The social media question MOST architecture practices are avoiding
and one firm decided to find out.
An article in The Architects Journal stopped me in my tracks recently.
Editional Studio, a small practice co-founded by Jack Richards, has made a bold decision for 2026: they're logging off Instagram entirely. No longer at the whim of the algorithm or trying to package up their design work to satisfy the demands of Silicon Valley's attention economy. Instead, they're going old school with a quarterly printed newsletter, in-person events and real conversations.
I shared the AJ article over on LinkedIn and it sparked one of the liveliest comment threads I've had in a while. Because this topic hit a nerve. So many practices I've spoken to don't really like being on social media and hark back to the days when your posts would actually get seen by the audiences who follow you. Oh to those heady days!
The question that nobody in AEC is properly asking
Are you posting because social media genuinely wins you work? Or because everyone else is doing it?
That's not rhetorical, it's a question I'd want any Director or Head of Marketing to be able to answer with actual evidence.
Copywriter and content strategist Stacey Meadwell made a point in the comments that's worth sitting with:
"There is a difference between being on social media and being strategic with it. Activity doesn't have to be restricted to posting. You can use it as a strategic networking tool too."
She's totally right and that distinction matters. Because what I see in the AEC sector, again and again, is firms posting content because it's what you do or you think people expect you to rather than because it connects to a clear business objective. There’s no defined audience, no real message and most importantly no way of measuring whether any of it is contributing to pipeline, reputation or relationships.
The algorithm has its own drivers and rewards time spent on site
And if you're chasing the algorithm, you're playing someone else's game and yes, it’s really exhausting.
Rachael Bernstone, who works with architecture practice owners in Australia, put it so well:
"Few understand how the various channels work together as part of a customer journey, and how they all play an important role in building awareness and trust, and engaging future customers in a discussion that turns into a proposal and then into a project."
That's the gap that ideally we should be looking to address. By understanding how it all connects as an integrated marketing system practices will be far more successful and right now, most practices don't get this.
What the experiment is actually showing
Editional Studio's decision isn't without its challenges. Luke Neve, a comms consultant who has been working with the practice, said something that really stayed with me: "We have completely had to relearn how to reach out and communicate with people without the ease of posting. It made it clear how reliant we've all become on these platforms, for better or worse."
That's a big admission. And a useful one.
Because when you take away the habit, you're forced to be intentional. You have to actually think about who you want to reach and how. Which is where most AEC practices should have started in the first place.
And interestingly, Luke also noted they had made some new connections as a direct result of launching the newsletter, connections they might not have made just by posting on Instagram. So it's not a disaster. But it's not straightforward either.
Is logging off the answer for everyone?
As a social media pro, I honestly think the answer is no. And several other people on my post made that point clearly.
Alicia Brown raised a valid concern:
"For younger firms especially, stepping away from social media might mean losing an important channel for visibility and discovery. Printing, distribution and face to face relationship building requires a large investment of time if not money."
She's right that this approach suits some practices more than others. A small, well-networked studio with an established reputation is in a very different position to a firm trying to build visibility from scratch.
And René Power cut to it:
"I think they'll return to it when they realise it's not about what they want to do, it's about where their people hang out."
He has a point as I've seen this before. A few years back there was a trend of freelancers coming off socials and moving entirely to email. Many came back a few months later. Because the question isn't just what works for you. It's where your target audience actually is and what works for them too.
So what should AEC firms do about social media?
Here's my view, having worked in this sector for over 25 years, social media, LinkedIn in particular for me, can and does absolutely have a role. But it works best as part of a broader, intentional, integrated marketing appraoch. The practices I've seen grow well aren't necessarily the ones posting most. They're clear on who they're talking to, what they want to be known for, and how they convert visibility into actual conversations.
As Hinal Panchal summed it up in the comments:
"Maybe the takeaway isn't to log off, but to show up more intentionally."
And yep I'd echo that entirely. If you don't know whether your social media activity is contributing to your business goals, and if you're not tracking it, that's the problem worth solving. Not whether to be on Instagram.
To close out, Editional Studio's move will divide opinion. But what it's done, usefully, is force a conversation that most practices never have. Because if you can't answer the question "is this working?", then it doesn't matter whether you're posting daily or not at all. You're posting out of habit, not strategy or impact.
And in a market that's getting tougher by the month, that's quite frankly not good enough.
Thanks for reading
If you want to get clear on what's actually working in your marketing and what's just noise, that's exactly what I do. I work with AEC Directors and marketing leads to cut through the clutter and build approaches that deliver. Email ayo@abbasmarketing.com
