Social Media Marketing – Pitfalls and Trends

Have you ever wondered if there are any pitfalls in social media marketing? Can you use social media sites solely and effectively to create and drive brand awareness?

Here’s the answer in a nutshell:

Social media marketing is a double-edged sword. You can’t control what people say online, but you can curate content and empower your advocates. You should not solely rely on social media to run your business, but it amplifies the effect and authenticity of your brand.

I like to imagine social media as a constant stream of sparks in a forest. Everything your customers say about you is a spark. You want to curate positive comments into controlled bonfires; this will help you cook and survive in forest wilderness (your competitive industry). At times, you can spread the good word and spark some more flames by endorsing advocates, but you should always pay attention to the negative comments.

A negative comment can have nasty results, and you don’t want to be caught in a forest fire.

You can’t control what others say on the internet, you can only curate them by processing which ones you’d like to endorse (retweet, like, comment, share, etc) and which ones you need to address (negative reviews, complaints, questions, etc). Due to the uncontrolled nature of social media, I don’t suggest running a campaign that relies solely on social media.

Social media is communication tool that amplifies the reach of your conversation. However, it doesn’t guarantee the content of that conversation.

• Social media is great at driving brand awareness, but the image of your brand has to be controlled in some way. For that, you need to design a professional website that clearly addresses what your company does, what it stands for, and why it’s good at what it does. You can’t generate sales from social media alone. At some point your customer is going to want some hard facts and authoritative statements.

Got questions? Give us a shout or stop by our marketing agency located on Robson Street in Vancouver. (We always have chocolate.)