What is the #1 barrier to a successful Social Media Marketing Business Strategy?

According to a survey conducted by MarketingSherpa, lack of knowledge is the number one barrier to social media adoption. This means many organizations that try to play in the social media realm are at the risk of creating an atmosphere that can backfire on their marketing strategy if they are not knowledgeable.

You might or might not understand that starting a conversation online is important – but listening to what users are saying is not something that should be overlooked.  The first thing to know is that Social media is not one of those ‘set it and forget it’ strategies. You need to monitor, listen to, and participate in what users are saying about your brand, product or service.  There is a self defense aspect to Social Media if you start things or not.

The challenge for most organizations is finding the time to respond to threads, comments, and tweets. The more social networks you are on, the more resources are required for tracking the activity in those channels. A lot of organizations fear opening a channel of conversation also calls for opening a can of worms for users to post their frustrations, complaints, and bad experiences. Sometimes, but that is going on if you are participating or not.

What most organizations fail to realize is if they do not start the conversation on a positive note in the first place, where they do have control over what is being said, that is not going to stop anyone from creating that Facebook Group, or YouTube Channel, or blog that focuses on the negative experience with your brand.

For example, there are many Social Media pages, like in Facebook, that are dedicated to users who hate Microsoft. There are over 50,000 websites, 5500 blogs, 200 Facebook groups, 500 videos online, and dozens of tweets on Twitter hourly that have some reference to ‘Microsoft Sucks’. In the case of Microsoft, they have a large enough installed base of more or less satisfied clients who are tolerant to the nuances of Microsoft products so Microsoft can survive such banter. Even so, Microsoft watches this dialogue carefully and conducts counter measures.
 
Most small to medium sized businesses do not have to worry at such a large scale about brand protection, but remember even 1 website, 1 video, 1 Facebook page or 1 tweet can be enough to do some serious brand damage for a small business. By proactively participating in and monitoring Social Media channels even small businesses can protect their reputation and build brand loyalty.

The key is finding the right Social Media mix – tro get started, find out where your customers hang out online.  Social Media might be the question that is being discussed at meetings in your organization, but it is not always the answer. You need to look at what the objective of the campaign is, what you consider a success, and then determine if Social Media is a mechanism that is going to help fulfill that plan.

Social Media should not be a replacement for a marketing strategy you are implementing, but should be part of the mix of activities you are executing.

• Your Internet Marketing System including a website
• Pay Per Click
• Email Marketing
• Banner Ads
• Social Media
• Search Engine Optimization

Forward thinking, contemporary companies have already started and feel that Social Media is an important aspect to their business strategy. So whether it is a large portion or small percentage of your overall campaign, success comes with testing, measuring and analyzing results.

Conclusion -
So where do businesses start? Should they create a page on LinkedIn or MySpace? Should they start a blog or start a Twitter campaign? To answer these questions, it is important to understand that different social networks attract different types of people – so you need to match the users of your product and service to the network your target audience is most likely to engage in.

For example, if you are selling consumer goods, Facebook might be the better area to start promoting opposed to LinkedIn, which is a more B2B environment.  We can consult and help put the pieces of the Social Media puzzle together and recommend a plan that is right for your business. Social Media can be fun, drive a lot of targeted traffic, increase visibility, and generate more business, but without the knowledge and experience of executing the campaign, your social strategy is going to turn, well… very unsocial.

Get the advice and consult with experts.

Don’t Believe These 5 Social Media Myths 

There is a lot of information floating online that rants about everything from how great social media is to how much of a waste of time it is. Below is a list of common misconceptions around this topic that I often encounter when educating businesses about social media.

1. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are for Kids -
Fear: Businesses have a difficult time grasping the concept that the same network their children use to gossip to their friends about the party they went to over the weekend is the same channel that is going to connect businesses with their customers.

Fact: Yes, it is true that there are a lot of teenagers and college students that are on social networking sites. However the fastest growing demographics on Facebook are those 35 years and older (Facebook). On Twitter, 45 to 54 year olds make up the highest indexing age group (eMetrics) and Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6% of MySpace visitors (comScore). So, social media is not just for kids, but a way for organizations to reach out and connect with the right people to grow their business.

2. Building Online Relationships is a Waste of Time -
Fear: There is no point of networking with people you are never going to meet. It is simply a waste of time as it will not drive me any more business.

Fact: This is far from true – social media has opened the doors where it is possible to network with your customers, clients, prospects at ease. Not all of them are going to turn into customers, but that does not mean you cannot collect valuable feedback on your product or service. In addition, building your online fan base is another way for you to promote your products and services and help keep people informed about what is happening in your organization. There is no such thing as time being wasted when it comes to networking with your target audience.

3. You Can Not Measure Social Media -
Fear: It is not possible to measure an ROI on social media.

Fact: The very fact that social media is Internet based means it can be measured. When it comes to measuring social, there are typically different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) businesses look at when determining ROI. For example, the goal of your website may be to measure the number of completed downloads, the number of items added to the shopping cart, or the number of newsletter sign-ups you receive. However, on your social media campaign, you might look at the number of fans that increased over time, the number of comments posted on your channel, the number of discussion threads on your forum, or the number of ratings your video received. All these Key Performance Indicators can be measured and analyzed to determine if the campaign was indeed successful.

There are several tools available that allow you to measure the traffic you receive from social sites and analytic software such as Google Analytics can be used to determine which social sites brought the most conversions for your product / service.  So yes, considering all this, social media can be measured.

4. Social Media is Free –
Fear: I can create my own YouTube channel, or LinkedIn page, or Twitter account. There is no cost for me to set up my network on those portals, so why am I being told it is going to cost me money to implement a social media campaign?

Fact: A lot of the technology is free, but simply creating an account on Facebook or registering your product name on Twitter is not a social media campaign. You need to ask yourself:
• How do I increase the number of fans I have on my Facebook page?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
• How do I get people to retweet my message to their followers on Twitter?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my blog?

You still need the campaign, the creative, and the drive to get your social media plan working for you.

5. This is Something I Can Probably Do In-House –
Fear: We have employees that use social networking sites on a regular basis, and they are familiar with the technology, so why not use them to grow our business online?

Fact: In most cases, employees are using social media for personal reasons, and use it to connect with their friends, share photos, and find out what’s happening and where. But when it comes to leveraging and monetizing social media for business purposes, it is a completely different ball game. This is where creativity, campaign ideas, and of course experience is key.  Organizations need to turn to the experts in this field to help them put that plan in place. There is no pre-defined process for social media. Depending on your target audience and your product or service, the networks you participate in, the message you decide to deliver and the way you deliver it are crucial to the success of the overall campaign.

Contact experts with years of social media business strategy experience.