Common Mistakes Companies Make With Social Media

Now that we‟ve talked about social media, it‟s important to note what social media is not. This is best answered by talking about the common mistakes companies make with social media.These mistakes fall into three categories: mistakes with strategy, mistakes with tools, and mistakes with messaging. Most of these mistakes are easily avoidable if a company is willing to take time to understand the users‟ wants and needs on each medium.
Common Mistakes Companies Make With Strategy
Some of the most common mistakes companies make with social media revolve around making decisions that aren‟t consistent with having good business sense. Because social media tools are free, some companies tend to take the pasta approach: throwing noodles at a wall to see what sticks. Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid with social media strategy:
Not developing a social media strategy
Because social media is the hottest trend in marketing, companies assume that all they have to do is set up a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page. This is the equivalent of pulling random magazines out of off the rack and purchasing full page color ad in each one, then throwing together a quick and dirty PowerPoint flyer to run. Just like any other communication medium, social media requires a well-thought out marketing strategy plan.
Perfecting a social media strategy
Even though a social media strategy is important, don‟t wait for the strategy to set up your company‟s accounts. Reserving your company‟s name on various social media sites is of the utmost importance. Furthermore, because it takes time to build social media accounts, every minute you waste by not being there is followers you could be losing.
Gathering followers rather than building a network
There are no shortcuts in social media, and the bottom line is companies have to build relationships with their customers before they can sell anything. Social media may seem free, but the hidden time costs to build relationships Social media is not a quick way to make more sales; in fact, social media actually adds cycle time to the sales process. Just like any other process, a company must consider how much of its resources to invest.
Putting all eggs in one basket
It‟s exciting to see extraordinary results on one form of social media, and tempting to invest all your resources into what‟s working. Try to resist. With the speed at which technology changes, social media is starting to look similar to the fashion cycle: one day you‟re in, the next day you‟re out. Tools fall in and out of fashion all the time – remember Friendster, and more recently, MySpace? Companies that build a large equity on one tool will find themselves with nothing if the tool loses popularity.
Putting the horse before the carriage
Another cliché is the company that doesn‟t follow a logical process with social media and then wonders why it isn‟t seeing results. Common sense comes in handy here. For example, consider a company that doesn‟t currently have many customers, but creates a Facebook fan page and starts promoting it with Facebook ads. The keyword is “fan;” people who haven‟t experienced the product are not likely to join a fan club for it. Make sure your company is following a logical customer acquisition process by thinking about social media from the user-perspective.

Social Media: A Publishing Technology for Everyone

Social media is unlike any other technology in history. It has created a modern-day renaissance for several reasons, which are broken down here:
Social media is online
Social media is something that takes place online. It is a type of communication that takes place outside of in-person meetings, phone calls, or foot traffic. That means social
media is location-independent, which makes it a valuable part of any company‟s business strategy.
Social media is user-generated
Content used to be something that very few people created. Reporters, TV anchors, movie directors, authors, radio DJs, and magazine editors created content, and everyone else consumed it. Now, everyone is a publisher, and the people who use the content are also the ones who create it.
Social media is highly accessible and scalable
Social media is highly accessible and scalable to the public, which means that social media has lots of users and offers plenty of opportunity for companies. Because social media is easy to access, the tools for social media are easy and intuitive enough for the common person to use. Even if you don‟t use social media now, there‟s no reason not to jump in!
Social Media: A Way to Diffuse Information
No other existing media is capable of diffusing information faster than social media. Here‟s why:
Social media is a shift in how people discover, read, and share news, media, and content
Television and newspapers areno longer king when it comes to filtering and sharing news. People are more likely to get their news by reading Trending Topics on Twitter, and they are more likely to share a link to a friend‟s blog post than MSN‟s homepage.
Social media is a fusion of sociology and technology
Social media is user-controlled, which means that sociologic components play a large role in any company‟s social media business strategy. The limits of social media are only set by the limits of the technology of social media tools.
Social media is a dialogue
At one time, companies had a monologue with its customers. Companies put out television commercials or print ads about its products and waited to see whether the sales rolled in to determine success rates. Now, social media allows companies to have a dialogue with its customers and gain valuable feedback and input as it creates the message.
Social media is the democratization of information
Information and messaging for a company was once controlled by its marketing and sales departments. Now, with the democratization of information, no one owns the message about a product or company. Every company must become part of the conversation or risk letting users become the voice of the company.
Social Media: A Way to Build Relationships by Sharing
Humans are interesting in that the way they build relationships is through sharing. It may be sharing something that happened in their personal lives, or it may be sharing something funny on TV. Sharing is an essential component of social media, so let‟s break it down into parts:
Social media is people connecting with others
Social media allows each person to connect with others, which means most of the messaging a person receives is from his or her network. It‟s essential for companies to learn to network with its customers in order to promote the company message.
Social media is content readers become content publishers
Content readers are not only consumers. Social media allows content readers to become content publishers. In this way, social media allows content readers to share the content with their own network of followers by publishing or republishing the message in their own words.
Social media is forming relationships for personal, political, and business use
Social media is not just about content or messaging in a different format. Social media is about relationships. For companies, social media is about creating a more personal relationship with end-consumers to build a network around a service or product.
It is clear that there are many components to social media, but the best way to understand social media is to just try it. I hope by now you‟re excited to see what social media can do for your business!

What is Social Media?

I know that you‟re ready to jump right in and start building a social media strategy. Before we do this, it is essential that you understand what social media is and why so many people are using it. Let‟s start with a definition. According to Wikipedia,
“Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one too many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use.”
Wow, that‟s a lot of information! So let‟s break it down into its 3 main components: publishing, information diffusion, and relationship building.
Social media can be leveraged to create wonderful marketing masterpieces. Big name companies like Skittles and Dell have successfully used social media to increase their sales, brand, and the community around their products. Small companies like Kogi BBQ are using social media to increase their sales and dominate the late night food craze in Los Angeles. No matter your company size, social media can be used to start a conversation with your target market and elevate your brand.
SEOP‟s Social Media Consulting Team has successfully worked for clients and built strong campaigns that drive traffic and build community. Through our experience, we have developed the proprietary 5 Pillar Model that teaches our clients how to use social media for business and how to execute the strategies that we develop together.
This EBook is your guide to the 5 Pillars of social media marketing, and how you can leverage social media for your company‟s success:
Pillar 1: What is Social Media? – We breakdown social media marketing into its core components so that you can understand the fundamentals. Social Media is about building a conversation with your clients and consumers.
Pillar2: Common Mistakes Companies Make With Social Media – Though you may understand social media and have a solid foundation to build on top of, it is still possible to fall into the common pitfalls and mistakes that most companies make. Avoid the crucial mistakes and you‟ll be well positioned for social media success.
Pillar 3: The Different Ways Companies Use Social Media – Now that you understand the common pitfalls, it‟s time to take a look at the companies that get it right. Companies are successfully using social media to drive sales, build traffic, hire employees, build a community, and create a positive, well-known brand.
Pillar4: A Framework for Developing a Social Media Strategy – The strategy development portion of a social media campaign is crucial for the success of a company. You must ask and answer the appropriate and relevant questions to develop the right campaign: What social sites are your target market currently using? How much time is needed to consistently interact with your social community?
Pillar5: How toMeasure Return on Investment – Strategy and research are of course only half the battle. Once your strategy is set, it‟s time to execute by either building a team, training your current team, or hiring outside consultants to implement. This is by far the most important part of social media marketing so it is of the utmost importance that you get it right.