You have done a lot of Social Media Marketing Mistakes! Now Stop Repeating those..
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For those who are new to the word “Social Media”, I can promise that you use Social media almost everyday. You are using it right now too. Social media is everything which people share on the Internet. Everything like Blogs, Social Networking Websites, Suggestions, Picture Sharing, Chats, Micro-Blogs, Social Bookmarks, etc; i.e the applications which help us Interact with others on the Internet comprise of Social Media.
“What is Social Media Marketing?”
Wikipedia Definition says: Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. In short, it means Marketing/Promoting your Product or Service in the Online Social Environment.
Now, when the basic idea of Social Media is clear, its must be accepted as a fact that Big companies are making a fortune by promoting their products on Social Networks like Twitter and Facebook.
But, sometimes these online promotional activities can backfire if you do some mistakes. Let us understand the most common mistakes in this scenario and how you can avoid those:
The No Blog Condition
If you don’t have a blog to write about your product, I can guarantee that you are heading towards a road that has FAILURE written all over it. Blog is your Online Real Estate and it is the place where people try to come to know about your product or service. Getting regular updates regarding the product makes the Customer understand the real value of the product and it helps you get a Fan following.
The Unclear Idea
You promote your product heavily on Social Networks but if your own idea about the product is not clear, then the product might fail. You must concentrate on a particular product rather than promoting a hundred Utilities which do the same function.
Mixture of Personal and Professional thoughts
It becomes very difficult for a user to understand your true intention if you always keep postings a mixture of Personal as well as corporate information all at one place. Like, if you use your personal account to promote your business Product, you may land up confusing your followers. So, creating a separate Fan Page for your Product is advised along with your Personal account.
Assumptions
Don’t assume anything unless you are 100% sure about it. Every Social network has some history and Do not assume that you are the first one marketing on it. You may land up doing something unprofessional and making a fool of yourself.
Think before you Write!
Not everyone will be comfortable engaging in Online Conversations. Its your duty to make them feel comfortable! Do not talk about controversial issues while giving a real idea about your product. Always be authentic but unfinished because you may have to cover yourself in the future!
Doing Everything yourself
If you behave as a one-man army, its not going to help here. Let your followers and partners come to your help. You have to spend time to build relationships so that others will submit and help you promote your Idea. Remember that not all your ideas will be worth sharing so don’t get disheartened is no-one shares it.
Being a Selfish Professional
Don’t expect others to help you without you helping them. Don’t be a Social Media freak and keep promoting your own stuff. Read what others are talking about and share it with your friends too. While doing so, do not expect them to return the favour. Keep sharing your likes with others and you will soon see people sharing your idea with their friends. Be cautious while sharing your dislikes because the things which you dislike may be liked by someone else.
Give people what they want! Rather than telling them the current financial state of your Company, tell them about the recent developments and how is it going to help them in the future.
Bossy Nature and Lack of Conversation
Don’t try to control everything but go with the flow. Sporty conversation with your Followers is the essential part. Understand that your conversation is going to help you build the relationship, the trust and the confidence in the minds of others to do business with you. So, Do not try to force your thoughts on anyone. Give your helpful suggestions and ideas where needed but take care that you are not criticising or offending anyone. If you ever do a mistake, remember that saying SORRY really helps.
Showing off Wavy nature
Keep your Online personality Constant. Don’t keep changing your Avatar’s and Photos regularly. Over a period of time, people start knowing you by your Photo Avatar rather than your Name. So it is the Key!
Don’t act confused. Stay bold when you answer to any question, but do accept your mistakes.
The TIT-For-TAT Attitude
Everyone does mistakes and you should forgive them. There is no point is having a grudge on someone who does not like you. Rather, learn why does that person not like you and try to improve yourself.
Handling Negative Comments has a great part to play here. Its not important to reply to every negative comment. Some people may always try to outsmart you, its better to ignore their comments. Praising them does help getting them in your favour sometimes.
Bonus tip: Inconsistency and Excessive Promotion
Publishing 2-3 posts on your blog in a single day and then staying offline for the next 4-5 days is a bad idea. Being consistent is the key! People like their Questions being answered as fast as possible rather than keeping them waiting for long.
Understand the fact that Excess of Everything is Bad! Do not over-promote anything or be over-professional. Be a friend with your Customers and try to understand their needs. It will help you give them proper service and in turn making then Happy and Satisfied!
Even after so many points, I can still say for sure that I have missed a lot. Do add your Suggestions to this list! Looking forward to some great suggestions.
