Let’s say you’ve had it up to the heavens with Facebook and you want to delete your social media business page.
Is deleting it the way to go?
Or is is better to let it sit there and garner what little attention it can muster?
Perhaps you should automate some promotional posts to go out so it doesn’t look like the ghost town it really is?
What exactly is the proper protocol when you’re ready to walk away?
Let’s discuss.
Option A: Deleting Your Social Media Business Page
Whether we’re talking Facebook, Twitter, or SnapChat, it’s a tough call to decide to delete ANY of your social media business pages altogether.
Quite honestly, it makes me a little squirmy to think about deleting my business SnapChat account — which never actually appeared other than creating it. But still.
What if I get a wild hair in my arse and decide that Snapchat is for adults (I said, and still stubbornly stand by my statement, it isn’t). Or what if I get one of our newly-hired millennials to take it over?
Are there are benefits to deleting your business pages on social media?
Sure … like:
- Keeping traffic focused on your website (versus elsewhere)
- Social sites are rented, not owned, assets
- Less is more with some marketing strategies
But are those surefire reasons to delete your social media business page?
I’m not sure.
I just know that deleting your page means that you are no longer searchable on that platform and that your company name or branding placeholder is — POOF! — gone.
It also seems a little loco to delete something that at one time you probably invested a lot of time and money in.
But that doesn’t mean NOT deleting it is all rainbows and sunshine …
Option B: Set It And Forget It
Okay, so you aren’t active on your social media business page, but at least it’s keeping your placeholder. And people can still find your business on [Facebook/Twitter/SnapChat].
Plus, there are lots of other reasons throwing the baby out with the bathwater may not be the best option:
- Your social media business page is driving decent referral traffic to your website
- You still get some likes, comments/replies, shares/retweets
- You know your target audience is active on the platform
But … if any of the above are true, should you stay active? I mean, maybe you’re not able to tie a direct ROI (return on investment) to your social media business page, but it’s not dead in the water.
There are other problems with Option B. Like, what if you forget it and you’re not responsive to inquiries, questions, or complaints?
A recent Sprout Social report shows that 1 in 3 customers are willing to go to a competitor when ignored. Yikes!
So maybe you do have to delete your page if you don’t want to own a ghost town where potential clients are ignored.
Unless you can kinda half-ass it. Which brings me to our last option …
Option C: Automation Unbound
Okay, so we can’t delete our social media business page even though we don’t have the time to properly manage it, and we don’t like the idea of letting it sit there (because, engagement!), so we decide to automate a few posts and check in here and there to respond to peeps.
Sounds good, right?
Not so fast. I’ve actually seen this. A LOT. And here’s what it looks like:
Not exactly exhilarating, right?
Because let’s be honest, you can set up your automated tweets or posts to go out every day (like the company above) or every other day, or once a month, but if that’s the only thing in your thread it looks worse than nothing at all.
Suggestions for better automation:
- Set up automated posts at intervals in which you know you can add additional posts in between (whether peppered in on your own or shared from others)
- Don’t let all of your automated content be promotional, otherwise, you’ll risk looking spammy
- As with Option B, make sure if you’re going to be posting on your social media business page, that you’re also around to respond at least once in a while
Bottom line: Automation is an assistant, not the star of the show.
So? What is the best option when you’ve decided to spend your time and efforts elsewhere?
Delete? Set and forget? Or set up automation and hope you don’t make a fool of yourself?
Which would you choose? Let me know in the comments below and let’s have a conversation about this difficult decision!
