How to shoot yourself in the foot using Facebook & Twitter
“Lack of planning in business is nothing new. Shortcuts and blagging have been around since the beginning of time and will never really go away. So at the heart of the latest and funniest marketing blunder is what else than social media.”
The social media bandwagon created hysteria in the business world. First came denial, then anger, then disbelief and finally, well, we are still at that final stage…
In the heart of the panic, businesses started building as many social media profiles as they could, like castles in the sand. They created thousands of profiles on social networks, with little understanding of how they work and without any reasonable ability to maintain them.
To top all of that, some businesses demand to have social links everywhere on their website to showcase that they remain modern and switched on. So then you end up with business owners that strive to make their social as prominent as possible, whilst they have forgotten to update the profiles in the last 3/6/12 months!!!
How do you think a consumer feels when all he sees is a neglected social profile? Or better you can ask yourself. How would you feel?
I have a Facebook page. Do I need to update it too?
That would be advisable, yes. When someone is on your website, a visit to your social is more or less the equivalent of a visit to your About Us page. It might show that a user is ready to interact with your brand or in other words make an enquiry or buy something if you are selling products online.
Staring into a neglected social media account will deter all those users from buying. And what is worst, you will never hear from these users. One famous marketer once said: “I am not worried about the customers that complain, I am worried about those who don’t.
In reality this is not the only marketing mistake that is often repeated. This blunder falls into the same category as other terrible marketing mistakes such as:
- not aswering the phone when customers call,
- ignoring email enquiries
- not having staff that can speak English, and
- not having the availability for a product or service you advertise for
Pretty basic.
