Common excuses for crappy social media marketing

So, you’re having a ‘conversation’ with fans on your online platforms—great! But if you’re not turning that into actual business transactions, you’re missing the point.

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I really want to slap them in the forehead and ask why they’re even doing it, then. Pull the plug. Stop wasting resources on it.

Marketing is supposed to influence consumer behavior, but what happens when marketing becomes a two-way conversation and the people who are in direct contact with consumers are not thinking like salespeople? The conversation keeps going, and nobody buys anything. That’s a lot of fun, but it won’t keep the business in business, which is an important part of business.

There are a million things we do every day that make us feel like we’ve worked hard and accomplished something. Social media is one of them. Today your social media team connected with lots of people, and you drove conversation and awareness. People commented and you commented back, and all this activity can be measured, even.

What about those sales? Did anything get sold? That’s when the excuses start to fly.

1. But social media is only about raising awareness—you know, like billboards.

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