Social Media Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (3 of 6)

Continuing on the series of social media marketing mistakes we started recently, here’s the third in a series. This one talks about two very common buzzwords in social media: transparency and authenticity.

In my experience working with numerous clients, this one is more difficult for everyone to wrap their arms around then you’d expect. As marketers, we’re used to creating “campaigns” that put the best foot forward. But in social media, part of the trick is being transparent while putting your best foot forward. Here’s some things not to do:

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I once spent two days figuring out how to get past some problems I was having with transparency and a campaign. We brainstormed all sorts of ways to deal with it. The answer was to just disclose the issues we were wrestling with and get on with the campaign. And nobody ever raised those things again. We’d acknowledged them, they were true, they were no big deal, and they weren’t the main point. Now, if we had tried to dodge them or hide them and someone discovered those issues, then they would have raised them and they would have become the main point.

When you engage in social media marketing, force yourself to pay attention to authenticity. Don’t just pay it lip service. Your efforts will be better.



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