| As a consultant that deals with Social Media Marketing | | | | 9. Thinking that their minimum wage employee should |
| I get a lot of questions from clients and I have had to | | | | be (effectively) their Spokesperson Online. |
| correct some interesting situations at more than a few | | | | 10. Not Cross Promoting Content (i.e. linking blog posts |
| companies. Here is just a short list of the Top Ten | | | | to Facebook Fan Pages). |
| issues most companies have with implementing an | | | | These problems are all correctable, but like any other |
| effective Social Media Marketing Campaign. | | | | business actions, Social Media requires a plan to make |
| 1. Attempting to Measure Return on Investment in the | | | | it effective. A number of companies will quickly |
| same way as traditional advertising. | | | | abandon a Social Media Marketing campaign after just |
| 2. Not integrating Social Media into the overall | | | | a few months. One of the biggest hurdles many |
| marketing plan causing brand Identity confusion. | | | | business owners have when considering a Social |
| 3. Not staying on top of the social media content. | | | | Media Campaign is the concept that it is not like other |
| 4. Not utilizing the demographic information that is | | | | forms of marketing; it is more about building brand |
| available from many Social Media sites to tailor their | | | | awareness than instant sales. A new survey from |
| marketing both on and offline. | | | | The Center for Marketing Research at the University |
| 5. Not Linking Applications Facebook, Twitter, | | | | of Massachusetts Dartmouth, showed a major |
| MySpace….etc creating more work than needed. | | | | increase in the level of Social Media activity employed |
| 6. Not Creating Content of Value but simply posting | | | | by companies since 2007. The number of companies |
| “BUY MY PRODUCT” over and over again. | | | | using Social Media has increased from just 27% in |
| 7. Forgetting that Social Media is about Socializing not | | | | 2007 to over 80% in 2009. That is including companies |
| Selling. | | | | in the Fortune 500 and Inc 500 that have seen the |
| 8. Launching into promoting before becoming a part of | | | | value of building real brand awareness using Social |
| the community (message boards). | | | | Media. |