Social media has been a massive marketing channel for businesses for years, and it has helped personal brands grow. Just look at Elon Musk and the influence he has with a single Tweet.
U.S. President Donald Trump uses Twitter extensively to reach his audience.
Statistics show that 50 million businesses have their own Facebook Business Page. When approached properly, social media has the potential to be an outlet for customer service, an extension of your brand and a way to attract new customers.
But there’s also a time when you have to let go of a social media profile.
This is a hard decision.
A lot of businesses don’t know when it’s time to continue trying to make social media work for them, or when it’s time to leave a profile behind. There are a lot of platforms, and while Facebook may work great for some businesses, Twitter may prove to be the most beneficial.
Facebook and Twitter may consume a lot of time for a business owner, but YouTube is the one really driving the leads.
Knowing when it’s time to abandon a social media page frees up time for a business, especially small businesses that are in their growth stage, to focus on what works best.
These tips will help you know if it’s time to abandon that social media profile that hasn’t been fruitful for your business.
1. You’re Spending Too Much Time on Social Media
Social media is great, but if you’re spending too much time on these platforms and not seeing a return, it may be time to refocus. A lot of small business owners are trying to “do it all.” When a business is small, it’s not uncommon for the owner to answer support calls, call vendors, respond to service calls and even manage their company’s social media accounts.
A lot of work goes into managing a business.
But when social media starts taking up too much of your energy, your time may be better spent elsewhere – or on another platform. A good example of this is Drain Doctor. If you look at the company’s Twitter account, you’ll see that the last post made was in 2016.
It’s safe to say that the account has been abandoned.
Why? I am guessing that Twitter wasn’t where their customers were and there wasn’t enough resources for a non-performing platform.
But if you go to the company’s Facebook account, you’ll see it’s still very active. Facebook may be more intuitive for the company and appears to have better engagement and that’s why they chose to keep the account active. They are focusing where their efforts where their customers actually spend time.
If you’re spending too much time on social media, drop platforms that you don’t understand or that are not working well for you. Realigning your focus on well-performing platforms is key to using your time wisely and not being burnt out.
2. The Platform is Dying
Yes, social media platforms come and go. There’s some value in new platforms, and if you find success on a platform before it goes mainstream, you may be able to reap the rewards. But if a platform is dying, it may be time to go somewhere else.
There’s no reason to stick to a platform that doesn’t have an active userbase or is losing subscribers.
If the platform is dying, educate your followers on how to reach you on other platforms before abandoning it.
3. Other Marketing Channels Are Working Better
Small businesses don’t have the luxury of wasting money. A small business needs to stay afloat, and while social media may drive lots of leads for some businesses, it may not provide the best return on investment for your business.
It’s better to spend time and money on platforms that are converting to leads.
This means spending time on marketing channels that are working well for you first. A social media presence takes time and resources to build before leads start rolling in. You’ll need to focus on what’s bringing in money first.
If this means spending resources on pay-per-click ads, then focus on this marketing channel. Eventually, you’ll be able to hire a social media specialist to help you run your accounts, or you’ll be able to add social media marketing into your advertising budget.
But until then, if your resources are severely limited, paid advertising methods may provide you with the best returns.
