A journalist called me last week* and asked 'what advice would you give to those who are just about to get started with social media marketing?' So it seemed like a good moment to pull together a summary of the most commonly made mistakes... see if you agree with me!
1) Thinking social media just another advertising channel and treating it as such
It's worth remembering one of the reasons for the rise of the social web is over-marketing - people's intolerance of too much interruption advertising.
There are opportunities for traditional advertising, eg Facebook ads and forthcoming Twitter ads, but that's not primarily how social media works.
Advice: think of it as PR, be in it for the long term, don't expect or look for short-term payback. Be prepared to 'play' and be open - we're all learning. Remember it's social. And ROI is hard to measure!
2) Being self-promotional all the time
It's not a one-way medium, it's about conversations. People will turn off, stop following you or even start giving you negative word of mouth.
Advice: Your LinkedIn profile can be all about you, but don't leave it there - give recommendations, answer questions, join discussion groups. Your Twitter stream should be no more than 20% out-and-out promotional. A good breakdown of the other 80% might be 40% retweets, answering questions or having conversations and 40% giving professional information or offering your expertise or tips for free.
3) Not taking advantage of all the excellent FREE advice on the web
C'mon peeps - don't try to re-invent the wheel, we've got more expertise and tips spilling from the likes of Twitip, Copyblogger, Mashable, Chris Brogan and the like every day than anyone can digest in a lifetime!
4) Jumping in without listening first
Different communities have their etiquette - it's easy to get it wrong, eg the Habitat Twitter fracas, and more recently Nestle on Facebook).
Advice: Listen first - watch conversations, see how people respond and how they behave, watch and learn from the 'old hands'.
5) Lack of transparency
I've blogged before about why faces matter on Twitter. Even if you haven't got something to hide, chances are people will think you do if you're shy about using names and faces, economical with the truth about who's blogging in your name, or unwilling to engage with dissatisfied customers.
Advice: upload photos of real people on profile pages, use real names, say who is tweeting, have genuine conversations, be open to criticism or complaints - it's better that you handle them openly (and be seen to do so fairly) than have that person complain on other public forums.
6) Not managing the time
The cost of entry with social media is low. But it needs a time commitment, structured in such a way that you or your staff aren't wasting it. Initially, allow some time to get a feel for the tools, assess the business value, get your strategy together, set up profiles or a blog, and so forth.
Once everything is in place, set a timetable - a small amount of time is fine but frequency is important, so you don't lose track of conversations and to build familiarity - half an hour a day is better than 3 hours once a week.
7) Not giving staff proper training or agreeing company guidelines
This is generally where the high-profile mistakes arise. Company director takes one look at Facebook and quickly gives it to someone younger and more social-savvy than himself, leaving that person to make key communication decisions.
Advice: If you delegate social media activity to a junior then be careful to put guidelines in place, or offer training if necessary - they are representing your company and need to know what they can and can't do/say. It's important they are still given the space to be themselves, however - you can't give them a script or shackle them to the kind of rules typically endured by call centre staff.
8) Not having a business strategy to start with
I've talked about this recently, so let's just say that there's little point in any kind of marketing activity if it's not designed to get you closer to achieving your business goals.
I expect I've missed something - let me know!
* PS it turned out the journo only wanted a quick quote, by the way, so most of this never made it into the article!
Picture credit: Escher's 'Relativity' from Wikipedia
