Friday, April 22, 2011

Questions for Your Consultant: Social Media Mistakes

Today I continue my miniseries interview off of the Open Forum article regarding questions you should ask your consultant. Today’s question asks What social media mistakes have you seen small businesses make?

Everyone makes mistakes. In social media, we’re here to learn.

In understanding the role of social media in business, the first rule is to understand the changes of marketing in today’s world. No longer are we looking at a world where marketing comes from the brand to the customer in a one way street but rather at a world where you look at a two way street: marketers now interact when they want to and customers reply when they feel like it, sometimes to the chagrin of marketers who don’t want things to go out of control.

The number one mistake that I see businesses making everyday is the effort to engage with their followers and potential customers. This means posting relevant content that followers find valuable, engaging with people who reply and coming out with original content that provokes thought leadership. As social media is inherently social, and media is only 50% of the total task at hand, businesses who don’t respond generally get a bad reputation and are unfollowed because they seem aloof.

The number two mistake that I see businesses make are finding out ways to figure out how they want to measure their social media results. Return on Investment (ROI) is always a key indicator because it shows how good a campaign or overall establishment is. Checking up on your Klout Score, TweetStats or how many monthly active users (MAU) the company has.

These are my two cents on this specific topic. If you’re a consultant, let me know what you think. What mistakes are businesses making these days that worry you? Tweet at me or comment below.

Posted at 11:00 AM 3 notes Tags: Questions for Your Consultant Social Media