Pitfalls of Social Media

March 23, 2018

If you don’t use social media, you’re a societal pariah. And in sales, to look current and to capture every potential opportunity, social media is a must.

But like anything, sometimes it works better than others. So, what are the pitfalls?

Potential drawbacks are lack of self-discipline to keep on task, hits to your self-esteem and ignoring more important and productive tasks. At the least, define and limit time online, eliminate as many distractions as you can (i.e. pop-ups) and focus on your goals, celebrate your wins to build up confidence, keep them at the forefront every day and make sure you’re spending an appropriate amount of time on each important task whether online or not.

Be sure what you’re doing online is part of your overall marketing strategy and set goals accordingly. If you’re not reaching them, you may want to go change up your technique.

There’s a whole world out there full of prospects and some of those customers-to-be are younger people opting out of social media.

Being online impacts self-worth – you see others posting successes and think you must spend more time, not less, on social media. We see everything we don’t have and aren’t grateful for what we do have, whether it’s a sales win or the latest product.

Social media is a soapbox for anyone anytime. But sometimes, our fingers fly before our brains catch up. Words matter and online forums give people an legitimacy for worldviews, but the anonymous nature puts a gulf between writer and reader. Be careful what you post.

Discipline is key. If you don’t have a strategy before you step into the social media world, you forget why you’re there.

Public networks make it easier to post a message and send to every contact, but when is the last time you’ve had a meaningful conversation online or offline for that matter? We’re talking in sound bites instead of having real two-way communication.

And in the heat of a moment, have you posted something you regret? Words matter and printed words are believed more than what we say verbally. Think before you post.

You don’t need to be every place at once. Choose carefully which sites you visit and post on by keeping your goals in mind.

If you’re posting, you need to answer each question or comment, but you may spread yourself too thin. Ignoring posts is a slap in the face. We all like attention, so stay consistent. Consistently answer posts. Take a note from celebrity tweeters – ask an intern to post and answer for you but supervise to make sure the interns words are approved.

If you’re posting your products on social networking sites to “friends,” they’ll abandon you quickly. Sales is a conversation, a discovery process. Explore your relationships with prospects and find out what they need before selling to them.

Take time to measure results. You may be surprised at the ROI – you may not be getting a return for all your online presence and can change direction and look at alternatives.

Google Analytics are a great place to start, but use whatever tool you’re comfortable with. From circlestudio.com are 5 recommended tools for social media management and measurement.