Four Mistakes You Could Make In Social Media is a pretty timely post from Edward Boches of Mullen, on his creativity_unbound blog. I read this post yesterday following a meeting with one of our health clients who is introducing a new anti-aging skincare brand.
The post is particularly relevant as we’re launching this new brand exclusively through a combination of digital and social media. This is the first time this client has embarked on a social media effort, and we were talking about the do’s and don’ts of being social.
According to Edward, the four kinds of mistakes brands make are:
• not responding fast enough
• promoting yourself before you have engaged
• neglecting to be transparent
• choosing not to be in social media at all
I’d add the following to this list:
• not appreciating the time investment required
• not recognizing that social media is an organization-wide effort
• beginning without goals or strategies in mind
• and beginning without any measures of success in mind
• not knowing your audiences interests and motivations
• not understanding that social is just one element of the communications mix
What do you think? Are there other points that should be on this list?
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Not understanding that just because a fresh-out-of-school grad is web saavy doesn’t necessarily equate to a successful web 2.0 brand strategy and ambassador. Social media isn’t just about understanding the tools. It’s about understanding the organization, the audience, the messages and everything in between.
I’d also say making the mistake of hiring or assigning someone to do the job that doesn’t have brand experience. Social media is more than just the tools, it’s an expression of the company’s brand, and if the individual knows how to use twitter but not how to talk about brand XXX, then disaster will entail. I think that companies are just now beginning to understand how much social media and brand are integrated.
You make a good point Jessica. Regardless of the channel (in this case, social media) understanding and appreciating your brands current and future desired place in your consumers world is critical to communicating in a way that’s most relevant to audiences and genuine to your organization.
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