When Fantasy Meets Reality – Social Media Marketing Reality Check

There’s nothing more painful than when fantasy meets reality.

It’s time for a little “social media marketing rehab” where we break through the fantasies surrounding social media marketing and introduce “reality” into the hype that social media marketing is cheap and easy.

THE REALITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

The reality of any kind of marketing success is that it doesn’t happen overnight – it happens over TIME!!!  Typical blogs take YEARS to “mature”.  Not days – not weeks – not months – YEARS!!!!  Even when they reach maturity, many “mature” blogs don’t have a business to support.

I can tell you from a  recent “rooting” through a client’s email files that it doesn’t take a lot of visitors for a blog to be an EFFECTIVE marketing tool.  This client gets about 400 visitors a month to her blog – she had 3 client requests for more information in her email when I was asked to go in and help her straighten out a problem.

You don’t plant an apple seed on day and expect to harvest apples the next morning – yet many business owners expect to do just that through various forms of social media marketing.

With that said, social media marketing is ideal for those who:

• understand their customers GDP (Goals, Desires, Problems)
• are articulate in expressing how their business  helps customers to achieve goals, satisfy desires and solve problems
• are naturally social
• are technically savvy.

For those who possess the first three qualities in abundance and have time to spare- social media marketing can be surprisingly easy on the business checkbook.

If you’re only lacking in technical savvy – but have an abundance of the first three, that’s the easiest “shortcoming” of all to overcome.

The hardest obstacles to overcome in a successful social media marketing campaign are the first two elements.  The thing is, those two elements are essential in the promotion of ANY business – online or offline.

Social media marketing has “raised” the stakes in the whole “marketing” game.   See, when your “poorly executed” radio or television spot airs – it’s quickly forgotten.   Likewise, your “poorly executed” newspaper ad will quickly find its way to the bottom of a bird cage.  These “poorly executed” advertising attempts may be a waste of money – but chances are good that they won’t do lasting and permanent “harm” to your brand.  You can always “correct” a past mistake with a new campaign  and a new message.

On the other hand, social media marketing happens on the Internet and what happens on the Internet STAYS on the Internet – FOREVER!!!  The Internet isn’t secretive and private – like Vegas!

The Internet is VERY PUBLIC and it never forgets.

Unlike traditional advertising, your  “poorly executed” blog post can haunt you forever.  (With that said, Murphy’s Law teaches that the one blog post you wish you’d never written will end up with a great SERP on a prime keyword phrase!)

This is the “reality” of social media marketing.  However, the “fantasy” is quite different.

The fantasy is that a blog will bring you instant recognition and fame – that the more Twitter followers you have the more successful you’ll be – and that a Facebook or LinkedIn account qualify as a complete social media marketing campaign.

The fantasy is that this is all easy – effortless and provides quick results with almost no investment of time, energy or capital (money).

There really isn’t any “mystery” or “magic” behind social media marketing and it’s not hard to understand the REALITY the governs the actual MECHANICS at work behind social media marketing.

Marketing is communication!!!!!

Marketing has always been the communication between your business and potential customers.  Social media marketing gives your customers and prospective customers a voice  – and that changes the one way communication into a conversation.

Advertising is the distribution of the marketing messages over which YOU have COMPLETE control.  While there has always been other communication going on when it comes to your business – communication which you had no control – those communications didn’t have the potential of taking “center stage”.

Social Media means that conversations between customers and potential customers can now take center stage – especially if you’ve done nothing to put YOUR CAREFULLY PLANNED BUSINESS MARKETING MESSAGE CENTER STAGE!!!

Social media marketing has taken the casual communication between your current customers and your potential customers and moved them online. Those conversations are now being recorded, indexed and may be the first thing someone sees when they search for you or your business.

THAT my friend is what all the fuss is about when it comes to social media marketing.

Suddenly – the conversation about a business isn’t limited to JUST what the owner or employees have to say… thanks to social media – suddenly, the customers can jump in and have a voice in the marketing message as well.

If you’re a business owner and you’re not actively participating in social media – then it won’t be long before your customers and clients will be creating your social media marketing message for you.

This could be good news if it weren’t for human nature.  I suspect that it’s every business owner’s secret fantasy that a social media savvy customer would be so thrilled with a product or service that he would take it upon himself to actively proclaim the superiority of XZY’s company on an ongoing basis.  Day and after, week after week, he would blog about how WONDERFUL XZY is and would use his PR 5 blog to sing XZY’s praises.

It would be like having Oprah gush about your product during her show – instant business boost!

Ah – but that’s  a fantasy and there is nothing quite as painful as when fantasy meets reality.

In the real world, people expect good service.  People EXPECT products to do what they say they will do and they rarely “gush” when a product or service meets expectations.  In the real world, most people get motivated to action by the pain of fantasy crashing into reality.    That’s why a satisfied customer will tell – on average- three other people while a dissatisfied customer will tell 16.

That business maxim is why it’s a REALLY bad idea to allow your customers to define your social media marketing for you.

The reality is that the customers who are MOST motivated to engage in spreading the word about you are more than likely not your brand’s biggest fans.

See the Cash4Gold social media meltdown post for a chilling example of what happens when your social media marketing is left up to your customers.

There’s a lot of fear out there amongst business owners who are not actively involved in managing their online reputations – with good reason!

If you’re worried about transparency, then social media marketing will require a lot more than just setting up a blog and blogging consistently.

Sometimes, the marketing message need to be “managed”.   When that’s the case, social media marketing is neither “cheap” nor “easy”.

Damn – it’s painful when fantasy meets reality.

The stakes are definitely higher when it comes to marketing online – simply because the internet NEVER forgets.

It is ironic that social media marketing is where it’s easiest to make mistakes – yet it is precisely where those mistakes may have the longest life and have the greatest impact.

PS~

Just found Penelope Trunk’s post: Reality check: You’re not going to make money from your blog.. for anyone who is still harboring the fantasy that your blog can be your job instead of your marketing tool!

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