Five reasons your company may not need social media

Chance are your company already has a Facebook page or Twitter account. Maybe it’s even on Pinterest and Instagram. However, it can be a challenge measuring success. Posting, blogging and tweeting take a lot of time. And in many cases it’s hard to know if anyone is listening. So if you’re wondering if it’s time to shut down that Facebook or Twitter account – or whether to start one at all, check out these five reasons why social media might not be right for your business.

  1. No one cares. Let’s face it, not all of your customers want to know what you or your company are doing on a regular basis. Instead of trying daily or hourly to reach out to them, perhaps use a medium like email to send occasional, more focused information.
  2. Nothing to say. Depending on your industry, witty comments or funny cat videos may not be appropriate material to post. And industry information or internal activities may not be worth sharing. A social media account with no content can make you look worse than not having one at all.
  3. Your customers aren’t there. There are many industries where buying decisions are not influenced by Facebook or Twitter. Find out what type of media your market consumes. Perhaps trade publications or industry events should be where you focus your efforts.
  4. No responses. Even with decent follower numbers, it can be challenging getting any kind of response from your posts. Even with engaging and relevant content, it’s possible your posts and tweets may just be getting lost in people’s feeds. Regardless, do you really want to invest time talking when no one is listening?
  5. It’s not your style. You may feel obligated to participate in social media. After all, your competitors may be doing it. Yet that doesn’t mean it’s working for them either. If you don’t like doing it, either have someone else manage it for you or put your marketing efforts into something you’re more comfortable with. Who said phone calls and business lunches are out of fashion? They still work for me.