7 Deadly But Unspoken Sins of Unsocial Media Marketing

1. LUST

LET'S PAY FOR UNLOYAL FOLLOWERS TO LIKE OUR BRAND.

It’s pretty cheap to buy followers but what good does it do you in the end? Will people trust and believe in your company more because you have a gazillion followers, or will they trust and believe because you actually have a product or service that has value to them? eeNuf said.

2. SLOTH

WE CAN TREAT ALL SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS THE SAME.

Not a good idea. First off, you probably shouldn't be on ALL social networks because however highly you may think of yourself you can’t possibly be ALL things to ALL people ALL the time. Different demographics/characters/targets spend time on different networks. Whatever channel you decide to tune your message into, it should be the only (or main) channel where your buyers hang out. They can’t hang out EVERYWHERE. Research your best customers, take surveys, find out what their behaviors are on social media then focus your efforts on those channels. If it’s one – then focus on just one. Or, start with the top one to get your feet wet and incrementally add channels. You’ll find that your target customers are not spending time on every single channel so neither should you.

3. GLUTTONY

WE'LL STUFF EVERYONE'S FEEDS WITH PROMOTIONAL SPAM.

Spam-noun: irrelevant or inappropriate message sent to large numbers of recipients

Spam-verb: send the same message indiscriminately to large numbers of recipients

However you look at it – Noun or Verb – it’s not going to produce good results. It’s LAZY marketing pushing the exact same message out to the mass population. This message needs to be the right message, to the right target, at the right time for it to resonate and reflect positively on your brand. Don’t be a lazy marketer. The internet’s chock full of them and it’s not a group you want to be a member of. We, the intelligent/informed consumer, do not appreciate mass produced messages. We think of ourselves as unique, progressive, special and unique and expect to be treated at par with this.

4. PRIDE

WE'RE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. PLEASE RETWEET.

I don’t know about you but I’ll retweet what I consider important, relevant and retweetable. In fact if you ask me to retweet I probably wont because of your lack of knowledge about cosmic internet standard practice. I mean, if I find it important and more so, if it speaks to my emotions, I will share the heck out of it. But not if you insult my intelligence.  And, while we’re at it don’t ask me to “Like” you. I’ll like you if you're worthy of a like, not because you ask.

5. GREED

WE ARE AWESOME, AS IS THIS SALE.

This doesn't sound well to an intelligent person when coming from the entity spoken of. Not all of us are going to stampede to buy what you’re selling just because YOU SAY it’s awesome. Few will, most won’t. The ones that won’t might just be turned off by how awesome you think yourself to be. Showing a little humility is a good thing.

6. ENVY

LET'S HIJACK WHATEVER IS TRENDING 

If your brand has to resort to emulate/stealing or extreme enticement tactics you probably don’t have a product or service worth buying. If you did it’d stand out distinctively on its own and not need BS smoke and mirrors to get attention from people. Don’t take shortcuts because you’re impatient with slow results to your social media efforts. Patience is an excellent self serving virtue.

7. WRATH

WHY IS NO ONE COMING?!? LET'S SHOUT LOUDER.

If we didn’t hear you, and you did not hear from us the first time its likely because we CHOSE to not listen. Shouting louder is only going to turn us off a lot more. The best way to get our attention is by listening to us first. Don’t just direct dialogue towards your customers – LISTEN to what they're saying. Have a two way meeting of the minds. That’s what social media is all about. Learn about our problems and challenges so as to provide solutions with what you’re creating or selling. I’ll invest in something that helps me solve challenges I face. Identify the value that customers need and expect from your product - and then deliver on it.

CONCLUSION:

Unless you’re a hotshot celebrity you won’t see social media success before the sun sets twice. Fans, followers, likes and retweets happen in time, provided your social media strategy is all about providing value in some shape or form.