Why Your Social Media Initiative May be a Loser
Remember using the finger and the thumb to make an “L” shape over the forehead? Many of us who lived through high school or college in the 1990s remember this symbol for “loser.” If your social media efforts are struggling, it can be tempting to brand the initiative with the dreaded “L.” But you can turn it around—and the first step is recognizing the online listening and customer engagement mistakes that lead to loser-dom.
You’re a hit and run poster.
You started that blog or Twitter account promising you would post as faithfully as Aunt Minnie attends her Sunday morning service. What happened? Work. Life. That’s what happened. You have one more meeting, two more phone calls, and a sick kid to pick up from school. Content creation plummets to the bottom of the to-do list. The result is that there’s nothing of value for you to share, no content to start engaging customers.
You have no idea what customers are saying.
From product ratings to blog comments, consumers are having conversations about your brand, whether you’re listening or not. Right now, they’re publicly sharing the intelligence you need to make your brand more competitive and more profitable, whether they’re raving about your stellar service or rumbling about your hard-to-use packaging.
You’re never more than a lurker.
In social media, a lurker is someone who reads posts or forum content but never responds or participates. Lurking is fine when it’s done by a visitor on a pregnancy forum; but if your company never does more than monitor, it’s missing out on the opportunity to engage consumers and solicit feedback.
Your social media efforts are uncoordinated.
The PR people operate solely on Twitter. Marketing communicates through Facebook. The CEO writes a blog that is updated if and only if the moon is full and Jupiter lines up with Mars. And nobody knows what anyone else is doing. If social media strategy isn’t integrated and coordinated throughout the organization, expect frustration and, quite possibly, outright failure.
Your social media strategy can be successful.
From distributing content to listening to buzz, Social Strategy1 will provide the tools and expertise you need to build and maintain a positive and engaging web presence. Let us transform your online brand strategy from faltering into fantastic.