Marketing Myth No. 4: “Social Media Replaces Google”

Sunday afternoon. You are on the couch with your phone, thumb moving on its own. A friend’s kitchen remodel. A dog that talks. A Tulsa bakery pulling cinnamon rolls out of the oven. You like the bakery post. You do not get up.

Thursday morning. A crown pops off at breakfast. You are standing at the kitchen counter with one hand over your mouth and your phone in the other. You do not open Instagram. You type “emergency dentist Tulsa” into Google, look at the map, and call the first office that is open and close.

Same person. Same phone. Two days apart. Two completely different jobs.

That is the whole argument, and I could stop here. But the myth keeps showing up in my inbox, so let me take it apart properly.

The myth

“Social media replaces Google.” You hear it from the nephew who runs the family Instagram, from a seminar, from a reel with a lot of views. The story goes that young people search on TikTok now, that nobody Googles anymore, and that a business with a good feed can stop worrying about the search results.

I understand why it lands. Social is where you spend your own screen time. It feels like where everybody is. And a post that gets fifty likes feels like something happened.

What I actually see

I manage Google and social accounts for dentists, contractors, banks, and churches around Tulsa, so I get to watch both side by side.

The calls come from Google. The form fills come from Google. When a tooth breaks or a sewer line backs up or a business needs a new bank, the person who needs it today types what they need into a search bar, looks at the map, and taps. The map listing and the top few results take most of those taps. That pattern has not moved in the years I have been watching it.

Social brings likes, a few follows, and once in a while a message. In some accounts that message turns into a job. It is a real channel. But I have never seen it carry the weight an owner expected when they told me Google did not matter anymore.

Here is the plainest way I can put it. People scroll when they are resting. People search when they are ready. Your feed meets them on the couch. Google meets them at the kitchen counter with a hand over their mouth.

What quietly stopped working

Ten years ago a Facebook page could post and most of its followers would see it. That stopped. The platforms now show a business post to a small slice of the people who follow it, and they sell you the rest back as an ad. The owner who built a following and expected it to keep paying out is posting into a much smaller room than they think.

The other thing that stopped working is using a social page as your front door. Some businesses around here have no website at all. Just a Facebook page. Instagram and Facebook do not sort businesses by “open now and three miles from me.” Google does. So the person at the kitchen counter never sees you, no matter how good the feed looks.

What still works

Social does a job, and it does it well. It shows the person who already found you that you are real and current. The practice that posts the team at a kids’ event. The roofer who posts a finished job with the homeowner in the frame. The church that posts the Wednesday night supper. That is familiarity, and familiarity is what turns a search result into a call.

The order matters. Google finds you. Social confirms you. Your website gets the call.

Social also brings a real buyer one way: the neighborhood group. “Anybody know a good plumber in Broken Arrow?” Somebody tags you. That is word of mouth with a keyboard. And even then, watch what happens next. The person who got your name opens Google, types it in, and reads your reviews and hours before they call. The referral still ends at the search result.

So the question was never social or Google. The question is whether each one is set up to do its own job.

How to tell which side of the line you are on

Three checks you can do tonight.

1. Ask your last five new customers how they found you. Do not guess. Call them or ask at the front desk. Count how many say Google, how many say a friend, and how many say a post. Then compare that count to where your time and money go.
2. Search your main service plus “Tulsa” on your phone in a private window. Then open your business on Instagram or Facebook. One of those two places shows the person who is ready to buy your hours, your phone number, your reviews, and a way to book. Make sure that one is right.
3. Open your business page’s inbox and your post insights. Look at the last month. Count the messages that asked about a job or an appointment. If that number is close to zero, social is doing the familiarity job, and Google needs to be doing the finding job.

If Google brings the calls and social keeps you familiar, you are on the right side of the line, and your posts are doing exactly what they should. If social is the whole plan, keep posting, and build the front door the person at the kitchen counter is looking for.

If you would rather have someone look at your specific situation than read about it, grab 20 minutes on my calendar. No pitch. You will leave knowing where you stand.