5 Reasons Why Social Media Doesn’t Work

by | Jun 8, 2011

Some people can come up with excuses for everything. Have you heard this before? I have and after asking a few questions of prospects or clients, it comes down to this:

  1. No corporate goals for how social should be integrated into the overall marketing plan – You wouldn’t initiate a PR or direct mail campaign without identifying a strategy, tactics and how it would integrate into the bigger picture.
  2. No one minding the store – They don’t have a go-to person who is responsible for the program. It doesn’t have to be a full time position (most don’t need to be), but it should be included in someone’s job description to make them accountable.
  3. Recyling content – Why would you go to the time and expense only to republish existing stuff? Remember, one of the objectives of social is to become a thought leader, not a recycle king.
  4. Building a community – You’re looking for a specific audience right? May be engineers, electricians, whatever. You need to dig a little to see where they are hanging out (forums, LinkedIn groups, etc.) and you need to start building your community. That’s the beauty of key words and phrases so you can look for like-minded people on Twitter for example.
  5. Social media isn’t free – Everyone thinks social is free. While it’s true outside start-up costs are minimal, there is human capital that needs to be spent. Realize this and make sure management knows the associated costs. One nice thing about social is it is relatively easy to measure activity.

Those are my thoughts on why social media doesn’t work. Are there other issues you’d like to add?

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