The Good and the Bad of Social Marketing

Every marketer, business owner, entrepreneurs, and their mothers rave about the power of social marketing. There is absolutely no denying the fact that social media has radically changed the marketing scene.

However, just about anything and everything, it also has its own disadvantages. Yes, social marketing has its dangers, cons, bad side. I usually do not like discussing negative topics but I understand the importance of educating one's self with the negative side of social marketing so that precautionary measures can be taken or avoided all together. It is important to keep in mind that just as social media can make your business online, it can also break it.

The Good
1. Free Lead Generation
We already know that social media rocks when it comes to generating leads for your business. And not only that, it's free and you can do it while you're doing what you would already normally do in social networks.

2. Speed Marketing
Because of the viral nature of social media, you can build your brand online faster than what it will normally take you on any other online means.

3. Increased Online Visibility
This is especially true if you're not just focused on one social network. Some individuals prefer using others. For example, there are professionals that might have Facebook account but not do necessarily use it for business purposes but you will find them in LinkedIn. While there are others that only use Faceboook and not LinkedIn or Twitter. The key is to be visible in different networks for a larger reach.

4. More Targeted Audience
Social networks provided different features that allow you to find your market. Getting yourself familiar with the different areas that

5. Great Opportunities
Your social connections can bring in opportunities for you or your business that you may never have thought possible.

6. Search Engine Benefits
We all know that in social and internet marketing, content is king. Your good content is what goes viral. The links to your content create a significance in your search engine optimization efforts. Quality link backs basically send signals to search engines that your site is "popular" thus giving it more weight in search results for the relevant keywords.

The Bad

1. Time-Consuming
Social marketing is almost a do-it-yourself strategy. I say almost because some areas may still require you to hire a technical expert such as perhaps getting your blog branded. The negative side is that it requires a lot of your time. There are so many social network sites to be involved, interactions to make, relationships to build, tasks to get done, content to write…almost on a daily basis. Realistically, this isn't really what you need to do in a day. There are also other personal and business activities that are waiting for your attention.

2. Overwhelming
For a beginning social marketer, what's involved in getting social marketing executed properly can be a bit overwhelming. Surely, the internet is crowded with so much information. The free HOW TO's are everywhere on the blogosphere, free ebooks here and there, and literally hundreds of great newsletters to subscribe to can certainly add more to the load. Also, not having the right daily social marketing activity plan can leave you overwhelmed.

3. Distracting
Because normal social marketing activities are integrated in what you would normally already do in social networks, it is easy to get distracted by games, quizzes, looking at photos of friends, reading at other people's personal notes or blogs, going back and forth with comments on family's status updates.

4. Viral Negative Publicity
The viral nature of social networking can be both on the positive and negative side. Negative publicity spreads faster in social media these days than in traditional media.

5. Vulnerability
Social marketing involves personal interactions with your audience on a daily basis. To a point, it also requires your transparency because that's what people appreciates. However, with transparency comes vulnerability to criticism and opinion of others. Although this may be a part of our daily lives on a certain level, being in the social media scene exposes you to a higher level of these.

6. Stop Providing Content, Your Traffic Declines
In social marketing, the value that you provide through content really does matter a lot. Once you begin to be inconsistent in this area, you will see a decline in the number of your audience and number of visits to your blog.

The Solution to the Bad
Well…you see that the Bad of social media are still not at all that bad. *Smiles!* The good news is that they can be avoided with proper social marketing plan.

1. Plan Your Daily Social Activities.
By having a plan of your daily activities in social media you can prioritize your daily tasks and avoid being overwhelmed and distracted. This solves Bad #1-3 above. I highly recommend that you download my free ebook My 21 Day Social Marketing Roadmap where I included a daily social activities calendar.

2. Watch What You Put Out There.
Be wise in the status updates you post, the comments you make on other people's updates, and the content you provide. Always keep in mind that in social media, you are a celebrity to a certain extent. You are in the spotlight. What you put out there can always be used to make you or break you. Make sure to address negative comments if that ever happens and keep in constant check of what others are saying about you. This solves Bad #4-5 above.

3. Be Consistent in Your Efforts.
Providing content can be a real challenge. Doing it on a daily basis is ideal and doable IF that's all you do. What if it's not? If writing a content is really a challenge for you, outsource it. Hire a good writer that can do this for you two or three times a week. Sites you can find good writers are Freelancer, ODesk, and Elance. Another good idea is to get guest postings every now and then. Ask your current connections or find related blogs and ask the owner of the blog if they would be interested.

Do not let the bad take the fun out of social marketing but be cautious. The key to being successful in social marketing is planning, consistency, and tracking your efforts.

Until then! See you again soon!…