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Forum - What's your biggest barrier to social media marketing engagement?
What's your biggest barrier to social media marketing engagement?
Wed, 12/05/2010 - 11:59 — chrisstreet
Which of the following do you find the biggest barrier to social media marketing and engagement:
* Not enough time to engage
* Too many social media platforms
* Not sure what to write/post
I'm finding that many businesses tick all three of the above, but wondered how people on Marketing Donut felt about it.
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A lack of passion about their businesses is one of the major barriers perhaps. Without passion there's not enough time and people are not sure what to write about.
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I agree Evo - passion is the glue which holds together successful social media involvement. Sterile social content just stands out for what it is - and audiences soon pick up on this lack of passion.
Yeah Chris, all social media marketing are about connections but I was talking about social networking sites mostly which in my view is about connections but mostly with your friends and relatives who you don't have time to be with due to busi-ness these days ... anyways thanks for sharing your ideas ..
Hi Rajit
Many thanks for your inputs, much appreciated. I think connection is the main value derived, irrespective of whether it is friends, relatives, colleagues, clients etc.
I thing the social media marketing it gaining too much hype these days ... ppl are so into social media marketing that they have forgotten the main jist of social media platform i.e. to be connected ... nowadays whenever i get a friend request I have to think twice if he's a friend or some seller ....
Hi Rajit
Thank you for your comment, and it got me thinking - absolutely with you on the point about connection. However, isn't all social media marketing, ultimately, about connecting? I would say the hype is, in fact, simply growing connections online.
Great inputs Laura
Very true - better to be highly-visible and relevant on key platforms than invisible on them all!
There are so many social media out there now, that it's no wonder so many businesses are struggling to keep up. I attended The Internet Marketing Conference last week in Nottingham, and was struck by how many business owners felt overwhelmed and how many just didn't have the time to get involved.
Engagement cannot be achieved with a few sporadic tweets or a couple of Facebook posts - it takes time to build up relationships and cultivate that engagement in a way from which both parties can benefit.
Someone once said to me about social media marketing "You wouldn't attend a business networking event and start spamming me with sales messages, so don't do it online either". It's about getting involved in the conversation, listening to the other person and sharing with them content which is interesting, useful and, above all, relevant to them.
That said, I don't believe the marketing needs to be done in house, and, in line with some of the other threads in the forum, I think outsourcing can be advantageous if done well. For example, if you go to scrapyoursite dot com, you'll see a website scrappage scheme where you can get a website and marketing for 12 months.
If you don't have much time, I would say choose a couple of platforms and stick with those, but make sure those platforms are relevant to the target audience. Know your audience and engage with them.
Hi Simon and Nigel
Many thanks for your comments - much appreciated.
I think the research and development stages pre-engagement are crucial: too many are jumping on social media platforms without first establishing whether the platforms are the right mix for their products and services.
It's more effective, of course, to have a strong presence on a few key platforms, rather than a diluted profile on many. And monitoring is a less stressful task on key platforms - the monitoring and measurement of social media effectiveness plays a huge part in overviewing Campaigns. It's not just about being present.
Thanks again for your comments. Really useful and insightful.
Chris and Simon - knowing where your audience of current and prospective customers are talking about you or your business area on social media is crucial. As important is having a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Setting clear goals and targets will help you define what you should say, and where, and how often. And of course, your social media activities must run in parallel to, and be complimentary to, all your other marketing activities. Define all this, and your entry onto the stage of social media will be faster and simpler.
Hi Chris -
Social media is very much our thing here at the Marketing Donut and we're really happy to share our knowledge and encourage others to do the same. You've raised some critical questions there. I would say the answers could be:
* Make time to engage by blending social media into your more 'traditional' marketing activities. View it as being on a par with, say, direct mail.
* Do some market research before committing yourself to a particular platform and let what your existing and prospective customers do guide your choices. If they're NOT on Twitter, don't use it; if they ARE on LinkedIn, use that.
* Not sure what to write? Surely you must have something to say about your business, your industry, your products or the world in general? Just jump in. If you're getting desperate, invite people to ask you questions - respond to what they want to know. The keys, though, are to write in a way that is appropriate to the medium you've chosen, don't be offensive and don't use work channels to talk about personal matters.
Before you do any of this, though, work out whether you even need to be using social media. Not all businesses do (though they're becoming fewer by the day) and it's pointless wasting time on something that is ineffective.
Anyway, take a look at our extensive range of social media marketing guides and see what you can pick up. I'd love to know what other people think, too.
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