Social Media Marketing - The Top 10 Mistakes People Will Make in Social Media in 2009

Here we go again! Another year and another great possibility! With the election of Obama to the presidency, there is Hope and all are looking for a great future.

But I am sitting here thinking of all the folks in social Media that are going to be frustrated again in their social Media marketing efforts. wondering why they are not getting the traction or friends that they thought they should. And the main reason is that they continue to make the same mistakes in Social Media as last year.

Are YOU going to do that- I sure hope not. You may not have the power of a Robert Scoble, or the personality of a Gary Vanyerchuck, or the mind of a Chris Brogan, or the networking focus of a Mari Smith or Coach Deb Micek. Or even the amazing writing talent of a Scott Monty.

At least not yet.

But you CAN accelerate your Social Media Success this year by avoiding these top 10 mistakes made by people in Social media in 2009.

Ok...what are they?

1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.

You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, without CONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson. Or Timothy Carter. NOT going to happen. That is why that you MUST create a Presence on the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it's efforts. It is the same with your Social Media marketing.

2) Focusing too much on being heard.

LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.

Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start the conversation will come.

3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.

Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value. Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give New Possibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will be shunned and labeled as such.

If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?

GIVE = Gain Influence Very Easily. Give FIRST - and you will never come in Second.

4) Not Joining groups.

Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to a ton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons: 1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) I CONNECT with the folks in the group.

Groups are a "secret weapon" that you should use on as many social sites as you can. They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.

5) Not attending Events.

Events ROCK. And you should be attending at least 1 event a week to do 2 things: 1) Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.

Events are what i call the "Hidden University" of social Media. You can learn a LOT and grow a lot from events.

Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And see if you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every event that i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do the same.

6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.

Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call "Surprising Value." This is the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person that discovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Put more Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value in your Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Media table.

Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.

7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.

There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. You need 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondary sites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of- is up to you. My 'Big 73 are Facebook, Twitter, youTube, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, and WordPress - along with mashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.

Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more' but have automated those through ping.fm and other social software.

Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same with MySpace, or Friendster. Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR "Big 7." And then automate the rest.

8) Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.

Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. But focusing too much on that in social media- is , well...not cool. People do not mind knowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE first with it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your product.

What do I see daily? URLs and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wish that would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great content rich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.

Hmmm....that just might be an idea worth considering.

9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.

Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes. Ask Brian Solis. Ask Dave Taylor. Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value and Connection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan once had 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone. Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So did Monty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.

There is GREATNESS inside of you-and there is NO BETTER place than Social Media to unleash it upon the world. You ARE Somebody- and always have been. YOU are a Social Media Rockstar- in training!

10) Not Branding Yourself Strong Enough.

Branding is a tool that we all use in Social Media. It is WHO YOU ARE- and what people remember about you. It could be a phrase-"Just Do It (TM)"- or a slogan- ""We've Got You Covered." Or even a questions- "Can You Hear me Now?" or just a Name-"Trump."

You need to get a slogan or phrase that you can start wrapping in your messages. You need to get an image that speaks what you want the public to see and know. And you need to decide -what is the ONE THING I want people to think of FIRST- when they think of me and my company? THAT is the start of a good brand build. Do not be just another face in the web 2.0 world. Set yourself apart and above the fray with a brand that rocks. We teach what is called "Connection Branding" and we have saying:

"Do NOT just be known or remembered- become UNFORGETTABLE." "

THAT is what you need to do!

These are the top 10 mistakes people will make in Social Media in 2009. Yes, i Know there are others- but these are the ones that i see as the most prevalent in Social Media marketing.

blessings..doug firebaugh

Doug Firebaugh is one of the Top Social Media strategists, MLM, Network Marketing Home Business Trainers, Speakers and Authors in the world. Over a Million people a month read his training letter.He has helped over 10,000 people worldwide earn in excess of 50,000 a year. He wants to help you do the same. You can subscribe to his FR-ee training letter -which includes 3 FR-ee gifts just for subscribing at http://www.passionfire.com

In Social Media Mistakes Will Happen - Plan For It

Mistakes. They happen. They are going to happen. The best you can hope for is to avoid them as much as possible and minimize their damage. Mistakes. They are what make us human. In social media, mistakes are going to happen. There will be miscommunication, misunderstanding, and failure to recognize opportunities. Should this be the end of the world for your business? No, and it should not be the end of your business's foray into social media either.

The best way to minimize mistakes is to plan. The best way to minimize the damage from the mistakes is to learn from them. The best way to move forward is to recognize that mistakes can have hidden golden opportunities. The only way to do that is to have a plan.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting - Buddha

Social Media Plan

Each interaction in social media needs to be coordinated against a larger plan. This plan is your business' overall approach to how you are going to use social media. This plan will be adjusted as new initiatives and opportunities to arise. Your social media plan should have the following components:

Determine who is responsible for initiating, monitoring, and engaging in social media.
Determine the goal of each message.
Develop a decision-making model for conversations.
Develop metrics to be measured for success/failure.
Develop time frames for each initiative, conversation, and response.

