I noticed people were coming to this site while searching for “10 Reasons Social Media People Got Fired”. So, I’m happy to oblige them.
Here are the top ten reasons why social media employees often get fired:
1. They didn’t know what they were doing.
2. They took the job because it was the only entry-level position they could find at the company out of college, not because they knew anything about social media marketing.
(Alternate #2: The company hired them because they were young and use “the Facebook” with the assumption that this meant they would be awesome at social media marketing. Since it’s hard to be good at something that’s mostly BS, the employee was fired to avoid embarrassing the person who hired them.)
3. Social Media marketing is mostly BS. Trust me. I wrote a book about that.
4. They were following the advice of social media experts like Amy Jo Martin, Dave Kerpen, and Gary Vaynerchuk and not people who actually know what they’re talking about in the space like Jason Falls and Olivier Blanchard.
5. Unreasonable expectations meeting reality: The boss figured out that all those likes, fans, followers, and views didn’t translate into enough sales / revenue to justify the employment of someone solely dedicated to doing social media marketing for the company.
6. The company realized that the use of the different social media platforms is something every employee should be doing, not just one.
(And really, they should only be doing this if … yup, you know what I’m going to say at this point: if the company is big enough for the media to mess with, if their target and / or current customers are actively using it, if there is a plan that makes sense for them to be there, and if they have the time / energy / resources to be using the platform in the first place.
Remember: You don’t HAVE to do anything or be anywhere that serves no point for you. You are NOT “leaving money on the table” by skipping out on social media marketing. The only people who say that you are want your money and think you’re a sucker.)
7. The social media employee said / did / promoted something stupid.
8. The social media employee attended expensive conferences on the company’s dime and came back somehow knowing less than they did before. (Bonus: The employee also spoke at that conference because their company paid for them to have a spot as a speaker and wound up underwhelming the crowd.)
9. The social media employee convinced the marketing employees to not bother with traditional advertising and marketing tactics, leading to declines across the board for the company in terms of just about everything.
Note: If your company has a separate division dedicated to just social media marketing, you’re doing it wrong. And I’m not saying that as the guy who wrote a book about why social media marketing is mostly BS. I’m saying that as someone who was working on a Master’s in Organizational Leadership. All your marketing people should be on one team and working coherently together on a unified plan that everyone has agreed on and the company leadership supports. If you don’t have that, you might as well quit now and go home.
10. Their boss read Social Media Is BS and fired them. Just kidding … or am I?
Social Media Is BS 