Social marketing doesn’t require a college degree (yet), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are a lot of businesses that are using social marketing the wrong way. One huge mistake is to use automated distribution tools to post your message on your social networks. These tools do things like auto-follow people based on the content of their tweets, send direct messages, and perform other tasks that should be done based on a personal interaction.
By using automated tools to manage your social media marketing you’re actually hurting your business’s image.
You aren’t fooling anyone.
Don’t forget that all those followers are real people. Interactive marketing means that you are speaking with individuals and creating relationships that continue to grow and change. People are smart and they can tell if there is a real person behind that business’s Twitter account.
Automated responses are SPAM.
As a business, if you are using automated direct messages you should question your purpose for being on Twitter in the first place. You’re dealing with real people and they can tell that your direct message is simply a pre-written marketing message. If you aren’t taking the time to put a personal effort into each one of your messages your audience will know it.
You can’t streamline personality.
Each business’s culture is different and it takes time to develop that personality through social networking. Engaging with your customers through Twitter is not a push button program. It takes time to develop a campaign and standards for social media marketing.
If you don’t have the in-house manpower to manage a social media campaign you have two options. You can seek an outside social marketing professional to help you develop a plan and execute that plan or you can stay out of the game until you are ready to take the plunge.
Don’t make the mistake of automating your social media campaign. Social media is a popular form of marketing because it’s based around real people making personal connections. If you’re thinking about using an online social tool, ask yourself these basic questions first:
- Does it encourage a personal connection with others?
- Is it beneficial or can it provide someone with information they actually want?
- Would it be awkward to say or do something like that in real life?
If it doesn’t pass all of those three basic principals don’t do it.
Disagree? Let me know about it in the comments.
