Unless you’re living under a very big rock, you saw Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk all in attendance at President Trump’s January inauguration.

Their attendance and suspected involvement in decision-making (both present and future) has rubbed many people the wrong way. So much so that social media strategists have taken to LinkedIn to lament. You can’t scroll through your feed without seeing a post wondering whether or not you should leave Meta for more neutral pastures.

But in our Meta-driven society, is that really possible? Can brands give up the drug that is social media? And more than that, should they?

Should we stay or should we go-o-o-o-o?

Lush Cosmetics infamously left social media in 2021. The reason? They said what we all know to be true. Social media is bad for you. There have been countless studies that discuss social media’s effects on mental health. By leaving social, Lush put their money where their mouth is. Is the brand still successful? Absolutely. I’m willing to bet you’ve used a bath bomb in the last year – and that bath bomb resurgence is due to Lush’s dominance in the space.

We also know that organic reach is decreasing. Brands used to be able to reach followers and be discoverable, but that’s not always the case anymore. And before you start the argument, we know. You have to create content that people want to share, save, and engage with and then a brand will be more likely to get said reach and discoverability. But imagine if that brand had zero advertising dollars. Do you think they would continuously get reach? We don’t.

The platform algorithms favor paid content, things that are already producing a ton of engagement (VIRAL CONTENT), or things that are being shared by family and friends. They limit reach and discoverability so you pay -they’re businesses after all.

And if you were to leave Meta, you could pour all of your resources into YouTube, TikTok (Let’s be real, that’s TBD), Pinterest, email, etc. You could find a way to make it work.

BUT SHOULD YOU?

Harsh truth incoming. According to Statista, 

“Around 70% of the world’s internet users access at least one Meta-owned service monthly, which translates to roughly 3.2 billion people using Meta platforms daily, representing a significant portion of the global population.”

If you were to stop posting to Meta because of politics, you could potentially lose a big chunk of your audience. One that might not be following you on other platforms.

So, instead of looking at things negatively, maybe it’s time to flip the narrative. Use it as a chance to educate and inspire. The best part of social media is that it gives us all a voice.