socialmedian: The Big Social Media Marketing Mistake

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Submitted by Courane01 from Google Reader

May 13, 2009

Summary

Most business owners are interested in the marketing benefits of using social media but become quickly confused because they are trying to build friends, create fan pages, set up Twitter accounts, set up LinkedIn profiles, etc. Are you beginning to see the mistake here?

The business owner (interested in marketing) has begun a social media networking initiative and NOT a social media marketing initiative… They have been confused and have set down the wrong path from the start!

One of the biggest mistakes that Internet marketers make is believing that they can launch a social media marketing initiative inside of social media networking environments (like Facebbook, Twitter, etc.)

Social media marketing and social media networking are two VERY different initiatives. If you try to do one inside the other you are bound for disaster. Much like mixing baking soda and vinegar together with explosive results.

There is a clear and distinct order in which you engage social media for business benefit. If you try the networking bit before the marketing bit then you are not op

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Comments (15)

Sheridd,

May 13, 2009

Thank you for a clear understanding between the 2 marketing strategies. I am now a synnd user and believer. Thank you so much! Sheri

Sydney43,

May 14, 2009

Well done post. You are so right about social media and how overwhelming it can be. Sometimes I think about the Tazmanian devil in the famous cartoon ... spinning at top speed in all directions, accomplishing very little, simply because I don't have any overall strategy and am trying to do everything at once.

Money24seven,

May 14, 2009

Of course, the marketing campaign may be wildly successful even if the rate at which things are spread isn't of epidemic proportions, if this user-to-user sharing is sustained by other forms of marketing communications, such as public relations or advertising.

Freeatlastjulie,

May 14, 2009

Perfect information that everyone out there on the net needs, thank you for sharing.

Nat014,

May 14, 2009

What a great article. It makes sense and I agree with it ... seems that I was doing it the wrong way. Hard to change habits. It feels like you are forgetting to do something but you are not. Have been trying these new techniques over last few days and it does work. First build your social media marketing, then build your social network.
Nat014
http://www.emarketinghubs.com

Rmoore,

May 15, 2009

Man...it feels like a huge weight off my chest! I thought I was slacking by not spending more time on the social sites. Now I understand that I connect with those who have showed interest in my site through the syndication of the content. Very cool.

Frank Larrabeee,

May 16, 2009

This gives one the areas to focus on and work at. Your results will be in how your syndicated content is viewed and shared, good news.

Jolly Jim,

May 18, 2009

I totally agree with your observation about wasting time if I put networking before marketing. If you add that to the time it takes to get comfortable with each of the social networking sites...and, before I know it, the day is gone.

Thanks for the critical insight.

Davesaunders,

May 20, 2009

Great insight. Far too often marketers seem to blur the lines between different promotional tools and just blast their links everywhere. Such billboarding rarely has the desired effect.

Hobbz,

May 20, 2009

This is indeed some super quality advice on contemporary marketing strategies. There are so many "gurus" out there trying to convince you that you absolutely need to be on twitter, facebook and all the others - literally hundreds - of social sites out there.

As this article points out, that is a humongous waste of time.

Greggthorpe,

May 20, 2009

Great article, short to the point with clear instructions. Not only that, the results in visibility and traffic are as good as stated.

Stephen Bolin,

May 27, 2009

It's funny, in the last 2 days I have started to "un-follow" people on Twitter who are constantly blasting me with one offer after another. As this article points out, this kind of action produces "explosive" negative results.

What is interesting to me is if I follow what this article teaches, I'll have very little competition. And what is a big bonus, the time it takes to "do it right" is very possibly much less than the time it takes to do it wrong.

Ryanenglish,

May 27, 2009

This is a very good article especially for those who are thinking of making use of the internet for their businesses. It pays to do the right moves so that your business can be successful. It's no joke putting up a business, and every business needs profit. So I agree that we should work on our prospects, not work to have prospects. If we follow the things that the author has to say, we're pretty sure are going the right way.

Renegadeaussie,

May 28, 2009

This is a great article Charles. I really love the point about network with prospects rather than networking to get prospects. After all if you put out entertaining, enlightening, or educational content prospects will find their way back to our site where we can network till our heart's content.