Social media marketing…why isn’t it working for you?

I consult a lot. I am blessed to have a thriving consulting/speaking business. But during the course of working and helping companies and entrepreneurs with their social media strategic planning as well as home business, I have found that there are 7 Reasons why social media is not working for a  lot of people, and you may be one of them.

They are not in any particular order, but here are 7 Reasons why that social media may not be working for you like it should be in your marketing efforts.

1) No Target to Shoot For.

Many folks have not target or goal that they are looking to hit. That is crazy. You need to have a set target and defined destination that you are looking to go.

It may be as simple as finding 2 new leads a day or expanding your communication with your clients like Southwest Airlines has done. But whatever it is, WRITE DOWN the target and then start moving towards the
bull eye.

2) Expecting Miracles when a Message would do.

It is about your Message, not Miracles. I am a HUGE believer in Miracles, but in social media, it takes time for the Blueprint you have to take effect.

Miracles in 72 hours? Not gonna happen. But a strong message in 72 Minutes?

THAT is doable and a great start to a turn around miracle.

3) Connecting- but Lack of Personal Connection.

Connection in social media is important. But PERSONAL CONNECTION is IMPERATIVE. You must create that Connection that moves past the surface and create conversations that start to build a Trust bridge.

That will do more for your follower count and friends than just about anything.

4) Providing Constant Volume but not Consistent Value.

Your messages, notes, posts, tweets, videos, and podcasts need to be Constant and regularly distributed, but without Consistent Value-people will quit reading them. I have not posted in over a week. Why? I could
not provide the quality of content that I feel I must send out as I was so busy speaking and consulting. so I refused to lower the standards set – even if I had a little time to send out something just to send it out.

It is the same with you. EVEN-if you send out maintenance or utility posts, make sure they carry the Value to the prospect or reader-that will be appreciated and forwarded- not deleted and forgotten.

5) Trying to be Too many Places with Too Little Time.

Pick a social site and build there. My focus has always been pick 5 sites and stay there. Automate everything else. You have ping.fm, and hellotxt.com, and other broadcast sites. Pick one of them, and then you can be on 75 sites or more daily.

But do it SMART.

Automate the sites with your messages and posts that you are not building relationships currently on, and build the relationships on the other social sites you are.

Some people do not like broadcast social sites, but if you are a marketer, you better use them if you are going to create results over time.

6) Trying to be SEEN when You should be Helping Others to be Known.

You need to be a promoter on social sites. A promoter of great material, and great value. I sent out over 10 links today of things that rocked. Most of the folks I did not personally know who they were, but knew others could benefit. What about you? Do you run across things that really impact you? Let others know about it.

Become a Power Promoter and promote others and not just yourself. It works better that way. If you let others know about great Value and Content of others, you will be SEEN, HEARD, and KNOWN quickly.

Trust me. It works.

7) Ambushing the Conversation instead of Amplifying the Connection.

Happened today. Someone connected with me about something I sent out, and the next thing I knew, I was being pitched a financial deal that I was shaking my head on. They were relentless, and after I politely cut them off, they said to me, “I knew this social media stuff was a bunch of hooey. It does not work and people are full of it if they think it does.”

Au contraire.

It DOES work as long as you do not hijack and ambush the conversation with what YOU can GET- and instead focus on what you can GIVE to folks that will help them.

If you do that, what you have to offer they will embrace.

We have been blessed to build a 6 Figure revenue stream on Facebook alone- not counting anything else–totally under the radar –quietly–and without hype or ambushing anyone.

You can too- if you do not make these 7 mistakes that a lot of people are in their social media marketing business.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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