Two of the biggest hidden pitfalls in social media engagement are: Blind, token acceptance and a lack of analysis.
Blind, Token Acceptance
This is what usually happens: Your average Internet entrepreneur buys a guide to social media and business. They attempt to follow the recommendations, but because these recommendations are largely re-hashed, without presenting the psychology behind the recommendations, the new habits don’t “stick.” We discussed how to create new habits last week in the blog post Social Media Procrastination.
What does stick seems to be a half-hearted conviction that social media interaction is necessary. In an attempt to follow a prescribed path, all natural flow quickly gets tossed out with the bath-water: What the average Internet entrepreneur ends up doing is tweeting or posting either infrequently or inconsistently . . . or bombarding the social media platform with spammy post after post about other people’s links.
Lack of Analysis
The second biggest hidden pitfall involves lack of analysis. Understanding yourself, your preferences and habits is the single most crucial factor in social media success.
You need to identify:
- Your communication likes . . . and dislikes
- Which social network feels the most comfortable
- Your fears about social networking
- Your current popularity level
- What you want to achieve
- How it will fit in with your overall business plan
- Your personality type
This last point is especially important. It will tip you off ahead of time to potential pitfalls.
For example, if you are a Social type, you may find your particular pitfall becomes spending too much time on social networks. If you are an escapist and procrastinator, you may find yourself quickly becoming addicted to games. (When you consider that most social networking games are set up to keep you playing longer and longer, the danger becomes even greater.)
Both types of addiction result in decreased productivity.
There are other types of dangers to consider: For example, if you are the needy type who networks for feedback and approval, you may find yourself sharing personal details that detract from your business image. (Go to blog post Social Media for Business to refresh your memory about how personality traits determine the type of social networker you are, as well as determine what type of social networker your clients and customers are.)
Creating a plan and then diligently sticking to it is the best way to guard against these types of problems.
TIP: Say your goals out loud before every social networking session. Try to phrase them in a positive light, rather than focusing on what you don’t want in your life right now. We will go more into details about how to focus on the positive in our upcoming webinar.
Precautions to take:
- Be selective
- Don’t fall into the trap of “friending” or “following” someone just because you know them elsewhere online
- Don’t fall into the trap of “friending” or “following” someone just because they ask you to
- Do be aware that stalkers hang out on social media
- Never, ever post article links because you have nothing else to say: Post them because you know it’s something your followers will find value in.
We will cover 10 mistakes not to make in social networking during our upcoming webinar.
Have you ever fallen into one of these social media pitfalls? Leave us a comment below. We would love to hear from you. Come back next week when conclude our first topic, Introduction to Social Media, in a series of five (5) topics. We will wrap it up with a discussion on your ideal client or customer.
As promised, we would let you know when our first webinar in this series will be held. The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm MST, and it is fr^ee. You can register by going here. Hurry seating is limited!
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services
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