It is perhaps the biggest revolution of our times. Social media in all its different formats is fast becoming the must have business marketing tool and with the likes of Google using social indicators when determining PageRank, not being socially pro-active when it comes to business is a marketing sin!

And whilst some businesses leverage all that social media marketing has to offer, others fail to unlock its full potential. If this is you and you are busy scratching your head trying to work out why, here are eight reasons why you could be heading for the big fail if you don’t turn things around.

8 Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Plan Is Failing

8 Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Plan Is Failing


1. You spend more time playing Farmville and Tetris than you do posting status updates about your business. Yes these maybe great fun, but save them for after you have updated your Facebook page and kept customers informed about all that is going on! Social media is fantastic for getting attention so quit gaming and get posting!

2. You are too busy looking at what everyone else is doing. If you are sat up till the wee small hours checking out the latest tweets and offers from your business rivals you are not actively marketing your business. Sure, have a nose about to see what the competition is up to but then get on with working out how to trump them with some killer promotions and great offers. If you are busy looking at them, potential customers could be looking at you and if you have nothing to offer them, they will go elsewhere!

3. You have a half dozen social media accounts, but how many updates? If the answer is between none and zero or perhaps you have posted something once in a blue moon then I have bad news for you – you have not been socially proactive at all and your number of followers has gradually declined to the same level as updates you have posted!

Get posting! It only takes a couple of minutes but it could be the difference between success and failure. Social media is perfect for creating awareness and demand, so tell everyone when you run a promotion and when you have new products or services about to launch.

4. You’ve spent loads of time on forums and know loads of interesting stuff, but… forums, community boards and chat rooms are perhaps the very first form of social media and are a hive of useful information. But posting answers to other peoples problems is unlikely to solve yours and definitely won’t get customers through your door. Spending all day reading forum posts is not working!

5. Your initial foray into social media marketing yielded very little, so you gave up. Trial and error is the phrase that springs to mind. So you may not have hit the mark first time out, but social media is now so important to business you have to persist with it. Try to identify why you failed first time around and look at new approaches instead.

6. Or, your initial foray was highly successful, but you didn’t follow it up… Don’t think that just because you were successful with your first campaign that the hard work is done and you do not need to keep active with social media. Don’t fall into the trap of resting on your laurels, that initial success will be short lived, so keep pushing – businesses do not grow if you do nothing.

Also Check :

Top 5 Social Media Marketing Campaigns

The 10 Basic Rules of Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing Tools : Facts and Stats (Infographic

7. You spend hours researching social media marketing and then do nothing with it. You can read all the books in the world, visit all the social media blogs and bombard the experts with emails asking for all their secrets, but unless you put it into practice you will learn very little. Sometimes it is actually doing a thing that helps us understand it best.

8. You’re actively following others, clicking like buttons and inviting anyone and everyone to join you on LinkedIn….. but you’re not getting the same in return. You want people visiting your pages, inviting you to join them and following you, not the other way around. If your pages, status or network has nothing to offer no-one will want to connect with you – those who actively seek you out will be far more valuable to your business.

This list could go on and on, especially as social media presents new opportunities everyday. Finding success with it depends on your approach and what you want to use it for – but one thing is for sure, only opening a Twitter account or creating a Facebook page will not suffice!
 
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