Social media continues to get a lot of attention — and justifiably so. It’s the biggest, most complex, most dynamic change to happen in marketing since the invention of television in 1923. (In case you’re wondering, yes, TV was invented in 1923, but it didn’t take off in the U.S. until the early 1950s.)

With all the stuff going on in Social Media, it’s not surprising that people are making plenty of mistakes. With that in mind, we’ve decided to compose a list of how NOT to run a Social Media campaign.

1. Don’t upload a corporate YouTube video and claim you “have a Social Media campaign.” Social Media is about a conversation, not about uploading a YouTube video.
2. Don’t sit on the sidelines. As 60 Second Marketer visitor Ruby Gottlieb once said, “In order to understand Social Media, you have to use Social Media.”
3. Don’t downplay the importance of Social Media. We can all agree that Social Media is a bit over-hyped right now. But don’t discount it. It ain’t going away and if you think it’s just a fad, you’re wrong.
4. Don’t think you can do Social Media in 10 minutes a day. That would be like thinking you can have a relationship with your spouse by having a 10 minute conversation each day. Trust me, that doesn’t work.
5. Don’t think that Social Media is only about YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Again, Social Media is about having a conversation and there are plenty of channels to have a conversation in.
6. Don’t assume Social Media can’t be measured in very real terms. In an upcoming online seminar, we’ll show you how to set up, run and measure a social media campaign. Yes, it can be done. And we’ll show you how. (As soon as we get finished writing the darn thing.)
7. Don’t forget that Social Media is about Mobile Media, too. The impact of Mobile Media will continue to grow. This year is the year of Social Media. Next year is the year of Mobile Media. Remember to integrate your Social Media campaign into the Mobile Media world.
8. Don’t think that Social Media is like traditional marketing. Traditional marketing was a one-way street. Social Media is a two-way street. As such, be sure to participate in the conversation. Leave blog comments, Re-Tweet interesting content, comment on someone’s Facebook page. Connect!
9. Don’t think Social Media will sell itself. Oh, sure, Social Media is so hot now that even your CEO knows about it. But there are still people who will need to be convinced of its value. You’ll need to consistently sell them on the value of Social Media, especially if the person you’re convincing has CFO in their title.
10. Don’t think you can run a Social Media campaign from a silo. Social Media is about engagement across many platforms. Remember that and keep on rocking.

We’ve watched a lot of people jump into the Social Media fray over the past year or so. They’re the brave ones who were the first to dive in. Now, you can use your “fast follower” strategy to learn from their mistakes and jump in right along with them.

This is only a partial list. Are there any mistakes you’d like to add? If so, let us know. Our readers would like to see them.

Saturday, August 29th, 2009, 3:13 am   |   Social Media  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback