charlesberger asked:


With so much talk about social media these days, so many are jumping on board and trying it out. We are seeing some common mistakes out there and I thought it was important to address these mistakes to help eradicate them in the future.

Don’t get me wrong, there will be a learning curve – we all went through it (and I met some great people that helped me, and that I helped along the way) but the key is to learn up front to minimize errors!

So, here we go…

Mistake One: Completely Ignoring Social Media

Believe it or not there are still some people out there that are ignoring social media. They may be unsure of how to participate or maybe they just don’t have time to get involved. No matter what the reason, this is a big mistake. Social media continues to grow in popularity and in importance to internet users – the exact users you are trying to reach.

Mistake Two: Bare Profiles

If you don’t bother completing your profile people won’t be able to get to know you. It is also a sign to other users that you aren’t serious about participating on that site. Many spammers don’t bother to complete their profile and a blank profile has become a red flag.

Your profile should include a custom background when possible, a photo, contact information, and a list of interests to help people get to know you better.

Don’t be afraid to show some personality and let people really get to know you and your company and what you stand for.

Mistake Three: Faking It

We’ve all seen companies being ripped apart for trying to fake it in the social media world. They either hire someone to pretend to be them (it’s OK if staff, colleagues or team members participate, but to hire an unknown to play you, not cool!), or they make up personas or even fake customers posting positive feedback.

The truth is if you can’t invest the time to create an authentic social media profile, you shouldn’t bother creating one at all.

Mistake Four: Trying to Sell Users Instead of Listening

Social media isn’t about you selling, selling, selling. You are here to network, build trust, listen to what customers and prospects have to say. You want to hear customer concerns, to learn about them, to find out what gets them excited, what they like about your product, what they still want, etc.

Remember to be a good social media participant, which means listen before you speak. If you don’t, you risk being written off as yet another company that doesn’t know how to use social media and who is only interested in promoting themselves. Remember, you always have to add value to the communities you’re participating in – just remember its value for your customers, not yourself.

Mistake Five: Recycling

Don’t recycle old content and marketing materials on social media sites. Start new conversations, create new information to share. Granted, you’ll have some content that falls in the “oldie but goodie” category and that’s OK to share. Just try to keep things fresh.

Mistake Six: Launching, then Ignoring

Social media is similar to search engine optimization in that you can’t just set it and forget it. You need to participate and remain active, otherwise you have wasted your time initially setting things up.

If you want your customers to stay engaged, you have to keep producing great content yourself. Keep writing Blog posts, creating widgets and being active in the community. Social media is real work but when done properly it’s worth the effort.

So review your social media practices and make sure you aren’t making any of these mistakes. If you are, change course quickly and get yourself back on track.





Create a video blog

Scott Lindsay asked:


I came across a video the other day that showed an animated twenty-something male sitting at his laptop and closing it up in disgust. Suddenly an icon that looked amazing like one of the social media company’s logo walks into the room and with a cartoon face begins inquiring why the main character left the social media site.

The man explains that he is tired of the site and needs to move on with his life. Suddenly the icon of another famous social media site arrives and then three more drop by. They all begin bullying the man to come back to cyberspace and play.

Finally the animated man says that he needs to get a life and move on. Although every cartoon icon begs him to come back the brave man walks outside and begins walking downtown. He sits at a pleasant sidewalk café, but no one will talk to him. This cartoon man tries virtually everything possible to enjoy life.

Suddenly he looks around to find no one paying any attention to him and says, “This is lame.” He then proceeds to walk home and open up his laptop as the video ends.

For many online users there may be more truth to this video than they want to admit. Some of the most engaging conversation many will encounter during a day will be online through social media.

I intentionally left out any specific social media page names because there are simply too many of them to list. Each social media page focuses on something specific and then provides some more generalized offerings.

It may be a sad commentary that for some individuals the online world may be preferred to real life, but this is often the truth.

This is why marketing to this genre is important. You see these individuals are extremely motivated to be online and engage others in the same way. These are not sideline players. These are the first string online users who eat, drink, breathe and sleep Internet.

When you market to social media you are not simply embracing a casual online user. These are ******** users who often understand special coding issues for their social media page. They know how to add widgets and other interactive devices to their personal social media world. They have made the term geek cool.

This truth may be why Google has been so interested in developing advertising accessibility within social media sites. Their PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising can result in profits for virtually everyone involved.

Social media is a format that has found a future in spare parts. So many associate programs are being used to develop interactive content, personalized page design and secure music distribution. Because social media has left the door open we will likely see more and more mix and match options to drive future potential in social media.

Whether you are looking to develop a direct or indirect marketing campaign via social media it is a format that lends itself to reaching out.

So, ummmm, reach out already.



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