Brands have long relied on social media to reach customers, but the numbers tell a different story—organic reach is shrinking, conversion rates are lagging, and platforms are prioritizing their own ad revenue over brand visibility. Recent research shows that social media traffic converts at just 1.5% on average, while direct website visits and email marketing consistently outperform it. As a result, businesses—both SMBs and enterprises—are shifting their marketing strategies toward owned channels like SEO, content marketing, and email. This shift isn’t just about better conversion rates; it’s about long-term stability, reduced dependency on algorithms, and full control over customer relationships. In this deep dive, we’ll break down why brands are moving away from social media marketing, the benefits of owning your audience, and how companies are successfully reclaiming their digital real estate.
Declining Conversions on Social vs. Direct Channels
Recent data shows a clear disparity between conversion rates on social media and on brands’ own channels. Traffic that comes directly to a website (including organic search and direct visits) tends to convert at roughly double the rate of social media traffic. For example, one analysis found direct traffic converting at 3.3% on average, compared to just 1.5% for social media traffic – the lowest among major channels. This trend holds true across business sizes: social visitors are generally less likely to take action (purchase, sign up, etc.) than those arriving via owned or intent-driven channels.
It’s not just conversion rates that lag on social – the volume of traffic and leads generated from social platforms is often minimal. Many companies find that organic social media contributes well under 5% of their website traffic and leads, despite significant effort. In fact, research by Marketing Insider Group indicates social media typically drives “less than 2%” of a company’s website traffic on average marketinginsidergroup.com. Content marketing expert Michael Brenner notes a similar finding: “social media only generates 2% of traffic and leads for most companies, and paid social is only 2%,” according to his firm’s data contentmarketinginstitute.com. In other words, the vast majority of customers are acquired through other channels, not through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and the like.
Several factors explain why social traffic unperformed:
Lower intent: Users on social platforms are typically scrolling for content or entertainment, not actively shopping or seeking a product. By contrast, someone who comes via Google search or by directly visiting the site often has a specific need or interest, leading to higher intent to convert.
Algorithmic barriers: Even a brand’s own followers might not see its posts due to algorithmic feeds. Organic reach on major social networks has declined, meaning fewer referral clicks. Publishers like The New York Times and The Guardian have experienced over a 60% drop in social media referrals in recent years. With platforms preferring to keep users engaged on-site, external links (to your website) often get deprioritized, resulting in meager traffic.
Interruption nature: Social media ads and posts appear amid a flood of other content, so even when users click through, they may be less primed to convert. For instance, one benchmark shows Facebook ad traffic converting at around 9% in ideal cases, but typical organic social engagement rates are below 1% – and conversion rates even lower.
Given these challenges, it’s no surprise that marketers are questioning the ROI of heavy social media investment. A recent analysis bluntly asks: “Is social media even worth it anymore?” contentmarketinginstitute.com. Many brands are concluding that returns from organic social do not justify the time and budget spent, especially as platforms become “pay-to-play.” During the pandemic, social ad spend surged, but post-pandemic saturation led to ad fatigue and lower engagement, prompting advertisers to diversify away from social channels campaignasia.com. In short, both data and experience are pointing brands toward channels that offer more control, higher intent, and better conversion performance.
Highlight: Social media traffic struggles to convert, with an average rate of 1.5%, compared to 3.3% for direct website visits. Algorithmic barriers, low intent, and declining organic reach make social a weak driver of both traffic and sales, pushing brands to rethink their investment.
Brands Shifting Focus to Owned Channels
In response to these trends, companies of all sizes – from SMBs to enterprises – are shifting their marketing focus to owned media channels such as their website content, SEO, email, and other direct customer touch points. The appeal of owned channels lies in the ability to build an audience on your own terms, without being at the mercy of third-party platform algorithms or policies. As one marketing leader advises, investing in “platforms your brand owns and operates” ensures you can stay connected with your audience no matter how the social media winds blow contentmarketinginstitute.com. The goal is to cultivate a reliable flow of traffic and engagement that isn’t subject to sudden algorithm changes or declining reach.
Why Move Away from Social Media?
Several strategic reasons underlie this migration away from an over-reliance on social media:
Algorithm Changes & Volatility: Social platforms frequently tweak their algorithms, drastically affecting who sees a brand’s content. Many businesses have been tired of fighting with algorithms just to talk to their own followers. A post that reached thousands of people last month might reach only a few hundred this month – an unpredictability that wreaks havoc on consistent marketing efforts. Brands are frustrated that they often have to pay to appear in your news feed to get any significant reach, eroding the value of their organic following.
