With the seasons beginning to change there are those businesses who are going to experience a natural slowdown in their work. Companies that specialize in work like landscaping and construction as well as those that work in the hospitality industry such as condo rentals on the beachfront may all see a drop off in work during the so-called slow months. This raises the question: should these businesses slow or stop their social media campaigns for the season?
There are definitely pros and cons to doing so. In order to know if the decision is right for your business you should certainly consider all factors involved.
Pros
Save time – During your offseason there are always things you need to get done to help prepare for next season. Whether it is performing maintenance on your equipment, working on training, or remodeling your rental properties each can take time. When you manage your own social media there is a definite time investment. By slowing or stopping for the season you can save this time and spend it handling the other tasks you have waiting for you.
Save money – Your time is certainly worth money. At the same time your social media networking solution could be costing you as well. Paying someone on your staff to handle the posting means having another figurative mouth to feed. Whether it is a full time person handling social media for you or a part time person doing it, by stopping in the off season you can move these employees on to other tasks or cut their hours.
While both these may sound great there are drawbacks as well
Cons
Lost Followers/Friends – No matter if you have a hundred or a thousand people following your posts, a drop off in the off season can lead to a decrease in followers. This means that all that time and effort that went into building your social networks through the year begins to fall by the wayside. It also means you will have to put in even more effort next season to both attract back some of those you lost as well as new followers.
Decreased Website Ranking – The focus of a strong social media campaign is to encourage your followers to visit your website so that you can attract new business. Google knows this and actively notes the posting that people do and which websites those posts are targeting. This means that your posts that get @mentions or comments et al can help your site to rank higher. When there is a drop off in posting however it can begin to negatively affect the ranking of your site.
Here at Posse Social Media we often recommend that our clients decrease their posting but not cut it out altogether. This can help save money and time while also lessening the hit on their rank and the number of people following the accounts. At the end of the day you will have to decide whether the temporary money and times savings is worth it or the cons make it worth continuing your social media efforts all year.