A friend of mine once shared her way of dealing with the stress and the endless to-do list of the holiday season. She said “I just give myself permission to not do one thing. Whether it’s taking the family picture, or baking the Christmas cookies, whatever—I give myself permission to drop one thing and not feel guilty about it.”

I believe we need this for marketing. Truly. I was speaking with one marketing director not too long ago that was overwhelmed with everything they thought they had to do: Redo the website. Get their newsletter going. Start a drip campaign. Submit guest articles. Get those white papers started. There was a whole laundry list, and I could tell that they were having trouble prioritizing those tactics. (Side note: This is why you need to have a content strategy in place. We can help with that.)

But here, I am going to be more specific. Not only am I going to give you permission to drop one thing and not feel guilty about it. I am going to tell you what it is: 

Social media.

I’m not saying you should abandon your accounts outright (see below). But the stress that they cause people trying to get their marketing together far outweighs their benefit. Let me explain.

Social Media is Probably Not Your Money Maker

A colleague of mine did some root cause analysis to see what channels were creating the most leads for the websites they were managing. The results were stark: Over 80% of qualified leads had come from search in some form or another. Only about 8-10% (depending on how you counted some leads) came from social media.

Other industry stats are not so lopsided, but they still show that social media is not the main way to get fresh leads in through the door:

• In 2020, 40% of sales from eCommerce sites started with organic search, while only 10% (roughly) came through Facebook and Instagram. (source)
• Overall, about 3.4% of online retail sales in the United States were generated in 2020 using social networks as a channel. (source)
• More than 90% of online experiences start with search engines, and almost half of website traffic is driven by search results. (source)

How good are these numbers? I can’t say. But it’s telling that a google search for the ROI of social media reveals more articles telling people how to increase that ROI than articles stating that there is an ROI to begin with.

Of course, your mileage might vary. Some companies do awfully well on social media. It’s a no brainer for them. My point is that it won’t work for everyone. In fact, it won’t work for the majority. And it’s a mystery to me why almost 68% of marketing professionals make social media their primary approach to marketing. Somebody is throwing money into a pit.

Question: Do You Follow Your Dentist on Facebook?

So how can you tell if your business is one of the select few who could potentially use social media to their benefit? (Or conversely, how can you tell if you can dramatically reduce your spend on social media without feeling guilty?)

The easiest way is to ask the clients or customers you already have, and see what they do. Do they follow brands on Facebook or LinkedIn? Do they message companies through these platforms? Have they ever clicked on a social media ad? Your best clients should be able to tell you what other people like them are doing.

That said, you might already have an inkling about whether social media is the right tool for you. Certain businesses are made to thrive through things like influencer marketing on social media (e.g. makeup brands). Others are just a poor fit.

Consider the questions above: Do you follow your dentist on facebook? What about real estate agents? Lawyers? Your local doctor? Your local plumber?

My guess is that you do not. That’s because these professions fall into a very specific category: Expertise-based services. These are services that 1) require a fair amount of expertise (i.e are not usually DIY), but 2) are only needed in specific circumstances—for example, you need a dentist when it’s time to clean your teeth, a real estate agent when you want to sell your house, a plumber to stop the water gushing in your basement, and so on.

When these “triggers” happen, a customer wants to find a good local expert, and find them right away. But when these things are not happening…well, they are moving on and doing other  things. And they don’t necessarily want to hear from their dentist, real estate agent, or plumber.

That’s why search always trumps social for these professions. People want to find answers to specific questions when they arise (“How do I stage my house? Why is the toilet backed up? Can I sue the driver who hit me?). They are not just going to “hang out” (or “engage”) with brands online just for fun.

So expertise-based services are a bad fit for social media marketing. Here are some other types of businesses that are a bad fit; I leave it to the reader to figure out why:

• Highly specialized B2B products, services, and software
• Manufacturers/industrial
• Fintech and Regtech
• Niche consulting businesses
• Outsourced/third party software developers
• Engineering or architecture firms
• Government consultants (aka lobbyists)
• Energy companies
• Contract manufacturers

Now ask yourself: Are you one of these types of businesses? What channels make sense for you and your organization, given your target market’s buying behavior? What can you allow yourself to “let go” so you can focus on what works?