Pain Points in Social Media

Often when I meet prospective or new clients for the first time, they talk to me about their pain points in social media.  (“Pain points” are my words, I actually hear something more like, “I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing.”)

Yes, they’ve figured out how to set up a social media channel or two like Twitter and Facebook.

Yes, they even have a rudimentary editorial calendar and post on a somewhat regular basis.

But, nothing is happening!  Or, is it, and they just can’t see it?

This is where I usually come in and in this article, I’ll discuss three of the more common pain points that users have with social media.

The first pain point is all about what are you trying to accomplish with social media?

This goes back to Step no. 1, Establishing the Social Media Footprint, in my 8 Step Approach to Develop a Social Media Program.

What are the goals and objectives that you are seeking to accomplish with social media?

What’s the call-to-action that you have for your followers that’s the ultimate acid test of success for your social media program?

What does social media success look like to you? In quantitative terms, no less!

Without this, you’re back to tweeting about what you had for lunch today.  (I hope that you at least included a picture of your meal!)

This is an ongoing, continual process to ensure that your goals and objectives, and your call to action remain relevant to the needs of both your followers and you.

The next pain point in social media is whom are you trying to connect with on your channels?

This goes back to Step No. 3, Community Development, in my 8 Step Approach.

Who will be receptive to your content?

Will they share with others and comment upon your content?

More importantly, will they respond to your call-to-action?

What are you doing to expand your community of followers?

Again, this is not one and done.  This is an ongoing, continual process just like the latter one.

The last pain point in social media is how am I doing?

This goes back to Step No. 7, Measuring Results, in 8 Step Approach.

As you start your social media program establish a baseline and identify the critical few metrics that you’ll be following for each of your social media channels.  (Yes, “critical few” because even the major players don’t look at everything.)

Without this, how would you know if you’ve improved or done anything for that matter!

Have a periodic review and look at your results.

If you’re meeting expectations then challenge yourself to do better.  If you’re not meeting expectations then what will you do to test new ideas to try an improve?

And, yes, you guessed it!

This is an ongoing, continual process just like the other two, but it will help you understand how’re you’re doing!

The best approach is to have a complete social media program and the discipline to follow it through every day and to be willing to change course when needed.

Like the cylinders in an engine which all need to be firing at the same time, the steps in your social media program need to be working together too!

If you need help then don’t be shy about asking for it!

I’m always willing to help you out!

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!