Even Facebook groups, while good for small connections, just do not scale. You can see this in our Miniclip case study, as Facebook could not handle the multiple conversations and important information was lost.

Certainly Facebook is a low barrier of entry for people. At the same time, though, Facebook pages are hard to search, and posts are constantly hijacked by off-topic requests for help.

This is not to say one should not bother with social media. Assuming you open a forum and ignoring the vast audience on social media could be limiting. At the same time, you should ensure your social media strategy is cohesive while using a platform you can control. Nothing is worse than relying solely on a platform you cannot control or where rules can change on the fly (just look at this recent Instagram example limiting links to other social profiles). This handy chart should help crystalize the decision for you and when to use each solution:

As you can see, Social Media and Forums can be very complementary. However, a marketing strategy focused on omni-channel requires both.