Goodbye Social Media

In a bold marketing move, Lush UK breaks up with social media and says goodbye to its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter profiles

The retailer recently declared that it was “tired of fighting with algorithms” and did “not want to pay to appear in newsfeed.” Instead, Lush UK will move its customer communications to its newsletter and website, offering customer service through phone, email and its live chat feature. Let’s just rewind the clock 10 years.

Lush UK is walking away from its more than 1.19 million followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. It will also shut down the other social media accounts for Lush Kitchen, Lush Life, Gorilla, Soapbox and Lush Times, which carry even more fans.

The company’s move is interesting in light of the increased difficulty that marketers face standing out online and appearing in their audiences’ social media timelines without resorting to spending large amounts on advertisements and influencer campaigns.

But is this the best move they could make?

In 2019, many of us are time poor and the thought of speaking to a customer service advisor after being on hold for however long just isn’t a good use of our time.

Social media is the best customer service tool as you have direct access to your customers through direct message and Facebook Messenger.

If any business wants to open up the conversation with their customers why would they move away from where their customers are? By focusing more on call centres and email support, which is disruptive and less convenient for customers, have they thought their strategy through? Will this mean customers are more likely to spend wisely, and not impulse buy in the hope they will return? Will this mean a decrease in return rate? Will it mean they’ll ultimately close down their website with the aim to attract more people to their stores?

In my opinion, if a business or brand isn’t using social media I presume that business isn’t no longer trading. Right?

Social media is all about having a conversation with customers and like minded people to create conversations to help build awareness and to grow a loyal customer base, which ever industry you are in.

Unlike Lush who have decided to throw the towel in even after building up an enviable amount of followers, don’t be disheartened by slow growth or limited engagement. Perhaps a social media audit is the right thing to do to see what is working and what isn’t. Take a step back, look at which platform is working for you, generating the most engagement and focus on that. If you’re using a particular platform and it isn’t generating growth, try changing your content, post at different times of the day, engage with hashtags and share content from other pages to keep your page varied and current.

If all else fails, contact Play the Field who will be happy to meet and discuss your social media strategy with you so you don’t ‘do a Lush.’