We have a Twitter account. Now what? #fail

May 13, 2011 | Posted by Craig LePan

The most difficult thing about selling clients on integrating social media into their marketing is tearing down the misconceptions of what they think social media is in the first place.

Here are three categories that many clients out there fall into:

1. They believe that Social Media can work, just not in their industry. This group has some exposure to Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook and has heard about some of the success stories companies have had using these tools. The key thought that this group is missing is that 'Social Media' is not the strategy, it's the medium. Like with any marketing campaign your goal needs to be established, your objectives set out, and tactics put in place. Starting question is: What is the overall goal?
2. 'We want to do Social Media! Please put the links on our site.' You can explain to this client that there is actually a lot more to it then just putting the icons in the top corner, but their minds are made up. "We'll handle the management of all of that in-house". Months later the twitter account has 3 tweets that date back to the site launch, 1 news item update and a stale blog entry. They will then tell you that the social media just isn't working for them.
3. They're hesitant to dedicate the recommended % of media spend. This is understandable. Your client may be a marketing manager or a small business owner (ie. worried about spending their own money, or worried about covering their own ass). Dedicating a large percentage of the spend to a relatively unpaved/unproven path is somewhat unsettling. The other thing that is hard to comprehend is how much work is actually involved in making it a success. The fact that you're able to deliver measurable results is usually the component that tips the scales.

If you're a client, are you fitting into one of these groups? If you're in the industry, what other categories are you running into? Talk to me.