These components will have to fit with the platform you have chosen as your social media platform. That will have a determination on how important each component is. Planning should involve all the key actors for your business. This should include the decision makers all the way down to the communicators that will be implementing your social media plan. This will help your team understand their roles, understand the decision-making model being used, and have the important buy-in by all parties involved. During the planning sessions role-playing should be used to extrapolate the diversity and breadth of potential conversations that can be had. This time can be used to discover where mistakes can be made; test assumptions of your social media plan and help create confidence in the use of the platform you have chosen. Role-playing will help your team be able to identify weaknesses and opportunities when they arise.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. - Benjamin Franklin

Recognizing Mistakes

What social media planning helps your company do is be prepared for when mistakes happen. They are going to happen. It is in those mistakes that serendipity typically reigns and only well prepared companies are able to turn them into opportunities. Without planning and practice - through role-playing - your company will not even know when a mistake has been made and how to respond to it. Take for example when Kevin Smith, the director, was asked to get off of a Southwest Airlines flight due to his size. He got off and tweeted it immediately. This could have caused a huge firestorm for Southwest Airlines if it did not have a social media plan in place. Since Southwest did have a plan in place it was able to respond quickly and get all the facts out. The result was a healthy conversation about the policies of Southwest and questioned motives of Mr. Smith. The final verdict was left to those witnesses this social engagement and the potential for a bad public relations day was avoided.

The mistake was on both parties. For Southwest, it should not have allowed Mr. Smith to take the earlier flight (it was packed) because of his size and their policy of charging larger passengers for two seats. The flight he was on did not have enough. For Mr. Smith, tweeting about this incident near the release of a new film of his made it look like it was self-serving to get free publicity. The result was healthy education through social media engagement on the policies of Southwest and the steps they took to accommodate Mr. Smith. Both got exposure and both got their side of the incident out. Without planning, the mistake by Southwest would not have been able to be forward leaning to have a conversation about its policies online. It would have had to approach everything in a reactive and defensive mode. Southwest would not have been able to be part of the conversation. Southwest would not have been prepared to respond.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way. - Dale Carnegie

Accepting Responsibility

Having a social media plan helps your business take responsibility when there is a mistake. In a hyper-litigious society most companies never really say sorry and take responsibility. The British Petroleum accident in the Gulf of Mexico has a sideshow of finger pointing as part of its narrative. While there are about 35,000 barrels (roughly 350,000 gallons or 1,400,000 liters) of oil a day spilling into the waters. The CEO of BP even made matters worse by complaining on his Facebook page. Talk about not having a social media plan and making a mistake worse!

Social media - which allows for companies to have a direct conversation with customers while others watch - allows for companies to take responsibility. A perfect example is in Chicago. The Dominos Pizza franchise of Chicago uses social media to promote specials, engage with its customers, and to own up to mistakes. In one instance one of the stores made a mistake with an order. In response to a complaint that was tweeted, the store manager and the employee that made the mistake owned up to it. Instead of ducking behind policies, procedures, or even finger pointing this Dominos franchise said sorry. They did it by posting a video and engaging the customer directly while others watched. The result: accolades and increased business.

This could not have happened without a social media plan. Roles are assigned, conversation is thought out and dynamic, and individuals engage with other individuals in sincere conversation. The social media plan of the Chicago Dominos franchise is focused and involved. Through their social media plan they are a part of the conversation and a part of the community. A local business taking advantage of a free platform to stay engaged.

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes. - John Wooden

Mistakes Help You Learn

Mistakes. They are going to happen. As you start your social media engagement or you are already in one and your reassessing it, you will make mistakes. It is through those mistakes that you will learn and grow. Some may be costly and while I will not say that it is okay, how you rebound from it can be the biggest boon to your business.

If you are watching the World Cup then you may have heard about one of the largest mistakes made on the world stage by Robert Green, England's Goalkeeper. It was a simple mistake that allowed the United States to tie the match. Mistakes in such a high-pressure event - especially at a key position - have repercussions for the team and the player involved. Everyone watched as the mistake was made and now they are watching to see how Robert Green rebounds.

He and his team have learned a lot from that mistake. He will be more aggressive to get behind the ball. The team will clamp down to stop outside shots like Clint Dempsey's. Other teams are telling their keepers not to pull "a Green." So it will be when you make a mistake in social media. Others will learn from your mistake and you will learn as well. You cannot react and find the opportunities in our mistake if you do not have a social media plan.

How do you plan for your social media use?

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a business coaching and consultancy provider for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. He has fifteen years experience working within the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, natural resources, medical devices, software, technology, business services, and agriculture industries in various levels of leadership across six continents. He has led diverse teams in sales, marketing, planning, and in the Army. He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at vongehrconsulting.com or call 1 203 433 8079 and receive a free hour of business coaching.