Are we to blame for users leaving Facebook?

Have we done more harm than good with our social media marketing?

After all the missteps Facebook has had this year & with the release of its new name yesterday, it’s no surprise that users are pulling away from the platform in droves.

Are we to blame for the decline in younger users with the content we are putting out.

The simple fact is, Facebook is boring now according to one user we spoke with. It’s all ads and people fighting over politics & Covid.

So, have we created this ourselves?

Have we been so focused on pushing our products/services on these platforms so much, that we’ve lost touch of what the users ACTUALLY want.

In a recent Instagram poll 91% of my followers (mainly real estate agents & others in the industry) voted to say Facebook was on the way out, while only 9% voted in Facebook’s favour.

These are really interesting stats. The story was seen by close to 800 people during the 24 hour period that voting was open, and I’ve seen a massive swing in the demographics who are spending less time on Facebook.

While it’s been clear under 30’s are spending less time on Facebook, there was a noticeable increase in the over 40’s who had started to switch off.

What can we learn from this?

We need to remember social media platforms are not advertising platforms. While the features to advertise your brand or listings is available, the heavy sell opposed to a well thought out marketing campaign is turning viewers away.

In all reality, the very thing we are trying to achieve on social media is the very thing that’s driving people away.

Can we recover?

The only way forward I see is to move with the times. There’s a generation growing up without Facebook. Put simply, you are missing a generation who are not engaging with you if you don’t diversify your strategy.

Moving forward doesn’t mean we simply create profiles on other apps and continue on with the same thing we are currently doing, it means understanding why users are leaving these platforms and what they want to see on the new, up and coming apps.

Remember, it’s not about you on social media, it’s about the viewer.