The Pros and Cons of Switching Social Networks

The social networks you’re using today may no longer be effectively supporting your marketing efforts. Chances are you adopted the networks you’re currently using several years ago. You may have adopted some of them because they were new and trending. You may have adopted others because you saw that your competitors used them.

Regardless of the reason you started using those social networks in the first place, regularly reviewing their value to your marketing and communications mix is important to ensure you’re leveraging the right ones.

When you do an audit of your current social networks, you may determine it is prudent to stop using one, adopt a new one, or both.

Some reasons for switching social networks might include:

• Your target audience is no longer there. They may favor a different social network.
• The communications style is too demanding or off brand. Not every social network is compatible with how you want to communicate.
• The data shows a lack of positive results. While the effectiveness of social networks can ebb and flow, seeing no measurable results over an extended period of time could be a signal to make a change.
• Changes to the social network that could negatively affect your brand. A change in a network’s algorithm could drastically reduce post visibility and engagement. A change in ownership of the social network could alter the platform’s environment and the tone of the messaging. An example of this type of change is the combative tone and discourse after the revamp of Twitter to X.

Starting over on a new social network comes with challenges but also potential benefits. Here are some of the pros and cons.

Pros

1. You can have a presence where your target audience prefers to communicate.
2. You can build excitement around launching on a new platform to attract attention.
3. You now bring the lessons learned from previous social networks to help avoid common social media pitfalls.
4. You’ll get access to new features that could be more robust than the ones on your previous platform.
5. You could get better analytics as some social networks offer more extensive metrics than others.

While there are definitely benefits of switching social networks, be sure to consider the downside of doing so before making a final decision.

Cons

1. You’ll lose the lion share of your current followers as it is difficult to get them to follow you somewhere else.
2. You’ll be starting from scratch with little to no followers and these days, gaining followers can be a long and tedious process.
3. There could be a very steep learning curve since each social network has a different set of features and communication style.
4. As social networks continue to exert more control over the visibility of your content, you may need to invest more money in order to be seen.
5. The new social network may have rules or restrictions that could hamper your ability to market your products or services effectively. For example, if you promote an alcoholic product, the rules on one social network may be more stringent than another.

Once you decide to make the switch, what should you do with your old social network? Abandoning a social network account entirely may not serve your marketing efforts.

Consider "parking" the account by keeping the presence and branding intact. Pin a post to the top of your page feed letting people know where you’ve moved to with a link.

In some cases, you might want to remove past posts or, if the feature exists, shut off comments. In rare cases, such as with X, your account could be shut down by the company if you mention that you’ve moved on to another social network.

Ultimately, the goal is to have control over your presences and your content on social networks and to use the platforms that provide the best restuls. Take the time to make strategic decisions on how to handle the platforms you no longer use and how to integrate new ones to your marketing mix.