10 reasons NOT to use social media

Brands and organizations are increasingly using social media to support their positioning, marketing, and communication strategies. The use of social media as a channel often shows great results, but disappointments are also more visible than desired. Disappointments about the lack of results and insufficient support within the organization. Is it a must to include social media in your online marketing? Why are a significant number of organizations, often more traditional B2B organizations, still unconvinced?

These questions seemed interesting enough for us to explore further. We approach this from our practical experience where organizations tell us about their resistance to this medium. Below we present the most common arguments.

1.  Social media does not fit our organization.

If none of your customers, contacts, potential future customers, or suppliers are on social media, you should ask yourself if you have anything to gain there. But who can answer yes to this?

2.  It is not possible to determine the effectiveness or ROI of social media.

Just like with other marketing activities, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the ROI or effectiveness of social media efforts. But the perception that it is harder than traditional media channels is not true; it is actually easier.

3.  Negative reactions or stories will damage our brand.

People fear that through a Facebook page or Twitter account, customers or suppliers will express themselves negatively about the organization or its employees. Often companies do not realize that this is possible even without their cooperation or permission; the complainer simply creates an account or hashtag!

4.  Social media is only for B2C organizations.

People confuse the faster adoption time of social media by consumer brands with a natural affinity for the channel. The view is that the ‘personal’ focus of social media makes it unsuitable for business communication.

5.  It takes a lot of time, time I don’t have.

Like all efforts, social media also takes time. It is important to make the right assessment and determine if it is worth the investment; thorough insight into the possibilities and a survey within your own network can clarify this.

6.  I want to keep business and private separate.

This one-size-fits-all approach is a common argument; I don’t call my customers and contacts outside working hours, so why would I invite them on social media!

7.  It’s just a hype.

To the layman, social media seems like a suddenly emerging hype, and like all hypes, short-lived. On the other hand, social media has been developing via the internet for years, and the current landscape is simply the latest version, with more to come.

8.  We don’t have the knowledge and experience.

Often a reason given when people realize that using social media is inevitable but cannot find the right way.

9.  I already know my entire market, so I don’t need to reach my customers.

Many companies in business markets think they know perfectly how the business landscape looks, and often rightly so. But they are mistaken if they think this landscape will remain the same for the next 10 years, just as it did not remain the same over the past 10 years.

10.  We have no content.

This is impossible. A company always has content in the form of products, video recordings, customer stories or testimonials, facts about the organization, etc. Why is this reason given? Because companies think they don’t have enough content to be active daily. Firstly, this is not necessary, and secondly, there is certainly something to report daily if it fits your organization.

Although we are basically proponents of using social media, in daily practice it is simply the case that not everything can be tackled at the same time. Without knowledge, patience, attention, strategy, and good content, we indeed advise against using social media. Carelessness usually leads to disappointment. If an organization is willing to invest enough and be patient, social media is a fantastic tool for dialogue and success. In practice, we also see that one of the above reasons is often cited out of fear of the unknown.

Getting started with content marketing? Read: The basics of good content marketing

In conclusion, we find social media an important communication channel, but just like with other channels, you need to understand it before you can determine if it fits your organization. If you exclude this channel out of ignorance and fear, you do yourself and your organization a disservice. To quote Peter Ustinov:

“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.”