Social media for business: discover 10 disadvantages

Social media for business: discover 10 disadvantages

Recently, we had a look at ten advantages for companies that use social media. But my dear friend, using social media for business is not all shiny and bright; there are some disadvantages that you should know.

Being present on social media can be a blessing or a curse. Have you heard what they say? Let them talk about you even if what they say might not be nice. Well in this case, if you have a business, then people will talk about you, but they have to talk good about your business otherwise it might destroy it! Positive publicity can increase your sales but negative comments might sink your company.

Therefore, before we enter into this world of social media for business, you should keep in mind that those advantages can also bring some drawbacks. Here are some.

A lot of time is required.

Have you ever clicked on a company’s Facebook profile and found that it was last updated three years ago? Did you a get a feeling of abandonment? Do not let your social media look like a tumbleweed being blown across the desert floor, wandering aimlessly wherever the wind blows. Maintaining a social network requires dedication. If you want your company’s profile to be visited and to have user participation then you must update it frequently, provide it with great content, and answer the messages of your users … All it takes is time and effort, so you’ll have to evaluate if it’s worth it, consider that if you have social media for business you must take care of it otherwise it might be counterproductive.

Qualified personnel is required.

In addition to time and effort, whoever is in charge of managing your social media, should be a qualified person (your next-door neighbour may not be the right person for this). This is such an important issue nowadays that in the last few years a new profession for this (community manager) has arisen.

Keep in mind this; if you want your social media to look great and professional, you may have to invest some money.

Some investment may be required.

In addition to the investment of that person who manages your social networks, you should keep in mind that some social networks are not completely free, or at least some of the services they offer – often you need to pay for the most interesting ones for your business.

Do you think that social network creators are stupid or that they don’t like money? Recently, some of the most popular ones have restricted the visibility of publications so that they only reach a small part of the followers. If you want to reach more people, you will have to invest by paying for advertising.

If your content is boring and repetitive…

Would you frequently click on the profile of a company where they only talk about how great they are, how famous they are and how good their products are? No one likes narcissists. By following you, it should be valuable for your customers: having interesting articles, answering questions from customers, these are just some examples of great social media profiles.

Bad Publicity.

Social networks can offer you very interesting advertising for your business, but keep in mind that they can also spread bad things from your company. To avoid this, you can do two things: 1) Always give the best service and 2) Manage your customers’ complaints well, giving a great resolution.

Your problems will be more visible.

If you accept all kinds of comments in your social media profiles, or even use them to answer questions and complaints, these will be much more exposed to the world. Keep it in mind.

You are exposed to trolls.

Although you give the best possible answer to your users, sometimes you will find people who are not clients, but simply intend to have a good time by ‘’trolling’’ you. These people are the famous “trolls” of the Internet. In some areas they say that trolls are like treasures but trolls are not a good thing in the business world, so you will have to learn to deal with them.

You may have extortion problems.

It doesn’t matter how annoying trolls may be, trolls will not be the worst thing that can happen to you on social media. Although it is not very frequent at the moment, it is something that has happened in the past and is still happening in the present; some businesses have been extorted by clients – and even by non-customers – who asked for all kinds of benefits (discounts, gifts and even certain amounts of money) in exchange for not spreading negative comments on social media.

You may have privacy or security issues.

In some cases, social networks can be an open door for spreading details about your company or your customers. Be very careful with this, it can cause you serious problems.

Competitors could study your business.

We have gone through the advantages of social networks for companies in a different article in which we told you that social networks were a good way to know your competitors, but you should imagine that the competitors also have eyes on you and could do the same. Be better than them…

These are some of the disadvantages that social media for business might bring for some companies. If you have some more disadvantages in mind, please do not forget to list them in the comment section for us to see, we would love to hear your opinions.

You might have the key to prevent some from happening, but keep in mind that you cannot control everything that happens on the internet, so some events will be unavoidable, and you might even have to face them even if you do not have a profile or something on those networks. Whatever happens, good luck! And do not forget to visit our website for more articles.