By Randall Craig

There are many reasons why an investment in social media makes sense (community-building, engagement, retention, event marketing, etc.), but precious little about why it may not. After advising on digital strategy and online engagement for over 23 years, here are 23 reasons why you should skip social media:

1. When your target audience (members, prospective members, or other stakeholders) aren’t online.
2. When it is not “core” to your association’s success.
3. Because social media doesn’t close the sale on sponsorships (or membership): real people do.
4. Because you suspect that the value of likes, comments, and shares are over-valued.
5. Because social media is not producing the results you expect.
6. When there is no accountability for performance.
7. When it becomes a significant chore.
8. When it cannot be properly resourced.
9. When personal social media time masquerades as business social media time
10. When it is preventing the association from resourcing other critical activities.
11. When you actually have nothing to say.
12. When the activity skates on the edge of the ethical.
13. When doing the activity is no longer legally compliant (e.g. CASL).
14. When there is no commitment to community management on an ongoing basis.
15. When you cannot (or choose not to) invest in the technologies that will activate your social media investment (eg marketing automation).
16. When you cannot keep up with the latest best practices.
17. When you think it is cost-free. (Time does have value!)
18. When there is inadequate time to monitor the impact of your efforts.
19. When social media metrics either aren’t measured, or you don’t flow-up to impact your strategic initiatives.
20. When you don’t have a risk-management policy.
21. When you choose not to leverage your stakeholders to spread your message.
22. When you don’t invest in staff training.
23. When you choose to execute without a strategy.

This week’s action plan: While these are great reasons to skip social media, the list also serves as great criteria for how to do it well. This week, use this as a checklist: what is your organization doing, and what is it missing?  

Randall Craig is the author of seven books including the Online PR and Social Media, the Everything Guide to Starting an Online Business, and Digital Transformation for Associations. He has been helping organizations rethink their approach to marketing and engagement using digital for 23 years. Which means next year he will need to add at least one more item to this list.