Table of Contents
Introduction
The modern world is unimaginable without social media. In the 21st century, they have become one of the key components of “new media” and have brought mass communication to a qualitatively new level. In 2024, the total audience of social media exceeded 5.2 billion people and continues to grow.
Businesses could not ignore the rapidly growing sector and began actively working to establish their presence on all major platforms. A huge audience, the ability to deliver messages directly to consumers, as well as a wide range of tools to influence users, made social media an effective marketing tool. Social Media Marketing (SMM) became one of the main strategies for both small companies and multinational corporations with a presence in many markets.
However, in recent years, a reverse trend has emerged. Companies have started leaving social media, focusing instead on developing their own platforms. Does this signal the beginning of a revolution in brand promotion in the media space?
Reasons for Brands Leaving Social Media
Initially, businesses viewed social media as a revolutionary marketing opportunity with vast potential. Companies invested billions of dollars in content production for social media to build a significant audience around their brands.
Now, the online environment has changed so much that social media marketing, which once seemed like a “golden opportunity,” has become, to some extent, a risky endeavor. Consumers now reject traditional advertising approaches, especially when it comes to social media placements. Research has revealed that 73% of marketers now value trust and authenticity more than traditional advertising in their partnerships with influencers.
Maintaining a presence on social media has become costly for brands. In foreign markets, the monthly costs for maintaining accounts range from $500 to $5,000. The average cost of an advertising campaign on each social media platform starts at $5,000, while implementing a detailed marketing program costs at least $12,000.
Furthermore, companies have to bear the burden of hidden costs—expenses related to resource distribution or team management. The more influential platforms a brand is present on, the higher the company’s costs. As a result, many companies are redirecting investments from social media to other, albeit smaller, channels, focusing on content quality instead.
Key reasons for brands leaving social media:
- Disillusionment with Algorithms and Decline in Organic Reach
Brands are struggling to establish a strong connection with their target audience. Meanwhile, social media algorithms have become more complex. For example, Facebook’s reach has hit rock bottom: only 5.2–5.5% of followers see posts—out of every 100 followers, only five view the brand’s content. The situation is even worse on Instagram: organic reach has fallen by 18% compared to 2023.
Recent engagement statistics paint a concerning picture: engagement rates for posts on Facebook range from 1.52% to 2.58%. The platform’s algorithms favor paid content over organic posts.
- Rising Customer Acquisition Costs
The cost of marketing on social media has risen so much that many brands can no longer afford such expenses. Customer acquisition costs have increased by 222% over the past eight years. Brands are now losing an average of $29 on each new customer acquired, compared to $19 ten years ago.
The cost per thousand impressions on social media has increased by 22% compared to last year, while the cost per click in search advertising has risen by 23% during the same period. Additionally, changes in online platform privacy policies have made targeting more difficult.
- Instability and Sustainability Issues of Social Media
Social media platforms are unstable in terms of marketing; this is due to the nature of the audiences they accumulate. Not all strategies that companies develop on these platforms yield positive results. Social media does not allow brands to uniformly reach audiences across all age groups due to platform characteristics. For example, some platforms are primarily targeted at young people (TikTok), while others cater to older users (Facebook). The “drift” of the audience from one platform to another reduces the effectiveness of a company’s presence on each one.
The problem is further exacerbated by the decline in the investment attractiveness of social media. In 2022 alone, the stock prices of Snapchat, Pinterest, and Meta* fell by more than 50%. This was partly due to a decrease in user numbers and, consequently, monetization opportunities. This has made advertising targeting more challenging. Thus, the departure of brands from social media has been influenced by both external and internal factors.
As a result, many companies prefer to reduce or completely discontinue their activity on social media. Increasingly, brands view this as a strategic move, not a marketing failure. As an alternative to social media, they see the development of their own platforms, such as mobile applications. This approach allows them to reduce costs for promotion on external resources. Moreover, these “isolated” communities allow users to focus their attention exclusively on the company and its products.
Hidden Costs of Social Media Presence
Behind the visible success of social media marketing lies a network of operational challenges that brands are finding increasingly difficult to justify. The costs of maintaining a social media presence go far beyond the reach and impact of direct financial investments.