Platform Dependency Risk: Relying on a single platform poses a business risk. If a social network changes its rules, declines in popularity, or locks your account, your connection to customers can vanish overnight. By contrast, traffic via SEO, an email list, or a blog is under your control and more enduring. As one eCommerce retailer realized, having “all our traffic coming from social media” was an eggs-in-one-basket risk – if their Facebook reach evaporated, sales would plummet. That concern is leading many to proactively diversify.
Low ROI and Cost Efficiency: When measuring marketing ROI, owned channels often outperform. For example, email marketing drives more conversions than any other channel – including social and search. One study found 66% of online consumers have made a purchase as a direct result of an email message, far higher than the typical conversion influence of a social post. Email and SEO also tend to be more cost-effective: content marketing can generate 3x the leads of traditional advertising at 62% lower cost, and email yields an average $36–$40 return for every $1 spent. In contrast, social media often requires paid boosts for meaningful reach, driving up cost per acquisition.
Ownership of Audience Data: Building your own subscriber lists (email/SMS) and site traffic means you own first-party data on your customers and prospects. You can directly re target them, personalize content, and analyze behavior without a gatekeeper. On social platforms, the user data and relationship belong to the platform, not your brand, limiting how you can follow up or segment your audience.
Customer Preference & Trust: There is evidence consumers themselves are losing enthusiasm for traditional social media. A Gartner survey found 53% of consumers believe social media’s state has “decayed” in quality and 50% are predicted to cut back usage by 2025. People cite overload of ads, misinformation, and toxic content. Brands are recognizing that pushing messages in such an environment may be less effective than communicating in channels the customer finds more useful (like helpful content on a website or a well-timed email). Owned content can also be more trust-building – e.g. an informative blog post or whitepaper can establish credibility in a way a quick social post cannot.
Brands are shifting focus to owned channels like SEO, email, and direct website engagement to escape the unpredictability of social media algorithms. With greater control, lower costs, and higher conversion rates, businesses are prioritizing platforms they own rather than relying on third-party networks.
Benefits of Prioritizing Owned Media
Refocusing on channels like SEO, content marketing, and email marketing is yielding concrete benefits for those brands that execute it well. Some key advantages reported include:
Higher Conversion Rates: Traffic arriving via owned channels often converts at a higher clip. Visitors from search engines or email campaigns are actively seeking information or already engaged with the brand. Industry benchmarks show direct visitors and email visitors convert significantly better than social browsers (for instance, 3%+ vs ~1% on average)
convertica.org. By attracting more of these high-intent visitors, brands can lift their overall conversion rates. One marketing study even noted email generated 174% more conversions than social media when measuring direct and assisted transactions combined mailmunch.com.
Improved Customer Retention: Owned channels allow ongoing, direct nurturing of customer relationships, which boosts loyalty and retention. Email newsletters, for example, keep a brand in regular contact with its audience. It’s no coincidence that marketers rank email as the number one channel for customer retention (58% cite it). Content marketing also plays a role in retention (32% cite it as a key retention driver, tied with social media). By providing valuable content and personalized updates in channels like email, brands keep customers engaged beyond the initial purchase. Over time, this can increase repeat purchase rates and lifetime value. In contrast, depending on a social feed to re-engage past customers is hit-or-miss – there’s no guarantee your posts will surface for them at the right time.
Reduced Dependency on Algorithms: Perhaps the most immediate benefit is peace of mind and stability. Brands that grow their own audience (website visitors, subscribers, app users) are no longer at the mercy of Facebook’s or TikTok’s latest algorithm tweak. They can communicate upcoming sales, new products, or content directly to customers reliably. As one CMO put it, maintaining investment in owned media ensures you stay in contact with your customers no matter which way the social media winds may blow.
This resilience is invaluable — for example, if a platform’s organic reach drops further or a social network suddenly falls out of favor, an owned audience remains reachable. Companies prioritizing SEO also gain more stable traffic over time; high search rankings can deliver visitors for months or years with only modest upkeep, whereas a social post’s lifespan is hours or days.
