Top 10 Mistakes In Social Media Marketing
On your journey toward increasing your social media activities and effectiveness, it is important to remember a few significant things.
THE MOST IMPORTANT thing a person needs to do with regard to using social media, is to create a marketing plan for their business that is specific to social media marketing. Without a plan you may do fine for a while, but eventually you will plateau and wonder why it's not working in the way that you've seen or heard it work for others. If you aren't familiar with exactly how to create a Social Media Marketing plan or what it entails then you're best bet is to contact a consultant to get started. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
EQUALLY IMPORTANT, is establishing your online presence. Create your accounts in the top 4 social media forums, set up an appropriate bio and profile for those mediums, make sure all of your current followers, customers, clients and friends know where they can find you & then begin engaging and nurturing your community. Whatever you do, don't just create accounts and then start blurting out announcements.
The top 10 mistakes made by people in social media marketing:
1 - Creating profiles & bios that don't match the purpose of that particular social media platform.
(Each site has a focus - some are B2B, some are more socially engaging etc. Know the purpose of the social media platform you've joined and know the second layer - which is your purpose in being on that platform.)
2 - Creating accounts without complete profile and bio.
(No one who is a valid or firm contact will follow people they know nothing about. You could get millions of followers, but how many of them will be viable is dependent on how viable you appear to be yourself)
3 - Creating accounts, profiles, bio etc. and then failing to properly & sincerely engage the community.
(There's nothing worse than someone who is on a social media platform who seems to have forgotten that the first word is SOCIAL for a reason. Make sure you communicate with all of your community not just your favorite people or the ones you know best)
4 - Blocking access for comments, wall posts, responses etc.
(There's a reason the word SOCIAL is at the beginning of the phrase "social media marketing." By blocking your community from posting on your wall or making comments you are failing to accomplish what you set out to do. The lazy way of social media where you are the only one talking, no one is able to write on your wall, people are restricted from commenting etc. will only serve to make you look as if you are either too lazy to monitor your page directly or too narcissistic for your own good.)
5 - Covering topics in the feed that are all about you.
(No one likes a narcissist. 80% of what you cover should be something of value to the community without selling your own services or products. People want to follow experts, movers and shakers, like minded & positive individuals - not sales puppets & spammers. Social media is about building relationships & if you're not willing to do that then perhaps something like billboard advertising & paid internet ads are more your speed.)
6 - Infrequent posts and comments.
(Social media is about communication & staying in the minds of your community. You can't do that if you're only posting once a week, especially considering that there is an impression being made in online social media once very 12 seconds. With millions of people to follow and something new every 12 seconds, no one will bat an eye at your weekly posts.)
7 - Creating a presence and engaging a community without a logical plan.
(You're building community and making connections and people are beginning to recognize how great a person you are thanks to your immense sincerity. Now, after all this nurturing, they are ready to ask you/for you to tell them what it is they need from you. Where will you be sending them? Why? Do you have a specific social media campaign going on or have you just been willy-nilly posting your events and information? If you have a focused purpose and a detailed schedule to govern each move you make - then there will never be that limbo where people are lost due to your inability to lead them where they need to go next.)
8 - Paid or Forced Crisis Brand Management
(When Taco Bell has suspect materials in their foods or BP pours their oil across American shorelines killing millions of living creatures, their smartest move was not to pay for social media advertising in attempt to propagandize their image back to a positive state. The social media community is very unforgiving to those who create things so fubar as these guys have, and they don't react well to force-fed social media campaigns. The place for crisis brand management in social media is the one on one, direct and sincere interaction & if that is not possible then the next choice is television, radio & billboards.)
9 - Not knowing where to draw the line with personal vs. business.
(Using a personal page to post mainly business information is a mistake. Keep your personal page personal and direct your customer base & followers to your fan pages and business pages for business specific information. This is not necessarily something you need to do 100% of the time, but it should be 80-90% at least. Using your personal page for business any significant amount of the time indicates either a lack of information or a tad bit of fear & desperation that you won't be able to reach your audience without holding them captive on your personal page.)
10 - Not quickly & immediately responding to negative comments via your social media pages.
(Everyone knows that social media is the perfect platform for us to air our grievances with a business or product. The world has become a place where we all like testimonials before we officially decide to purchase a product or service. We all want to know what experiences our peers have had with the same products or businesses & true or not a negative comment can be devastating to a small business. There should never be a time where a negative comment sits on your page unanswered or is simply deleted without response. It is your job to make sure that those who feel negatively about your business are addressed quickly, responsibly & with grace. In social media, a negative commenter will become a loyal follower when you address them respectfully without fear or hiding & you guide them to communicate more directly with you via email or phone. Always make sure the comment thread can be followed by other readers in a way that shows you are respectful and willing to give immediate & quality resolutions.)
Good luck on your quest toward a smoothly running social media system for your business & be sure to let me know if you have any questions.