For effective social media operations, teams require significant investments. Research has shown that platform administrators often struggle with insufficient support and resources—this is a complaint voiced by almost half of social media managers. This issue becomes especially acute when the team is effectively represented by just one person, which often leads to operational difficulties.
The most common challenges in managing social media include:
- Content creation and scheduling posts
- Developing strategies for specific platforms
- Analytics and tracking the performance of posts
- Managing customer interactions
- Impact on the mental health of social media teams
Recently, the mental health of social media teams has become a serious concern. Studies show that social media managers rate their mental health at an average of 6.35 out of 10 on regular days, which drops significantly to 4.52 during crises. Tension increases during tough periods.
The main factor affecting emotional well-being is the impact of negative comments—82% of social media managers reported this. More than a third of those surveyed (34%) admitted to feeling discomfort due to scrutiny from management.
Companies also face growing pressure to implement comprehensive risk management strategies to maintain their presence on social media. According to research, 66% of customers will lose trust in a brand involved in a security breach. This high-risk environment demands constant vigilance across multiple areas.
Risk management becomes more complicated as crises require immediate responses. 72% of marketing directors say that stakeholders expect immediate action during a crisis. Brands must maintain strict crisis management protocols, creating a demand for additional resources for:
- 24/7 monitoring capabilities
- Developing and adjusting crisis communication plans in a timely manner
- Creating a system for prompt responses
- Managing brand reputation
The importance of this issue is underscored by the fact that 36% of customers are willing to share negative experiences if brands do not resolve issues within 24 hours. This creates constant pressure on social media teams, who must stay alert and be capable of quick responses. As a result, many brands are questioning the value of maintaining a broad social media presence.
Success Stories of Brands Without Social Media
In November 2021, the cosmetics company Lush announced a dramatic shift in its marketing approach. The company stopped maintaining its accounts on Instagram*, Facebook*, TikTok, and Snapchat. This new policy was implemented across all 48 markets where Lush operates.
In a statement released at the time, the company emphasized that it would maintain a presence on Twitter and YouTube for a while. However, today the brand’s YouTube channel is unavailable, and the last posts on their English-language Twitter account (now X) date back to 2023. “At the time [in 2021], we decided to stay with you, but since then, you’ve changed a lot,” the brand stated in a post from November 24, 2023. This might have been due to changes in the policies of X under Elon Musk’s leadership.
The “cost” of Lush’s departure from social media has been estimated at $13 million. Despite this, the company’s management believes the decision was the right one, as they shifted their focus to growing retail operations and opening new brick-and-mortar stores. Lush has built its identity around sustainability, ethical practices, and environmental responsibility. “Lush is more than just a brand, it’s a sustainable lifestyle,” the company said. In 2022, the company reported record sales during the holiday season, surpassing both 2021 and even pre-pandemic 2019 figures.
Following Lush’s example, several luxury brands have adopted a similar approach. They found that reducing their social media presence actually strengthened their market position rather than undermining it. Brands such as Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton successfully implemented a “no marketing” strategy and bolstered their positions in the market.
This strategy is based on creating organic content, building trust-based partnerships, and leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing. In promotion, these fashion brands relied not on mass reach, but on working with influencers. Specifically, they established productive collaborations with celebrities like Rihanna (with over 97 million followers) and Kylie Jenner (with over 238 million followers), using their platforms to spread the desired message.
These examples show that brands can succeed without social media. This is also true for small businesses, which are often thought to be critically dependent on social media activity. Many such companies have been able to maintain or even improve their sales after leaving major online platforms. This success was made possible by establishing direct contact with customers.
Changes in Consumer Perception and Expectations
Today, companies are facing changing consumer demands. The main trend is consumers’ focus on the individuality of a brand. Research shows that 86% of customers believe brand authenticity is crucial when making a purchase.
Now, brand authenticity means more than just marketing metrics. It is rooted in the values of the brand, the consistency of the messages it conveys, and the quality of the content. At the same time, more than half of customers feel that most brands fail to create an authentic message.
Another defining factor is digital burnout among audiences. Currently, 40% of consumers communicate more online than in person, with this trend being most pronounced among younger generations. For example, more than half of Generation Z and nearly half of Millennials report experiencing digital burnout.
Digital overload shows clear consequences:
- 39% of consumers are concerned about their physical health;
- One in three users fears negative emotional impacts.