Better Customer Experience & Engagement: On your own site or app, you control the user experience. This means you can optimize landing pages, checkout flows, and content without the limitations of a social platform’s design. Many brands find they can engage customers more deeply on their own properties – via interactive tools, tailored recommendations, community forums, or simply a distraction-free environment to consume long-form content. Customers who choose to visit the brand’s site or subscribe to its updates are also typically the most interested, making those interactions more meaningful than a fleeting social scroll-by. Ultimately, nurturing engagement on owned channels creates a stronger brand community and feedback loop.
In summary, shifting focus to owned channels is proving to drive more conversions, strengthen customer loyalty, and safeguard marketing efforts against external disruptions. The following case studies illustrate how both smaller businesses and large enterprises are successfully making this transition.
Prioritizing owned media leads to higher conversion rates, better customer retention, and greater stability by reducing reliance on unpredictable social algorithms. Brands that focus on SEO, email, and direct engagement build stronger relationships and create more sustainable long-term growth.
Case Studies: From Social-Centric to Owned-Channel Success
Case Study 1: Fashion E-Commerce SMB Boosts Conversions with SEO & Content
One small-to-mid sized online retailer – a fashion ecommerce brand – discovered the downsides of social-overreliance and pivoted to an owned-media strategy with impressive results. Initially, this Shopify-based business derived 90% of its traffic from social media, mainly Facebook. While their viral Facebook posts were driving sales for a time, the founders grew concerned that they were one algorithm change away from losing most of their revenue. It was a classic “all eggs in one basket” scenario: “if something were to happen to their Facebook reach, sales would suffer,” and they knew they were at the mercy of the social platform’s whims. They noticed the effort was unsustainable – success on Facebook required constant posting and ad spend to stay visible, with diminishing returns.
In 2022, the company decided to invest heavily in SEO and content marketing as an alternative, aiming to diversify traffic to their website. They partnered with an SEO agency to optimize their site, publish high-quality content, and improve Google rankings. Over the next year, the brand saw outstanding growth in organic (non-social) traffic. According to the agency’s report, the website experienced an 85%+ increase in organic users within one year, with new user sessions up 95%. Crucially, these visitors weren’t just window-shoppers – targeted organic traffic converted at a higher rate, more than doubling the site’s organic revenue. By driving searchers looking for their products (and improving the on-site experience), the company significantly boosted its overall conversion rate and sales.
The benefits went beyond just more traffic. The retailer now has a sustainable, long-term traffic source that doesn’t require daily intervention or ad spend. SEO became an “always-on” funnel bringing in shoppers actively searching for fashion items they offer. The business added other owned elements as well: improving their blog content and email marketing to further nurture customers. As a result, they gained more control over their customer acquisition. No longer do they fear a sudden Facebook policy change or price hike in ads – if social trends shift, their business won’t take a major hit overnight. In effect, they traded the rollercoaster of social media for the compounding returns of content and SEO. This case demonstrates how an SMB can reduce social dependence and actually increase conversions by focusing on owned media, even if it means a short-term shift in strategy.
Case Study 2: Lush Cosmetics (Enterprise) Quits Social Media for Direct Customer Engagement
Lush Cosmetics, a global mid-sized enterprise in the beauty retail sector, made headlines for its bold move to step away from mainstream social media channels entirely. In 2021, Lush announced it would no longer post to its official Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Snapchat accounts as part of an “anti-social media” policy. This decision was driven by the brand’s values and a pragmatic marketing calculus. Lush’s leadership cited growing discomfort with social platforms’ effects, including concerns over addictive algorithms, content moderation issues, and data privacy, which made the brand question the ROI and ethics of continuing on those networks.
Lush stated that social media was making it harder for them to communicate directly with customers. They expressed frustration over fighting with algorithms and having to pay to appear in newsfeeds. The company felt that the authentic conversation with its customers was being hampered by platform mechanics and pay-to-play requirements.
Rather than simply going dark, Lush redirected its energy into owned channels and alternative methods of engagement. The company encouraged customers to reach them via their website’s live chat, email newsletter, and even telephone. Internally, they invested in building up direct audiences. Their email newsletter list swelled to over six million global subscribers, and their mobile app grew to 1.75 million users, with around 60% opting in to receive push notifications. These platforms became key for releasing new product announcements, offering loyalty rewards, and fostering community discussions. The app allows users to connect with local Lush shops and get updates. Essentially, Lush shifted the conversation to spaces where they set the terms of engagement rather than chasing social algorithms.