THE MOST IMPORTANT thing a person needs to do with regard to using social media, is to create a marketing plan for their business that is specific to social media marketing. Without a plan you may do fine for a while, but eventually you will plateau and wonder why it's not working in the way that you've seen or heard it work for others. If you aren't familiar with exactly how to create a Social Media Marketing plan or what it entails then you're best bet is to contact a consultant to get started. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
EQUALLY IMPORTANT, is establishing your online presence. Create your accounts in the top 4 social media forums, set up an appropriate bio and profile for those mediums, make sure all of your current followers, customers, clients and friends know where they can find you & then begin engaging and nurturing your community. Whatever you do, don't just create accounts and then start blurting out announcements.
The top 10 mistakes made by people in social media marketing:
1 - Creating profiles & bios that don't match the purpose of that particular social media platform.
(Each site has a focus - some are B2B, some are more socially engaging etc. Know the purpose of the social media platform you've joined and know the second layer - which is your purpose in being on that platform.)
2 - Creating accounts without complete profile and bio.
(No one who is a valid or firm contact will follow people they know nothing about. You could get millions of followers, but how many of them will be viable is dependent on how viable you appear to be yourself)
3 - Creating accounts, profiles, bio etc. and then failing to properly & sincerely engage the community.
(There's nothing worse than someone who is on a social media platform who seems to have forgotten that the first word is SOCIAL for a reason. Make sure you communicate with all of your community not just your favorite people or the ones you know best)
4 - Blocking access for comments, wall posts, responses etc.
(There's a reason the word SOCIAL is at the beginning of the phrase "social media marketing." By blocking your community from posting on your wall or making comments you are failing to accomplish what you set out to do. The lazy way of social media where you are the only one talking, no one is able to write on your wall, people are restricted from commenting etc. will only serve to make you look as if you are either too lazy to monitor your page directly or too narcissistic for your own good.)
5 - Covering topics in the feed that are all about you.
(No one likes a narcissist. 80% of what you cover should be something of value to the community without selling your own services or products. People want to follow experts, movers and shakers, like minded & positive individuals - not sales puppets & spammers. Social media is about building relationships & if you're not willing to do that then perhaps something like billboard advertising & paid internet ads are more your speed.)
6 - Infrequent posts and comments.
(Social media is about communication & staying in the minds of your community. You can't do that if you're only posting once a week, especially considering that there is an impression being made in online social media once very 12 seconds. With millions of people to follow and something new every 12 seconds, no one will bat an eye at your weekly posts.)
7 - Creating a presence and engaging a community without a logical plan.
(You're building community and making connections and people are beginning to recognize how great a person you are thanks to your immense sincerity. Now, after all this nurturing, they are ready to ask you/for you to tell them what it is they need from you. Where will you be sending them? Why? Do you have a specific social media campaign going on or have you just been willy-nilly posting your events and information? If you have a focused purpose and a detailed schedule to govern each move you make - then there will never be that limbo where people are lost due to your inability to lead them where they need to go next.)
8 - Paid or Forced Crisis Brand Management
(When Taco Bell has suspect materials in their foods or BP pours their oil across American shorelines killing millions of living creatures, their smartest move was not to pay for social media advertising in attempt to propagandize their image back to a positive state. The social media community is very unforgiving to those who create things so fubar as these guys have, and they don't react well to force-fed social media campaigns. The place for crisis brand management in social media is the one on one, direct and sincere interaction & if that is not possible then the next choice is television, radio & billboards.)
9 - Not knowing where to draw the line with personal vs. business.
(Using a personal page to post mainly business information is a mistake. Keep your personal page personal and direct your customer base & followers to your fan pages and business pages for business specific information. This is not necessarily something you need to do 100% of the time, but it should be 80-90% at least. Using your personal page for business any significant amount of the time indicates either a lack of information or a tad bit of fear & desperation that you won't be able to reach your audience without holding them captive on your personal page.)
10 - Not quickly & immediately responding to negative comments via your social media pages.
(Everyone knows that social media is the perfect platform for us to air our grievances with a business or product. The world has become a place where we all like testimonials before we officially decide to purchase a product or service. We all want to know what experiences our peers have had with the same products or businesses & true or not a negative comment can be devastating to a small business. There should never be a time where a negative comment sits on your page unanswered or is simply deleted without response. It is your job to make sure that those who feel negatively about your business are addressed quickly, responsibly & with grace. In social media, a negative commenter will become a loyal follower when you address them respectfully without fear or hiding & you guide them to communicate more directly with you via email or phone. Always make sure the comment thread can be followed by other readers in a way that shows you are respectful and willing to give immediate & quality resolutions.)
Good luck on your quest toward a smoothly running social media system for your business & be sure to let me know if you have any questions.
Labels: followers, grievances, marketing plan, negative comments, online business, small business, social media, testimonials
posted by Unknown at 9:38 PM
1 Comments:
Aside from the said mistakes, I think the lack of commitment is also one of the reasons social media marketing fails. I think achieving success in this type of marketing requires time and effort. This means to regularly check, update, and make an activity on your page, or in short, keep it active! Let them know that your company exists.
Colleen Fisher
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