If you’re not going to check your sites, then don’t bother with social media

My friend Dave Howlett once suggested that people wouldn’t have pet peeves if they stopped feeding their pets. (I’m paraphrasing.) Dave is right; in a perfect world, I wouldn’t let anything bother me.

Well, I’m still working on being perfect (ha!), but I do need to get something off my chest. Here goes: Increasingly, I’m coming across Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, blogs and other social media presence points that have been created by organizations and then seemingly abandoned.*

Just imagine a customer or prospect being interested enough to post a comment to your blog or Facebook page, and then being ignored. This is the equivalent of never returning phone calls or answering emails.

So what’s the answer? Do not create a social media site if you don’t have the resources to maintain it and to monitor it. Simple, right?

When I work with my clients, I try to help them to understand the conversational aspect of social media – the give and take, the exchange of ideas, indeed the social aspect. Unfortunately, too many people still view social media as a broadcast mechanism, a way to shove content out into the world. This approach just does not work.

Thanks, I feel better.

(*UPDATE: I haven't even addressed the scourge of spam left on blog posts and FB pages because admins don't even know it's there. Sigh.)

Comments

[angelsandurchinsblog]

You are so right. Often, an organisation starts off thinking that social media is a great idea. However, no one is given the actual job of tweeting or updating Facebook and eventually it falls off the radar. It looks lazy because it is lazy, which doesn't say much about the organisation involved.

[Michael Kull]

I agree. It seems that being non-responsive in general is increasingly becoming standard business practice. Since the professional response to negative behavior is to ignore it, one wonders whether the opposite party is truly busy or they have said something offensive.

My sense is that people need to get over being offended and assume that people generally are working to do good things, and that it isn't personal. And if one or two misbehave... let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, upset the apple cart, or whatever metaphor you prefer to get rid of assholes.

I must disagree with the argument that people shouldn't experiment because it "might look bad." If that's what you tell your clients, please send them to me.

[Donna Papacosta]

Thanks for your comments. I think it's fine to experiment. But if you've decided to abandon your Facebook page or Twitter feed or whatever, then please DELETE it. Don't leave it out there littered with spam and unanswered comments.