People are increasingly seeking to establish deeper connections with brands. 70% of consumers want personalized feedback, with 30% expecting a response on the same day they reach out. These changes reflect a growing trend toward real relationships with brands. 90% of consumers buy products from brands they follow. Their loyalty is based on genuinely meaningful connections, not just a brand’s formal online presence.
This has prompted brands to reconsider their online presence. Companies are increasingly creating channels for direct interaction with their audience. Many believe that meaningful but less frequent interactions work better than constant, superficial contacts. This shift aligns with the growing desire of people to engage with brands that build real relationships, rather than those with a mere online presence.
How to Maintain an Online Presence Without Social Media
Despite the points outlined above, leaving social media is an important decision that requires careful consideration of all potential consequences. Companies must determine whether this aligns with their goals. Before implementing this decision, management should have a clear plan for executing their media strategy on other platforms.
Exiting social media can be offset by focusing on the following areas:
- Creating a brand community outside of social media (e.g., by developing a proprietary mobile app);
- Direct customer engagement in communication;
- Working with influencers;
- Managing search engine results and reputation (SERM);
- Running email marketing campaigns;
Increasing presence in traditional media: press and television (as rising social media ad costs increase the competitiveness of “old media”).
When leaving social media, a brand risks losing the connection with its audience that has been built over months or even years. To avoid losing customers, the company must “stay connected.” In this regard, the quick deployment of new communication channels becomes crucial.
Publicly accepted and widely used communication channels with customers are diverse, each with its own specifics. Smartly utilizing the right channel according to current needs allows for the most effective achievement of the goal: minimizing the consequences of leaving social media.
Research shows that companies can successfully exit social media by creating comprehensive customer communication strategies. They can develop effective email marketing programs, improve their websites, and build direct relationships with customers. By using alternative channels, companies will not lose customers, and the costs of online marketing will simultaneously be reduced.
The Future of Brand-Consumer Communication
Today, brands are striving to find new ways of interacting with their audience. Some companies are investing in developing their own communication channels, hoping to gain a competitive edge. Already, 73% of marketers prefer innovative communication strategies that involve new platforms.
The main principles behind these developing communication channels include enhancing data security and expanding visual storytelling capabilities. Additionally, brands aim to extend the boundaries of communication and create conditions for the free exchange of content with consumers. Some platforms built with this approach have led to a 30% increase in sales.
A popular method of building proprietary communities is creating dedicated mobile apps. These apps more fully address the audience’s needs and enable brands to reach a qualitatively new level of interaction with people. At the same time, companies significantly reduce costs for both social media advertising and engagement with technical teams.
Already, businesses are looking to establish direct communication with customers. Audience engagement evaluations show that this approach is effective. There is every reason to believe that this trend will become dominant in the future. In this context, the demand for utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) is growing.
Several large companies are already working independently on developing AI solutions focused on customer communication. Advanced personalization features, real-time analytics, voice commerce integration, and other technologies allow the customer to have a personalized interaction experience with the brand.
However, AI’s capabilities remain somewhat limited. Even in the near future, such communication will not be able to fully engage with the audience. Therefore, the question of the extent to which AI will be used in this area remains open.
The early successes of new platforms show that the quality of interactions is more important than the number of communication acts. As a result, brands are moving away from broadcast-style communications to intimate, community-oriented interactions.
Conclusion
It is still too early to declare a mass exodus of brands from social media and the decline of social platforms as business venues. However, the existing case studies point to an emerging trend. The success of companies that have left social media instills confidence in other players who are considering this possibility in the future.
Brands are changing their marketing approach, seeking the most advantageous ways of online promotion. They have realized that success can be achieved without a presence on large online platforms. An alternative to reaching a broad audience has become building real relationships with customers through new communication channels. One of the most promising ways of creating such channels is through the development of proprietary communities and apps.
At the same time, it is important to understand that leaving social media is not a cure-all. A spontaneous decision without prior preparation, including creating “backup platforms,” can cause significant harm. Before leaving social media, it is necessary to form new communication channels, restructure staff, and redistribute resources.
The development of information technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, already allows us to glimpse the future of online marketing. Experts believe it will be based on individualization and expanded communication boundaries. Understanding this, some companies are trying to test this new model now, choosing a trust-based dialogue with consumers over broadcasting to large, impersonal masses.