Confused About Social Media?

It’s no wonder Businesses are confused about Social Media Marketing. For many, it’s like trying to hit a target moving at warp speed while blindfolded.

1) The market is moving extremely fast, driven by venture capitalists injecting huge sums of money into early stage or start ups focusing on social media platforms, Web 2.0 applications, add ons, etc. This creates a lot of confusion in the market, exacerbated by news cycles.

2) SMEs (“Small to Medium Sized Enterprises”) don’t understand how to integrate Analytics and/or ROI Analysis with their campaigns; for example, many are using Twitter or Facebook but not incorporating Google Analytics as a core part of the marketing process or Facebook’s built in analytics in any way but cursory. So, they are making investments but not sure about the ROI, which causes some uncertainty. They aren’t even using Landing Pages for ancillary marketing campaigns.

3) Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon, Gowalla, etc. are getting much of the media spotlight. But at the end of the day, the absolute best social media marketing is Blogging, though many don’t think about Blogging as being the core part of a social media marketing campaign.

4) Engagement and interaction are critical elements to really harness the effectiveness of social media marketing. But, to do this right, an SME may need to be trained or work with an agency that can help them work through the first 90-120 days and even advise them on how to recruit and train the right people.

5) Each social media platform has it’s own interface, applications or plug ins that work with it, content requirements, etc. (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare). This adds an overlay of complexity to building a marketing campaign, which can be daunting to many. So, their decision is no decision.

6) Many SMEs don’t grasp the importance of having a Content Strategy that lets them leverage content development costs. For example, a Blog Post can be promoted on LinkedIn via Profile and Groups, on Twitter via a URL, on Facebook on the Wall or Newsfeed and via emerging Content Platforms like Squidoo, HubPages or Posterous.

7) An SME needs to have some kind of Social Media Policy and Procedures in place to protect their brand and image. This does not have to be a lengthy complex document.

8) Good Social Media Marketing “touches” multiple people within the SME organization, encompassing senior management, R&D, Customer Service and even HR. There can be resistance internally to embracing social media marketing across the org chart and in some cases marketing is not always happy about losing control on brand development and communication.

9) Content Syndication and Publishing across the web requires using a platform for publishing and analytics - this is foreign territory to many SMEs and they may need some “hand holding” via consultants or agencies to get a firm grasp of these platforms. And, I don’t mean Twitter Add ons or Applicationons, I mean standalone Platforms that will publish content across the social web, analyze the ROI and enable the SME to understand who is interacting with their brand (social intelligence).

10) Finally, there is a whole new lexicon developing around social media marketing that SMEs must learn and understand how to drop into their marketing ROI mix: social sentiment (positive or negative comments), the influence of a comment from an individual (3K Followers on Twitter or Facebook), Likes, Dislikes (Facebook), ReTweets, Follows, Comments, Favored (Video),Badges, etc.

If confused about social media then contact me I can help you get to market quickly and efficiently! Please visit my Contact Page to set up a call.