Social Media Marketing: Top Ten Mistakes Companies are Making!

As a consultant that deals with Social Media Marketing I get a lot of questions from clients and I have had to correct some interesting situations at more than a few companies. Here is just a short list of the Top Ten issues most companies have with implementing an effective Social Media Marketing Campaign.  

Attempting to Measure Return on Investment in the same way as traditional advertising.  Not integrating Social Media into the overall marketing plan causing brand Identity confusion.  Not staying on top of the social media content. Not utilizing the demographic information that is available from many Social Media sites to tailor their marketing both on and offline. Not Linking Applications Facebook, Twitter, MySpace….etc creating more work than needed. Not Creating Content of Value but simply posting “BUY MY PRODUCT” over and over again. Forgetting that Social Media is about Socializing not Selling. Launching into promoting before becoming a part of the community (message boards). Thinking that their minimum wage employee should be (effectively) their Spokesperson Online. Not Cross Promoting Content (i.e. linking blog posts to Facebook Fan Pages).

These problems are all correctable, but like any other business actions, Social Media requires a plan to make it effective. A number of companies will quickly abandon a Social Media Marketing campaign after just a few months. One of the biggest hurdles many business owners have when considering a Social Media Campaign is the concept that it is not like other forms of marketing; it is more about building brand awareness than instant sales. A new survey from The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, showed a major increase in the level of Social Media activity employed by companies since 2007. The number of companies using Social Media has increased from just 27% in 2007 to over 80% in 2009. That is including companies in the Fortune 500 and Inc 500 that have seen the value of building real brand awareness using Social Media.