While there are those few companies that do it very well many of them don't have a presence or if they do it's a lame attempt.
Here is my list of the "4 Reasons Why Companies aren't on Social Media"
1. Senior Leadership doesn't see the value of social media. They think "Why spend money to get a few thousand followers when they can place in ad in a major magazine and have a greater reach". What's worse is that in these organizations they see it as a 'passing fad' even as their customers are adopting it.
2. Anybody managing a P&L will tell you that money is tight these days. When money gets tight budgets get cut and many times marketing takes the biggest hit. So when marketing is deciding between pretty commercials, advertising and Social Media guess which ones goes first.
3. Even if you have agreement that Social Media is a good idea you need resources to execute it. Finding somebody with an opinion isn't usually a hard thing to do but who do you trust to speak directly to your customers on a daily basis? You can look around for plenty of examples where the personality or the "voice" of the company hasn't matched with its customers. Sure you could outsource it to a 3rd party but do you trust them with your customers?
4. Good old "Analysis Paralysis". They are spending way too much time debating what to do in the hopes that the answer will fall from the sky. Meeting after meeting of charts and graphs are presented but nobody has the authority to pull the trigger. So instead of getting some learning's - they do nothing.
If you look at many of the top brands current on Facebook and Twitter today you'll see that they have some type of presence. But in most cases the conversation is neither two-way nor the information they present value added. Many have simply created a presence just to say they have one with no long term goal of what to do with the property. Personally I think they would be better off taking their learning's and removing their presence completely.
Ultimately those of us who believe in the positive impact(s) of Social Media may not agree that staying out of this area is a smart idea but the reality is that not everybody is willing to take the plunge.
What about you? Why do you think companies aren't engaging in social media?