Hoping that these tips will help you make great profits in the future. Anyway, “Merry Christmas” everyone!
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Filed Under: Social Media
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Comments (21)
Agent Deepak
December 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
This is quite deep. I am not very much experienced using social media for marketing. I hope to learn many things.
Extreme John
December 26th, 2009 at 8:41 am
So many people don’t take the time to think before they write and it’s clear right from the start.
chandan
December 26th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Thank you for sharing your though here. I know that social media can drive lots of traffic to our blog, but I am not one active user of social media, I better prefer search engine traffic and so I gonna busy for build link for my blog.
Pascal
December 26th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I strongly once again want to tell, self promotion is the main mistake. When you promote others, you will get the same.
blinkky
December 27th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
You write about this very well…Good for beginner =)
Soumen
December 27th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Well written Rohit. Specially, I like( and follow them myself) the points stating “No Conversation” & the Bonus Tip. This are mostly important I think. Not conversting only proves that you are not interested to what your reader say. And human nature expects importance. They are like mirrors, they return you what you give them. If they feel ignored, they will simply ignore you back.
Uttoran Sen
December 28th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
this is a very good article on social media mistakes, personally when i started i made sufficient mistakes… excessive promotions = spam, i think we ought to share good stuffs from time to time that increases the value of submissions, networking is yet another important component around which the social media revolves
Anand Srinivasan
December 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Pretty cool thoughts I can especially relate to the ‘Assumptions’ and ‘Doing everything yourself’ part. But I think “how to build relationships” should be an entire article in itself. Everyone realizes that they need to build relationships, but are stumped when they think how!
PS: I am putting this article on today’s feature. Thanks
Rohit Sane
December 29th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I am happy that you all are finding this article useful! I would be happier if you submitted this Article to Social Bookmarking sites.
Ruchi
December 31st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Nice points, doing everything and tit for tats will not work in social marketing for sure.
Bangaloreloka
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
Excellent ideas there.. I liked the point where you suggested to act as a group, I guess making an clan has it’s own advantages. Gosh.. blogging has too many aspects for achieving success
Gojeg
January 8th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Is Social Media Marketing same with Viral Marketing?
Rohit Sane
January 8th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
@Gojeg: Social Media Marketing is not exactly that. Basically, we promote our stuff on social media sites!
Viral marketing techniques can be used here, but viral marketing sometimes are treated as Spam, so it wont be the correct word to use.
Udegbunam Chukwudi
January 11th, 2010 at 1:53 am
Social Media Marketing is something I’m still working at. Sometimes it gets so frustrating that I quit (temporarily).
Stumbleupon has being showing some good results but has dried up recently. I’m trying Twitter @ the moment.
Blogengage looks promising so I might submit a few blog posts there and see what happens.
Rohit Sane
January 11th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
@Udegbunam Chukwudi: Don’t give up man! You will succeed if you keep improving your mistakes.
BizCoachTim
January 13th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for the post! So many people are trying to jump into Social Media Marketing, and are making loads of mistakes. But it’s much cheaper to learn from other people’s mistakes. This is one of many great resources that people need to dig into as they find their way around SM.
abhi
January 18th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Social media don’t work for me. My target is Google.
Mickey Fox
March 12th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Not bad. You have identified a good few of the areas that people most often make mistakes. But let me make a small criticism and add another one:
Have another person critique before you post.
While we might be wonderful writers and have marvelous ideas to share, we sometimes miss rather obvious (and sometimes not so obvious) mistakes in our writing because of our closeness to the product (our writing). For instance, Rohit might have had another check his grammar and phraseology in oder to ensure that his readership would take away exactly the meaning he implied while using certain phrases such as “Be a friend with your Customers and try to understand their needs.” which might have been better said “Be friendly with your customers…” or their grammar (in this case a passive, rather than active voice) “People like their Questions being answered [should have used only the word answered] as fast as possible…”
When one writes copy for others, or when one blogs in a professional nature, one does not want his/her efforts to be judged amateurish solely because of some bad grammar or phrasing.
All that said, nicely done!
Rohit Sane
March 14th, 2010 at 1:04 am
@Mickey: Thank for this very helpful comment. I will surely take care about my Grammar and try to put my point across by using minimum words.
sidduz
August 25th, 2010 at 2:52 am
You have covered the reliable areas. I mostly follow the The TIT-For-TAT Attitude point. I haven’t replied in negative way but I take care of them in my blog itself
karamel
May 25th, 2011 at 9:01 am
i like this part : Being a Selfish Professional.
Awesome post
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