Why JD Wetherspoons is right to pull the plug on social
As one of the UK’s biggest pub chains pulls out of social media entirely, communications consultant Matt Phillips looks to Mark Ritson for some sage words of advice.
If marketing is primarily about raising awareness of your brand, or trying to encourage a direct sale at the point of purchase, what value does JD Wetherspoons get from being on social media?
Such is the enthusiasm for new digital marketing channels, companies will often rush to set up new profiles before thinking through how best to use them. This is totally understandable – better to test, learn and can it rather than sit around to others storm ahead. But it can create problems for later, as JD Wetherspoons has found.
1. Remove my brand from platforms where pesky customers have the audacity to give feedback. I’d much rather not know what they think on the platforms that they like to use. Ignore opportunity to learn something and get better.
2. ?
3. Profit
In the same article Facebook has an audience in the “billions” but is also not “mainstream”. Agree it’s not the answer to everything, but putting it in the ‘too hard’ basket isn’t going to serve them well.
The original article says that Wetherspoons had “900 social media accounts”. 900. Hmm…
There’s just under 1,000 Wetherspoons pubs, so that’s why there’s 900 accounts
That’s kind of my point….separate accounts for each pub? No way that’s going to get unwieldy and difficult to manage. Or encourage people to complain about small local issues. Which it appears is the problem.
While I’m not saying this is this case here, I see the problem being that many businesses rush to set up their social media accounts, thinking it will tell everyone who they are and what they do. Then they leave them stagnant or make boring posts that engage noone.
If you’re a small or new business, you need to decide whether you can commit to some sort of social media strategy, or would your time be better spent on a functional website, or a better instore customer experience. And don’t set up an account on EVERY platform if you can’t provide content to them all.