I won’t lie. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook and X (Twitter) when it comes to B2B communications. As the CEO of a B2B communications and investor relations agency, I’m probably about to commit marketing heresy, but here’s the question worth asking:
Should your sales team be taking control of your social media?
Let me unpack this.
Why I’m sceptical about social media for SMEs
For those who know me, this won’t come as a surprise. I’m not a big fan of social media as a default tactic in the marketing mix for small and mid-sized businesses.
If you arrive for an interview and introduce yourself as a 20-something “social media strategist”, there’s a good chance you’re heading to the bottom of the pile. Not because social media doesn’t matter, but because it’s often oversold and under-interrogated.
The pitch usually sounds the same:
AI-driven content.
High-quality posts.
A promised 10–15% uplift in followers and engagement.
Let’s be honest. If someone told me they needed R5,000 a month in paid spend to grow a following by 2–5%, I’d probably trust that more than vague growth promises.
The real cost of social media (nobody puts on the P&L)
Here’s my simple litmus test.
Go and calculate how much time your business spends on social media:
- Crafting and designing posts
- Analysing “best times” to post
- Posting across multiple platforms
- Reviewing performance
Whether that’s an agency fee, an in-house hire or a founder doing it at night, it’s still a cost.
Extrapolate that over 12 months and R100,000 disappears very quickly.
Now ask yourself:
How many SMEs actually reflect that R100,000 as a deliberate line item on their P&L?
Very few.
Why I’m still qualified to have this opinion
As the head of an Investor Communications and Design Agency in South Africa, I’ll happily admit that many people do social media better than I do.
That said, I’ve been hands-on long enough to form an opinion:
- Personal X (Twitter): just under 14,000 followers
- LinkedIn (personal): just under 9,000 connections
Company accounts, built with zero paid media:
- X: 1,420 followers
- LinkedIn: 2,006 followers
- Facebook: 670 followers
- Instagram: 502 followers
- YouTube: 172 subscribers
No, these are not “influencer” numbers. But they are earned, not bought.
And interestingly, when I personally engage for a few days, follower growth and engagement improve, without prettier posts. That matters.
Social media does belong in B2B communications
Now that I’ve been sufficiently grumpy, let me be clear: social media absolutely has a role in B2B communications strategies.
Emma and I recently wrote about this in The Media Online, where we explored employee-generated content and why organisations should lean into the social presence of their people.
Formats that genuinely work:
- Professional networking on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn newsletters
- Video content for investor updates and thought leadership
I’m also spending more time reading about Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), which highlights how social platforms increasingly feed AI-driven search and discovery.
So yes, social media matters. Just not always in the way marketers think it does.
So… should your sales team run your social media?
This brings me back to the original question.
When organisations talk about “social media marketing”, the emphasis is usually on the marketing, the visuals, the tone, the calendar.
Much less attention is paid to the social part:
The conversations.
The engagement.
The targeted interaction.
Think about it this way.
If you hired a salesperson, you wouldn’t let them wander around blindly. You’d tell them:
- Which rooms to be in
- Who to speak to
- How to frame the conversation
Yet when it comes to social media, organisations often abandon this logic entirely.
Your marketing team is effectively entering virtual rooms full of potential clients. The same rules should apply.
Closing thoughts from a B2B communications perspective
This isn’t an attack on marketing. It’s a challenge to be more intentional about how social media fits into B2B and investor communications strategies.
Some practical questions worth asking:
- Can your marketer explain and sell your product like your sales team can?
- Would you trust the person running your social media to speak on national TV about your business? If not, why not?
- Are your sales team involved in shaping messaging and engagement?
- Where are real relationships actually being built, and who is doing the engaging?
In our experience, follower growth accelerates when we engage in discussions rather than broadcast content into the void.
Ask your sales team:
- What are they reading?
- Which articles, videos and publications influence their thinking?
Then engage there.
You don’t have to be everywhere.
You have to be where your clients already are.
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, or, fittingly, on our social media channels.