When you’re in the type of business I’m in (And you’re probably in it as well if you’re reading this) then you run into a fair number of people that don’t know what you do.  For the sake of simplicity, you say things like “I’m in Internet Marketing” or “I work in social media marketing”.  Most people nod and smile because they don’t want to come off like they have no clue what you do… which is actually true because I run into a lot of people that really have no clue what it is that I do.

Then there are those people who know just enough to be dangerous.  Their eyes light up when I mention “social media”, like an f-16 pilot who just found Osama by accident and prematurely fires off his payload and turns the landscape to glass.

Yeah, that excited.

They bubble forth about how they need to add a social media strategy to their business so they’re going to open a Twitter account because their brothers girlfriends sisters boyfriends neighbor knows a guy that does affiliate marketing and his brother just got a few sales on Twitter.

…yup.

Because you’re not anyone unless you’re on Twitter now, right?

If I dig a little deeper and probe through the thought process of these people it usually turns up that an agency promoting social media campaigns got in touch with them and threw them a pitch.  The “social media agencies” have informed these people that they “must have a social media campaign”.  In some instances they move forward with it and get a Facebook page setup, a Linkedin profile, a nice Twitter account all with company logos and super snazzy… aaaand then what?

For starters, there are people that will tell you that everyone should be in social media, all the time.  If you want to succeed in online business then you must have a social media account.

Not so much.

While there might be something in social media for everyone, that doesn’t mean that everyone is in the right frame of mind or their business is in the right place to do it right this second.  There’s a good chance that you, as a marketer, will have to spend a fair amount of time working with someone and educating them on HOW they should be involved in social media and not just WHY.  You have to lay a lot of track in order to make a train go any usable distance, so expect a lot of groundwork necessary for a business to be involved in social media.  Just having the accounts isn’t enough, especially when you don’t know what to do with them.

And for the record, having a Twitter account is not a social media strategy.  A Facebook account isn’t a strategy either.  They’re tools.  If you setup a Twitter account, or help a client establish one, without the knowledge of what to do with it, then you have just failed.  There’s a lot that goes into managing social media that goes beyond typing in where you are and what you’re doing at that exact moment.

You, or your client, needs to know how to deal with negative comments and real people through social media, as well as how to make sure that the right thing is being said at the right time.  Since the individual making the tweets is now the official spokesperson for the company within the social media mega-sphere, it’s probably a good idea to make sure that person is putting the megaphone to their mouth and not their ass.

Within that mega-sphere of social media, there are also more than three networks.  Taking part in the major networks is great, but we would need to be certain that those networks have the most effective audiences.  This is where it pays to know your demographic so you understand which network to get involved in, when to do it, and why.  With thousands of social networks available on the web, you’ll have to do some research to find out where your target audience spends their time.

There’s a lot that goes into “doing” social media.  A strategy and social media campaign is and always will be more than just signing up for an account.  That’s as bad as purchasing a 500 piece bedroom set that’s not assembled and trying to put it together without reading the instructions.  We men might try it, and we might get lucky once in a while, but more often than not there’s a lot of frustration, crying, cussing, angry drooling, grunting and ultimately… failure.  The result of which is going back to read the instructions.

So, glassy eyed business owner guy who looks like he is about to hump my leg over the thought of social media marketing, please step back from my leg, read the instructions and realize that this area can indeed greatly improve your business but it will take some research, strategy and the right kind of networking to make it work.

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