Why You Should Scrap Your Social Media Initiative… Permanently by @JCNess

You can’t throw a rock these days without hitting a news article or blog telling you how social is the new black. Meeting and event organizers who fail to embrace technology and social culture are quickly being left behind as less risk-averse, younger counterparts begin to dominate the meetings industry.

I wonder, though, if event organizers are capable of keeping pace with the evolution of social media and digital marketing. Can the generation of venerable meeting planners stay plugged into every advance in social technology and popular use? No, probably not.

Do not fear, though! I have the solution: scrap social altogether. For good.

That’s right. Forget Twitter and Instagram. Don’t bother with Facebook, and leave Foursquare to the pros. Pinterest and Vine? Please, don’t even try. You can’t possibly keep up, and you’re only doing yourself, your attendees, your sponsors and exhibitors, and your clients a disservice by trying and, let’s face it, ultimately failing to provide the experience you promised.

But is this a viable strategy? Can we just ignore the onward march of technology and communication? Will the wanton disregard of social and community initiatives leave us only slightly less scathed than a failed attempt at total social domination?

Yes. Better to do nothing at all than to do everything poorly and fail to meet any expectation.

Or is there another way?

In my next post, I’ll show you how you can scrap your entire social media initiative for good… as it currently stands. Get ready because it’s time for a new one.