Six mistakes to avoid when using social media

Many South African businesses are striking out into the Wild West of social media, hoping to achieve the sort of marketing success that turned Susan Boyle into a household name and got tongues wagging about Mrs. Balls Chutney's Skirt Extension Project.

Marketers look at the runaway success of something as simple as Battle at Kruger, a dramatic amateur wildlife video that generated 43 million views after it was posted on YouTube, and hope to achieve the same results.

But this new marketing frontier is as full of danger for unwary brands as it is rife with opportunity. Social networking consumers are unforgiving, and a simple misstep can cause a massive backlash against a company that doesn't understand the space.

Here are a few of the most common mistakes that companies make when they move into the social networking space:

1. Trying to dictate the conversation

Most traditional marketers are used to feeling in charge of their brands. They are used to broadcasting a mass message to their customers and interacting with them in a controlled environment. So when a company sets up a Facebook profile or an online forum, they are often tempted to censor customer complaints and other negative comments.

This is a deadly mistake because it robs your communications of the authenticity that makes social networking so powerful. Customers are going to talk about your brand whether you like it or not, so it's better to engage with them in your own environment. The alternative is to sit back and watch as they share their negative experiences with your brand on their Facebook profiles or on HelloPeter.com.

2. Putting on a false front

Some of the most memorable campaigns to leverage social media have teased consumers by building up to a big reveal of whom and what is behind a social networking campaign. The amount of chatter generated by the Mrs. Balls Skirt Extension Project is one example of how well this approach can work.

But lying outright to consumers can backfire spectacularly, as Sony discovered in 2006 with its "flog" (fake blog), alliwantforxmasisapsp.com. Written in ersatz hip-hop and internet lingo, the blog was supposedly authored by an amateur hip-hop artist whose cousin wanted a PSP for Christmas.

It didn't take long for alert bloggers to trace the site back to viral marketing firm, Zipatoni, and thereby link it to Sony. A humiliated Sony was forced to apologise to angry consumers for the misstep.

3. Failing to prepare for the flood of customer communications

Once you have put your brand out there with a Facebook profile, blog or Twitter account, you should be ready to engage with customers that want to talk to you using these platforms. Someone needs to take responsibility for answering queries, addressing complaints and updating content.

South African companies are notoriously bad at responding to electronic communications such as email, but it reflects very poorly on a brand if its Facebook profile is filled with unanswered complaints and queries. It's better to shut down a social networking profile than to abandon it if the time and resources needed to keep it up to date don't seem justified.

4. Mistaking social networking for traditional advertising or corporate comms

You can't think of social networking as a form of advertising - it's actually closer to customer relationship management. You have a chance to listen and learn from your customers, provided you can get them to talk to you. Social networking is about forging connections, creating credibility and building relationships rather than hard-selling.

Inject some personality into your social networking presence so that it is inviting and engaging. Competitions and humour are great ways to invite customers into your world.

Don't be too dry and corporate in your approach, though you should always remain professional. Also remember that anything you post on a social networking environment will be there to haunt you forever.

5. Thinking that they'll come if you build it

So many big brands sign up for Twitter or establish a Facebook profile, and then sit back waiting for the comments and hits to start rolling in.

It doesn't work like that - you need to put some effort into marketing your social networking presences, and even more importantly, you need to give people a reason to want to engage with you.

Closing words

Social networking is ultimately about authenticity, transparency, and open communication. The most successful social networking campaigns have kept all of these factors in mind. But also remember that social networking can be wildly unpredictable - indeed, some of the biggest successes such as the Battle of the Kruger were entirely unintentional.

Social networking is a great way to supplement your other efforts to market to, and build relationships with, your customers. As influential as social media can be, one shouldn't regard it as the solution to all your marketing needs. The sixth mistake is to have unrealistic expectations about what it can do for your business.