After three years of this strategy, Lush’s team reports that the move has been vindicated. Initially, there were fears of losing reach or sales, but the company found it could still achieve broad awareness through word-of-mouth and press without an official social presence. They still maintain a toehold on platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn for less algorithm-driven content, and they leverage an affiliate program that encourages fans and influencers to share Lush products on their own social channels. However, the core of their outreach is now through owned pipelines. By 2025, Lush even began dialing back paid ads on Google and other Big Tech channels to further reduce dependency, aiming to bring paid search spend to zero by 2026 in favor of organic and direct engagement.
The benefits Lush has observed align with the broader trend: they now have a more direct relationship with customers. The newsletter and app allow personal, one-on-one conversations at scale without an intermediary curating the message. Virtually 100% of their subscribers see their communications, unlike social media posts, which often reach only a fraction of followers. This approach has likely improved customer retention. People who opt in for Lush updates are their most loyal buyers, and they’re rewarded with early access and points in a members’ program.
Lush has also insulated itself from the turmoil of social media. As new controversies or algorithm shifts hit platforms, their marketing team can watch from the sidelines while continuing business as usual through their own channels. Their Chief Digital Officer has remarked that brands give platforms power by depending on them, suggesting that reclaiming their audiences offers long-term benefits.
Additional Examples
Lush is not alone. Other large organizations are also pivoting in this direction, albeit less dramatically. Major publishers like The New York Times and The Guardian, after seeing social referral traffic nosedive, have doubled down on owned media, launching dozens of targeted email newsletters, podcasts, and subscriber-only content to engage readers directly. This has led to record digital subscription growth for some.
In the B2B world, companies like HubSpot have long exemplified the power of owned content. HubSpot’s extensive library of blogs, e-books, and webinars generates enormous organic traffic. Only 2.5% of HubSpot’s traffic comes from social media, with the remaining 97% coming through channels like organic search, direct visits, and email marketing. HubSpot still uses social as a supplementary channel for brand awareness, but its customer acquisition engine is its own website. This mix has helped HubSpot build a $271M+ lead generation machine, largely on the back of content and SEO, with social playing only a minor role.
Across the board, marketers are reallocating budget and attention to what is working. Surveys suggest marketing teams in 2024 are increasing investment in SEO, content creation, and email automation while either holding steady or even cutting spend on social media. The underlying theme is owned marketing—tapping into first-party data and direct relationships. Some brands report their ecommerce revenue from owned channels, such as email and SMS, is growing significantly year-over-year, reinforcing the strength of these strategies. Meanwhile, many advertisers are diversifying their media mix away from an over-reliance on social ads.
Effective Alternative Marketing Strategies for Higher Conversion & Engagement
With brands shifting away from social media dependence, they are investing in:
• SEO and Content Marketing: Creating valuable content on websites that attracts qualified visitors via search engines. Organic search traffic converts at a higher rate than social media traffic and provides compounding, long-term results.
• Email Marketing and CRM: Email marketing consistently delivers the highest ROI of any digital channel, with personalized messages yielding high conversion rates. Brands are focusing on growing their subscriber lists and using marketing automation to nurture prospects.
• Owned Communities and Content Hubs: Some brands are launching private communities, loyalty apps, or exclusive content hubs that allow customers to engage directly with them, free from algorithm-driven feeds.
• Leveraging Data and Optimization: With full control over their channels, brands are using first-party data to refine conversion strategies and create more personalized experiences.
Brands are reclaiming ownership of their audience and customer journey. Frustrated by declining social media ROI and wary of overdependence on platforms, businesses are refocusing on channels they can control—websites, content, SEO, email lists, and apps. Owned channels are delivering higher conversions, better retention, and more stability compared to the unpredictability of social media.
The case studies of Lush Cosmetics and HubSpot demonstrate that companies of all sizes can make this transition successfully. For marketers planning their strategy, the takeaway is clear: invest in what you own. Prioritize valuable content, build and nurture direct customer relationships, and optimize your website for conversions. Social media may still have a role, but it is no longer the foundation of a successful marketing strategy.
Sources
• Marketing Brew: Lush’s Social Media Exit and Strategy
• Econsultancy: Why Lush Left Social Media
• Klaviyo: Growth of Owned Channels in Ecommerce
• Campaign Asia: Why Advertisers Are Moving Away From Social
• Convertica: Conversion Rates by Traffic Source
• Invesp: Email Marketing ROI vs. Social Media
• Mailmunch: Email’s Effectiveness for Customer Acquisition
• Marketing Insider Group: The Shift to Owned Media
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Raised Media Co. is a NYC-based video production and commercial photography company.
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