Identify the BEST campaign for your business
Failing Social Media Marketing
Date added: 11-08-2010
As we already mentioned pretty much all businesses irrelevant of size and scope are contemplating some sort of social media marketing action.
Sadly, many of these companies see the random distribution of unsolicited material (SPAM) as a great opportunity to share information with a large number of users.
There are, overall, two different types of promotion done through social media and, while they use similar approach, they generate completely different impression on the people they are targeting and thereof, the results of the social media marketing campaign are completely different.
First, it needs to be clear that advertising and marketing (and that is just not to mention PR) are very distinct actions taken to promote a company.
Rule N1 on the Internet is that while you are online you are interacting with people!
Thereof, you cannot establish a first contact with them (be it through social networks, blogs, emails, etc.) directly offering them to buy. It is very similar to the street vendors you meet when you are outside walking with friends, who stop you to tell you: "Hello, I sell toothpaste... are you interested to buy?"
Think about it for a second. How would you react? What would you say? Would you buy? Then why do you assume that any of your business's customers would react different to you?
Moreso, if you go over yourself with promotion and what is considered SPAM very soon your messages will no longer be noticed and read. On the contrary, people will directly trash them away or would even leave them and ignore them completely.
And the day when you have something important and interesting to say... no one will listen.
The patience of your online community is very low. Some of the reasons for that is the constant overflow of information, the busy schedules, the different preferences and the different online habits of your audience. However, the top reasons is the tremendous amount of SPAM that we are all subject to on a daily basis. We have just learnt to ignore.
Many businesses send spam without even realizing how much harm it can cause. The two key reasons for that are that:
- It is faster and gets the job "done"
- They believe that the product is so great and unique that everyone needs to have it and needs to buy it.
(comics by Juanelo; translated by Explicata)
This leads us to the key point of social media marketing
People don't buy what they need! People buy what they desire.
Thus, it only makes sense, as a business to sit back and listen into people's desires. As social networks are by large their personal space where people are likely to share private information, it is easy to gain that insight.
Basically, you need to use social media to reach the people who truly desire what you are selling and it does not matter if they need it or not.
Thereof, sending useless Spam, tagging people on pictures of your products or interfering in their private discussions with promotional materials will do you much more harm then anything else.
In the end we advise that you do not go on diving into social media believing that by aggressively increasing your community and sending unpersonalized SPAM would do the trick.
On the contrary, even if it might involve investment of time and money, you will have to develop a social media marketing strategy which will bring value to your customers; which will motivate them to desire what you have to offer without being abused to do so. Basically, you first should have a plan on how to create a stable relationship and then (and only then) try to do business with those who are already interacting voluntarily with you. If you succeed in doing so, your community will grow by itself.
Explicata is an Internet Marketing Strategist , Search Engine Marketing, Social Neworks and Content Contribution company. We provide a complete service package including social networks marketing strategies, SEO services and content contribution. To know more about our services or to claim your free social media marketing analysis, email us at info@explicata.com, or through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
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