So, I work with a multi-site operator with around 4k local sites. Instead of removing the pages, I helped them to set up a social media training programme for local sites. If this is something you’d like to talk about further, let me know!

If this is a store/business location page, I would not sunset the pages. 

We own about 400 pages, and about half are active. It allows us to manage the information (hours, website, email, photos etc.) for that specific location. I think it’s worse to have “Unofficial” Facebook pages out there for your business locations. It’s a headache to get those cleaned up. 

Like Emm, we offer social media training and tool kits for when a property team is ready to take on a social media presence.

​@Emm at Brew and ​@melissa.macgregor I’d love to hear more about what your training/tool kits consist of. Do you do on-going live trainings? On-demand? What methods have gotten the most traction and adoption?

Toolkit:

• Company Social Guidelines
• Post Ideas/Samples
• Social Media days that align with our brands

Trainings:

• 4-6 live company webinars per year
• Region training as requested (I believe I did 8 this year)
• Recorded Webinar
• Company-wide office hours (Breakout rooms in Zoom)

Ultimately, it comes down to someone who is motivated to do it. I can tout the benefits and give all my tips and tricks, but the manager needs to take initiative. 

For several years, my entire job was managing, training, and helping individual local locations with their social media for a global brand. It is important for individual locations to have a voice, so it is better if they are communicating on social. I would help set up channels for new locations, train staff, handle crisis’, make sure all 3rd party platforms are connected, handle changing access during staff turnover, etc. 

A few things to think about:

1. Facebook pages are also your location tags on Instagram. If the business may have people tagging them on Instagram or threads, you’ll want the business represented.
2. People will create pages if your page isn’t there to tag or leave a review for - so it is better if you control what that page looks like and the information on it.
3. Speaking of, you’ll want to keep an eye out for bad reviews (you can turn off private messages if you want) that may need a response.

I would rather keep an “inactive” page that has a pinned post referring to your website than to completely sunset the page. You can then at least keep the information on the page up to date and respond to reviews with basic monitoring.

Mary