You’re not ready for social media. Trust me, I can see it written all over your social media profiles.
You don’t feed a dog cat food nor do you give a car lighter fluid.
Right now that beast is starving. Feed the beast what it was born to eat.
But how, you may ask, am I killing my social media presence? Let’s find out.
How To Kill The Beast
Step 1: Pretend it doesn’t exist
I used to hear this all the time. Now, not so much but I still hear of it. I seriously want to know how many people understand that the blind leading the blind is a serious problem. Stop screwing around and open your eyes. The “blind naysayers” who trashed radio and television when it first gained traction in society do not exist anymore. The revolution of mainstream media wiped out every soul that stood against it. Why? Because it was far superior to the alternative, not to mention it was a simple idea that everyone understood.
Step 2: Create it, then leave
The other problem I see is the thousands of generic profiles all heaped up in the trash pile of these social media platforms. The only thing worse than buying a new puppy you were skeptical about is refusing to feed it. Daily. How many stories have you heard of some scumbag owner who was arrested because of animal cruelty? You fall in that same category my friend. If you don’t have the time or the resources to care for a living being, pass it on to someone who can.
“Just say ‘NO’ to social media cruelty.” Click To Tweet this.
Step 3: Treat it the same as everything else
Every dog owner, myself included, knows that a dog needs fresh water in its tank. It also needs a proper filtration system and approved materials so that it doesn’t poison the water by mistake. It needs enough room to swim freely in its tank and appropriate water temperatures according to its species.
Think I’m kidding around when I wrote that paragraph above? Yet I see this rampant proliferation of “sell, sell, sell” on many social media profiles I visit. You don’t care for a dog the way you care for a fish. You also don’t treat social media the same way you treat your radio/tv/print marketing.
If all you do is talk about yourself and push daily for just one sale, you know nothing about social media marketing. The customer has already made up his mind not to trust you with his money and has moved on to a competitor that does care.
“So what do I do? How do I fix this so that my customers know I care?”
First off, you need to get high quality material from people you trust. Here at Posse Social Media we host a weekly podcast on social media, write amazing articles geared towards social media literacy and run monthly webinars to keep people like you current on the latest social media trends.
Second, if you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. You need a professional with experience, someone with backing and someone who is respected in their industry. You need a company on your side who handles social media 24/7 and is respected by Fortune 500 clients. They have to have the chops to succeed and to give you the results you desire.
Finally, you need to know if you are ready for social media management. Companies, when they create their first social media profile expect the world to acknowledge them and to then start throwing money at them. Some pie in the sky thinking that is. We’re talking about reality and the real world.
In the real world, you need a plan. You have to know if you are at a stage you can grow from or starting from step one. Just as a business in the real world evaluates its position and crafts a proper business plan, businesses stepping into the social media realm need the same.
Lucky for you, we have just what you need. Your next step is to find out if you are ready for social media management. Click here for your social media management quiz.
After you take that quiz, please come back to this article and leave us a comment with your thoughts.