An account whose last post was 14 months ago does more harm than having no account at all. Someone finds you, sees the dust, and wonders whether you’re still trading. We see it all the time when we audit a new client: a Facebook page that’s active, an Instagram that’s ticking along, and a TikTok, a LinkedIn page and a Pinterest board that were each started with enthusiasm and abandoned within a month.
Dropping a platform is a legitimate decision. Doing it by just stopping is the mistake.
Four questions to decide
Answer these honestly for each platform you’re on. You’ll need about three months of numbers from the platform’s own insights.
1. Does anyone who could become a customer see it? Not followers in general. People in your area, in your market. A Ballina plumber with 2,000 TikTok followers who are mostly teenagers in other states has an audience, but not a customer base.
2. Does it lead to anything you can count? Enquiries, bookings, calls, website visits, DMs asking for a price. If you can’t point to a single enquiry from a platform in three months, that’s a strong signal. Check where your website traffic comes from, and ask new customers how they found you.
3. What does it cost you each week? Count the real hours, including the time spent thinking about it, filming for it and feeling guilty about not posting. Two hours a week is about 100 hours a year.
4. Is anything else doing the job better? Often the time you spend on a weak platform would do more on a strong one, or on your Google Business Profile, which shows up when people are looking for what you do. Google says keeping that profile complete and current helps your local ranking, and it doesn’t need daily posting to work.
If a platform scores poorly on the first two and the cost is real, it’s a candidate to drop. If it scores poorly on the second but well on the first, the platform might be right and the content wrong. That’s worth one more proper try with a different approach before you walk away.
Signs it’s time
A few patterns we’d treat as a clear yes:
- You post because you feel you should, not because you have something to say there.
- Reach has drifted down for months and nothing you change moves it.
- The platform’s audience has moved on. Plenty of local businesses still have a Twitter or X account they haven’t touched since about 2019.
- You’re copying the same post across five platforms, and none of them suit it.
- It’s the platform you always leave until last, and the posts show it.
And one reason not to quit: because a single post did badly, or because you’ve been at it for six weeks. Most platforms take months of steady posting before you can judge them fairly.
How to step back without looking closed
Leaving well takes about half an hour. Leaving badly is free and costs you later.
- Post a clear final update. Something like: “We’re not posting here any more. You’ll find us on Instagram @handle and our website has our hours and contact details. Thanks for following.” Pin it to the top of the profile if the platform allows it.
- Update the bio. Same message, shorter: “Find us on Instagram @handle and at ourwebsite.com.au”.
- Set up an automatic reply to messages, if the platform offers one, pointing people to your phone number, email or main platform.
- Check the contact details are still right. Phone, address and website link. Someone will find this account through search for years.
- Don’t delete it. Keep the account and the handle so nobody else can take your name, and so old links don’t break. Change the password, store it with your other logins and make sure at least two people in the business can get in.
- Remove the icon from your website. That little TikTok logo in your footer is a link to your deadest account. Take it out, along with any links in email signatures and printed material next time it’s reprinted.
- Check in every few months. Make sure nobody’s left a question or a complaint sitting unanswered.
If the account has reviews or recommendations on it, as Facebook pages often do, those are worth keeping visible. Another reason not to delete.
Where the time should go instead
The point of quitting a platform is to put that time somewhere better. Usually that means doing one or two platforms properly, with a consistent look (our guide to social templates that keep your brand recognisable helps there), and making sure your website does its job when people click through. If you’re not sure what that job is, start with what a small business website should actually do.
Make the call platform by platform: keep, fix, or retire. Stuck on one that sits in the middle? Get in touch with the list of platforms you’re on and we’ll tell you which we’d keep. If you’d rather hand the keepers over entirely, that’s what our social media management is for.