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Stop Wasting Your Time With Social Media

Guest post by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: If you have no precise marketing strategy, or even a simple set of marketing goals, social media participation will only serve as a glorious way to highlight that your business is precisely like every other business that says they do what you do. (That’s a nice way of saying you are doomed to compete on price.)

Stop Wasting Your Time With Social Media

If you have no precise marketing strategy, or even a simple set of marketing goals, social media participation will only serve as a glorious way to highlight that your business is precisely like every other business that says they do what you do. (That's a nice way of saying you are doomed to compete on price.) In short, without a plan, one that's steeped in your overall marketing strategy, any tactical form of marketing, including creating a Facebook Group, will be a waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I think social media is a killer small business platform, but without a marketing strategy it won't prove any more effective than anything else you've tried.

Marketers and entrepreneurs have always been easy prey for the "idea of the week." Looking for the next big thing, they jump, sometimes before they finish or implement that last big thing, willingly onto whatever catches their attention today. With the onslaught of change brought by social media, the next big thing is coming in waves, making the "idea of day" the new affliction.

Lack of a marketing strategy or point of differentiation has always been a problem for small business, it's just that it's easier to overcome if you can build trust by meeting someone face to face.

In the search-powered, information overload, social media world we now live in, a marketing strategy is no more or less important than it ever was, it's just more apparent when you lack one. Marketing fundamentals don't really change, only the platforms and tactics have new names.

Strategy before tactics looks like this

1) Clearly define who makes an ideal customer for your business - there are lots of ways to say this - who do you want to work with, who are you most equipped to get a result for, what kind of problem does an ideal customer need to display to prove you can help them, what behaviors, attitudes, fears and needs are you most ready to address?

2) Clearly communicate in very simple terms so way that you, your product, your service, your experience, your packaging, your guarantee, your people, your process is different in a way that really is different (good customer service is not it) in a way that matters to your ideal customer.

3) Boil this difference down into a word or two, like fast, practical, fun, whimsical, or posh and make certain that every tactic, every communication, every tweet conveys that word. If you can't do this, even if you have to change everything about your current business to do so, don't expect to generate much momentum on or offline.

I know conversation's surrounding marketing strategy aren't as sexy as talking about the next twitter advancement, but this is the harsh reality that is marketing - social or not!

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Article Tags: affliction, attitudes, business platform, coming in waves, customer need, differentiation, easy prey, fears, marketers, marketing fundamentals, marketing goals, marketing strategy, onslaught, participation, platforms, small business, time don, waste of time, wasting your time



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts - Hi Shri, Thanks for posting this. I also read it and I believe Social Media is here to stay, until the next best thing comes up. Social media proved to be useful for me many times and I think everyone should use it for their business.
Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance - [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl] I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it. There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input. As for Jennifer, You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook. The only way to know is to try it.


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