No one likes being pitched to all the time? How do you feel about telemarketers calling to sell you a new service? What about your neighbor who talks about how great he is all the time?  If you are like most people, you are turned off by these behaviours.  The same is true for social media!

• Friends, Connections and Followers are People Too!

Value their time just as you value yours. Just because they are on Twitter does not mean they are right for your target market or that you are for them.  You will have much greater success connecting with like minded people.
If someone adds you to their network, check them out. Is there a relevant reason they may be interested in you and your business? Check out their profile.  Many people have a rule that they do not follow anyone who doesn’t include a photo in their profile.  Over time, you’ll have to set some boundaries about who you follow and who you let follow you.  These boundaries will allow you to form greater, more meaningful connections with those you want to do business with.
For instance, if your business is centered around creating products that help parents keep their kids away from non-kid friendly sites online, then you obviously don’t want to be talking with (or associated with for that matter) someone who owns an adult-only website. Yes, that’s a bit extreme, but you get the point. You really should pay attention to (or hire someone who can monitor) who follows you and who you follow in return.

• Social Media is about connections NOT sales.

One of the surest ways, short of posting completely inappropriate content, to lose all credibility is to use your social media for selling yourself and your services exclusively.  No one wants to be chased at a store by a sales clerk any more than they want to follow someone who is constantly selling something.  It is okay to tell people about your products and services but this has to be a part of your interaction, not your only interaction.

• Having unrealistic expectations

Please don’t expect that you are going to create a new account, start posting great content and immediately see your sales and traffic increase.  It will happen, but it takes some time and effort. One of the amazing things about social media is that your efforts are multiplied over and over when people who you are connecting with share your content.  Social media is very powerful and can and will benefit your business, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will a list of thousands of followers all ready to purchase from you. Based on my experience with more than 50 clients, you can expect to take 3 to 6 months to build a presence which you can then use to build your business.

• Letting your social media involvement become a time drain

It is easy to lose track of time with your social media networks and unless you keep on task, it can become a time waster.  You need to learn how to make it work efficiently; read about how to do this here.
There is no right or wrong way to work social media into your schedule, but it is essential to find a system that works for you.  Be aware of your time and make plans on how and when to use social media to help market your business.

Hopefully these 4 tips will help you stay on track with your social media marketing.  Feel free to ask us how we can help on our facebook page, or simply post a comment here – We’d love to hear some of your tips and pitfalls to avoid.

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