Along the way they flock to Twitter, get some Facebook time and highlight the pitfalls of jumping into 'the conversation' without knowing what to say, how to say it, or why you're saying it in the first place.

We all know how a good social media strategy can do wonders for your brand, yet there are still so many bad campaigns out there.  Companies’ and individuals’ use of social media sites can lead to serious repercussions.  From a company perspective doing it badly can give customers more outlets to voice criticism against your brand.

“To simply embark upon social media activity as a brand with no insight, guidance and strategy is extremely dangerous,” says Paul Fabretti, of Amaze Plc.

Dos and do not dos from Fabretti

Publishing – telling people all about you is simply using new social channels to push the same old message.
Selling – social media is about people. People do not want to be sold at, they want to be seen to be valued, listened-to and respected. Likewise, they want to be spoken to in a polite, respectful and interested way. An appropriate tone of voice is crucial.
Campaigns – imagine you have just met someone who seems really interested in what you do, you get on really well for a while, then suddenly they walk off with no explanation, never to be seen again. Take that behaviour online and multiply it by many thousands and you get the idea. Social media is about the long conversation – an ongoing engagement and building of relationships with online audiences.
Lying – hiding the truth is likely to get you in a heap of trouble. Honesty rules in the new social media landscape and you will get found out if you are not who you say you are or if you make false claims.
Lack of knowledge – there is an etiquette to using many social channels.  Understanding this etiquette is as important as understanding what functions a particular social channel has.
 
Despite apologising for their seriously misguided use of Twitter, Habitat UK’s posting of their special offers alongside the Iran elections hashtag remains a case study in how not to use the channel.  It was a complete misunderstanding of how to use social media and the brand received a huge backlash over their use of a sensitive and serious issue to mindlessly promote their products.
 
Twitter is still quite polarised, some companies dismiss it as a fad whereas others believe that everybody should be on there.  The reality, says Paul Smith, media director at Citypress, is somewhere in between:
 
“Cynics often cite that it is awash with trivia about users’ everyday lives. True, but so is the internet and our email. The key is learning to filter that out and make use of a cost effective marketing tool without neglecting other channels.

Think before you get on board

Phil Jones, head of sales and marketing at Brother UK, advises companies embarking on a SM strategy for the first time that their primary objectives should be: 

To decide and understand why you are signing up
To create an engaging persona
Know what you want to get out of it
Decide who your audience is and choose the appropriate platform
To use the appropriate site, as each targets a different audience
To stick to topics you know will engage your audience or clients
 
Facebook is the wrong way to go for corporate clients, it is best used visually, to publish images and videos, and create hype.  “Don’t try all things out at once, work with it and learn,” Jones advises.

Katie Moffat, independent PR consultant and Council member of Manchester Digital, remarks:  “There are countless examples of businesses, where, although it’s not a catastrophic disaster, it’s clear from looking at the account or blog that’s having no impact.  

“Small number of followers or comments, uninteresting content, failure to add any value; generally a big ‘so what’ factor.  The irony is that these companies will probably leave this experience thinking social media is a waste of time when in reality the reason they’ve not had success is because they’ve approached it as a box ticking exercise.  It isn’t.”
 

Brother's Jones

Many company representatives do not know how social media works until they get tutorials on it:  “You have got to be wary of rushing at it like Fool's Gold,” Jones adds.  “Some companies set up Facebook because their kids use it, without even thinking that it is completely the wrong platform for their business.”

This approach, along with starting up an account without understanding how it works, is worse than not tweeting at all. 

“What I see most is businesses ‘kicking own goals’ and overly promoting themselves.  Lots of companies only want ‘nice’ conversations and choose to ignore the negative ones.

“It sends out a very bad message about your company if you appear to have just jumped on ‘the sparkly red bus’ for the sake of it.”

An example of this happened last week: A PR company made a group of IT journalists very angry on Twitter, prompting a backlash against them. Despite reputation management being their job, the agency just let the rallying happen, making their business look pretty dire.  It is their job to manage journalists and have conversations with them, instead they chose to ignore the problem.

Beware of Twits

Similarly if you consider yourself a political spokesperson or fancy yourself a councillor or MP, and are using Twitter as a platform to raise your profile, then is it really a wise idea to send multiple tweets out about the X Factor or Katie Price?

Tweets should not be confused with Facebook status updates, the audiences are completely different and if you lump them together you risk losing them both.

James Crawford of Biss Lancaster

Now, time to get social

Twitter blurs the gap between opinion formers and opinion receivers and if you ignore feedback it can wreak havoc on your business.  From a marketing perspective, “Customers are no longer king, they are King Kong,” explains Jones.

“Social media is your way of listening, engaging, starting new conversations, hearing feedback and ultimately developing new relationships to foster into business at a later date. The only investment you need make is your time.”

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Comments (25)

4  By Jim Symcox , on 02-12-2009 13:05 Whenever I talk to people about social media you just know a large percentage see it as a way of ramming their sales message down the public throat. So when I do workshops I make sure I emphasis the relationship aspect of social media. Report

6  By Paul Fabretti , on 02-12-2009 15:45 Like the impartial observer, I too, have been influenced to make a purchase as a result of recommendations that others on the web have made.    This is no different at all to me speaking to someone offline and, having discussed a potential purchase, then made a decision with this person's opinion in mind.    Remember, this is all about allowing people to do online what they have been doing offline for donkey's years.    The tools may change, the locations may change, but this is simply word of mouth done in an online environment.    It's all about people, not technology. Report

8  By katie moffat , on 03-12-2009 14:52 Paul's spot on: forget the hype, word of mouth is real, always has been, always will be. Without exception, everyone wants to be treated well and like a human being. There are plenty of examples of businesses that have built their entire business model around good customer service = positive WOM = increased sales. Look at US retailer Zappos; their sale to Amazon for $928 proves this isn't a fluffy, pie-in-the-sky strategy. It works.    Oh and if I had a penny for every journalist/person that's laughed at the concept of twitter and then done a complete about face when they actually starting using it, I wouldn't be working in PR anymore that's for sure. Report

12  By Paul Fabretti , on 03-12-2009 17:44 A really good point PC. I'm a big believer in the thinking that customer service is the new marketing.    It's the age old point about companies spending more on recruiting new customers than keeping them. Report

14  By James Crawford , on 03-12-2009 23:15 Who said Social Media was anything to do with selling? The opposite is the case. Report

16  By James Crawford , on 04-12-2009 13:52 Good point, just to clarify, what I mean is that Twitter is not first and foremost a sales tool. It is a communications platform. Anyone who comes at it from the point of view of selling in the old sense of the word will become unstuck. Report

17  By katie moffat , on 06-12-2009 21:12 @Brian - http://twitter.zappos.com/ Report

22  By Simon Wharton , on 08-12-2009 14:51 Brian    It seems that you are determined not to see the opportunity here. This isnt flash in the pan stuff. The broad spectrum of online marketing is providing constantly improving results. I suspect that unless you deal with that cynicism, market forces will deal with it for you. Report