Social Media The mistakes we make

Is it any wonder that many businesses are still trying to get comfortable with Social Media Marketing, you hear both success and horror stories from those new to Social Media. In many cases those facing difficulties are making similar mistakes. So often Social Media Marketing is approached in a tentative, fragmented manner due to lack of understanding and managerial commitment.

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning is often overlooked in favor of diving right in. In business expenditures must equal a return on investment and the development of an objective is required to measure the project performance against identified goals. Strategies and tactics need to be developed, teams built and scheduling are all required. To pull this off requires planning and commitment from all levels of the organization.

Take the time to research, observer and listen to the Social Environment as you develop strategies which are a good fit with your company's human and financial resources, because almost as bad as no strategy, is a strategy that will not work for and benefit the business.

Project Management

Effective leadership is important for the implementation and growth of a Social Media Marketing Program. There are a lot of players on the board. Various levels of management need to support the project's Bloggers, Tweeters and Responders, all have to be brought together as a team who deliver content in an organized manner, while at the same time listening and delivering the right message.

Change Resistance

Change management plays an important role. Social Media can be misunderstood, often the benefits are not clear and nor are the measurement techniques. In many businesses a refusal to enter into a Social Media Program may end up being detrimental to the business, as competitors embrace and leverage Social Media, your business will be left behind.

Social Media is not a fad, users are not going to turn their backs in droves on their Social Networking friends and sites, consumers will have the expectation that your business is active in Social Media.for the foreseeable future.

A Balanced Approach

In some cases businesses dive straight into a Social Media Program at full throttle trying to cover all the bases before even becoming familiar with their Social Environment. In other cases a businesses tip toe into Social Media, a bit here and a bit there, with no management and organization which often leads to a fragmented approach and inconsistent message being portrayed to the community.

Setting Realistic Objectives and Time Frames

The setting of realistic objectives, time frames and clearly defined goals from the outset of the program is a must to provide the information required to determine the projects success. An important element here is to set a performance benchmark which can be measured against at specific points in the program 4, 8 and 12 months for example.

An Understanding

Social Media is new territory and quickly evolving, engagement and listening are both acceptable behavior. Interruptive marketing in a Social Media environment is not acceptable. Once businesses begin to understand acceptable behavior and how Social Media works then they can begin to understand how Social Media can benefit their business.

The Last Word

Remember learning? We still do it, but as time passes habits become ingrained and it becomes hard to change. Change is not easy, implementing change is often done tentatively due to our wariness of the unknown. Social Media has some progressive steps which must be completed in the early stages, many before even starting.

Investigate, develop strategies,get the team, plan the project and execute.