifies inconsistency.

An often overlooked aspect is that social media does not merely communicate, it exposes. It exposes gaps between message, positioning and reality.

When social content does not align with the website, the sales narrative or the actual customer experience, the channel stops helping and starts generating doubt. This rarely results in explicit objections. It results in hesitation.

Social media amplifies what a company is, not what it wishes to appear.

5. The role of social media in traditional Digital Marketing.

In traditional Digital Marketing, social media is primarily viewed as a channel for presence and visibility. The main objective is to remain active, communicate consistently and keep pace with the digital environment. Content is published to maintain awareness, reinforce brand image and demonstrate ongoing activity.

In this model, social media tends to operate relatively independently from the rest of the organisation. There is a strong focus on formats, frequency and visual coherence, but limited connection to the sales process, customer experience or the way purchasing decisions are actually made.

As a result, social media plays an important supportive role for the brand, influencing perception and familiarity, but with limited structural impact on how the business grows. It communicates, but it does not actively participate in decision progression.

This approach can be effective in simpler markets and shorter sales cycles. As decisions become more complex, however, presence and visibility alone are no longer sufficient.

In this model, social media communicates — but does not actively drive decisions.

6. The role of social media within an Integrated Marketing system

As buying processes have become longer and more complex, the traditional role of social media has shown its limitations. Not because it is wrong, but because it no longer reflects how decisions are made today. This is where social media becomes part of an Integrated Marketing system.

Within an integrated system, social media is no longer an isolated communication channel. It becomes an operational component of the commercial system. Each piece of content has a defined role within the customer journey: preparing the market, reducing uncertainty, reinforcing decision criteria and guiding attention toward specific next steps.

This represents a structural shift. Social media stops operating solely outward and becomes connected to internal processes. Content is created not only to inform or engage, but to support real decisions, feed the sales process and ensure continuity between communication, sales and delivery.

In this context, there is a clear link between what is published and what happens next: specific website pages, deeper content, contact requests, CRM registration, qualification and follow-up. At the same time, interactions on social media, questions, comments, messages and recurring objections, flow back into the organisation and influence communication, sales arguments and even operational decisions.

Without integration, social media generates attention. With integration, it generates progress.

When this feedback loop exists, social media stops being a constant effort to “stay visible” and becomes a strategic asset. It does not replace other channels, but strengthens them. It does not operate alone, but contributes directly to consistency, predictability and better commercial decisions.

Conclusion - social media is not an end, it is a component.

Social media has become an unavoidable channel in Digital Marketing, yet it continues to be misused because it is treated as an end in itself. Companies publish to exist, measure activity instead of impact, and expect the channel to solve problems that belong to strategy, sales or the company’s internal structure.

When social media underperforms, the issue is rarely the algorithm, the format or posting frequency. It lies in the channel operating in isolation, without a clear connection to positioning, the website, the commercial process or the real customer experience. In this scenario, social media generates visibility but not progress. It creates noise, not continuity.

Within an Integrated Marketing system, the role of social media changes fundamentally. It stops being a stage and becomes a component. Each piece of content serves a concrete purpose within the decision journey: preparing the market, reducing uncertainty, reinforcing decision criteria and guiding prospects towards specific actions. At the same time, what happens on social media flows back into the company in the form of real signals, questions, objections, expectations and friction, which influence communication, sales and even how the service is delivered.

It is this circuit-based logic that helps explain the different ways companies use social media. In some contexts, the channel primarily fulfils a role of presence and visibility, with ongoing effort focused on communication and awareness. In others, social media takes on a more integrated role, operating within a system where each publication has a clear function in the decision process, contributing to coherence, predictability and support for commercial activity.

Social media, on its own, does not determine growth. Its impact depends on the role assigned to it within the organisation. When integrated into a system that connects Marketing, Sales and Operations, it becomes a relevant channel for sustaining trust, supporting decisions and reinforcing a professional perception in the market, while remaining, above all, a means in service of the company’s overall strategy.