90% of the problems I see with companies is they are falling head over heels about various social media tools but have NO strategy.
Putting the cart before the horse means trouble. And very often failure.
You need to know what your overarching goal is when it comes to social media. You have to have a framework to succeed. Otherwise you are just grabbing at social media straws and the only thing that is certain is that you will be disappointed.
Let’s be perfectly clear. Dabbling in Facebook or throwing up a Twitter account is NOT a strategy. A strategy, originally a military term, is an overarching goal or mission. It is a plan. Your plan for social media could be many things:
- Building a bigger community
- Selling more products
- Promoting an event
- Talking to a a community of passion
- Getting more leads
Do you grab a screwdriver and say hey…what can I fix today? Or do you say, I have a problem and I need to figure out how to fix it and maybe my screwdriver can help me out? Of course, it is the latter.
Figure out what you want to achieve first. THEN , choose which social media tool-if any-you want to employ to help you succeed.
If you want to learn about the 6 other frequent social media mistakes and how you can avoid them, you absolutely must sign up for my FREE webinar that I will host on November 19th. The webinar, called Unleashing The Power Of Social Media will be held at two convenient times, One at 9 am PST and the second at 6 pm PST The webinar will be 70 minutes packed of free information and insights that you can put to use immediately. Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, a solo entrepreneur or a non-profit organization, you MUST attend this phone call if you want to learn how to capture the social media wave. Spaces are limited so hurry to sign up now at http://bit.ly/24eLOk.
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You’re quite right;
Most companies are used to paying for an ad and that’s it. Social media is more of a pr campaign than an ad campaign
Rick
nice sharing, Susan! Think it also applies to our dream n goal in life:
“I have a dream, how should I achieve it in life?” instead of
“Given my current status in life, how should my goal n dream life be set to be?”
Susan, Great post. Your screwdriver analogy goes right to the heart of the problem. If you look at the aggregate presence of many brands in social media (SoMe) over the past couple of years you can quickly deduce that there is no strategy behind their activities. I believe there are two reasons behind this.
First, a lot of this activity is done on individual initiative. A study from MarketingProfs indicated that over 60% of corporate SoMe activity is being done this way.
The second factor is more a reflection of the way companies tend to adopt web technology. In the 90′s most companies began building web sites not entirely knowing what the internet was about or what they were doing there. And at the outset that was enough. Simply being there put a positive glow on the brand because customers also had no expectations. I find its the same with social media. When no one really knew what Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter were about, the early adopters could participate aimlessly without too much backlash. I’d say that era is drawing to a swift close. In 2010 just being there will no longer be enough. We should see the rise of much more strategic use of the SoMe.
P.S: I missed your Webinar yesterday. Will you be posting it?
Hey Susan! Thanks for a really great post, I’ll quote your screwdriver metaphor next time I have this kind of discussion with a client. Is the seminar available on the web?
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