Social Media Marketing Plan: Managing Pitfalls

Social Media Marketing Plan: Managing Common Pitfalls

Social media marketing is a lot like getting into shape. Both journeys start with setting goals for yourself and making a plan to help you achieve those goals. You may already have a social media plan. In fact, you may already be working your plan and seeing some gains come from your efforts. Those sweet, elusive gains we all keep chasing! However, no social media marketing plan will succeed if it doesn’t
take into account potential pitfalls along the way.

Social Media Marketing Plan: Stay Motivated

All social media plans fall into lulls. These are the plateaus when you’re working and working but can’t make the scale change. You’re lifting, but can’t go up in weight. You’re going to yoga class but can’t hold that one pose for longer than a second. And now it’s not fun anymore.

What do you do when you don’t want to do anything? Fall back on a schedule when social media marketing feels like drudgery. Don’t make social media marketing something you only do when you have the time, because you won’t feel motivated to make the time when there’s no progress. So, plan your time and work your plan.

Motivation Tip: Rely on your schedule when your motivation for a project wanes. You don’t do it because you want to, you do it because it’s on the calendar.

Social Media Marketing Plan: Manage Setbacks

You slipped up. Maybe you sent a Tweet that didn’t go over well with your audience. Or you got lambasted for something you said in a blog. Maybe a customer wasn’t happy and got social about it. Or maybe you just got busy and stopped following your plan.

How do you manage a setback? Get real. You are a person, not a company. You are doing your best. So, give yourself a break. You’re going to make mistakes. Accept this and pick up where you left off. Apologize if necessary or defend yourself if that’s your position. Whatever you do, get back in the swing of things and carry on.

Setback Tip: Setbacks are inevitable in the social world, but no one cares that much about you and your slip up. Rest, regroup, and move forward.

Social Media Marketing Plan: Limit Overkill

Maybe you’re the type who gets on a workout program and suddenly you’re on an all protein diet, you’re in the gym all day and hitting fitness classes at night. You’re studying physiology and anatomy and nutrition. Everything else is falling behind because you’re spending all of your time on your new obsession. If you’ve checked your Facebook / Twitter / email notifications while reading this post, I’m talking to you.

How do you manage overkill? There’s nothing wrong with getting into social media marketing. It’s a good thing that can help your business, but you have to handle the work of your business to have something to promote. So, give yourself limits. For example, only check your feeds and notifications in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Three times a day is plenty.

Overkill Tip: Treat your social media obsession like you would any dependency or overuse. Set limits and stick with them.

Social Media Marketing Plan: Avoid Overload

Maybe you’re not sure what you’re doing so your social media plan feels messy. You’re on too many sites and not doing anything well. You’re not sure how any of it works and you’re not getting any positive feedback. You’re inconsistent in some areas and over-reliant on others. You feel frenzied whenever you engage on social media.

Just like you can’t lift for three hours a day AND do a yoga class AND do an hour on the treadmill, you can’t overextend yourself on social media. Trying to be a jack of all trades and be present on every single platform is going to invariably leave you lacking where it truly matters. If you’re getting to the point where you feel like you’re throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, you might be overloaded.

How to manage overload: Go back to the basics: research, plan, and execute. You dove in and it’s not working. So, you need to reset your plan. Know what platforms your customers use and be sure you know how to engage on those platforms.

Overload Tip: This is the opposite problem of overkill. You might need to hire a social media marketing expert to get you on the right track.

Social Media Marketing Plan: Sidestep Pitfalls

While your social media marketing goals guide your plan, the execution of your plan will guide your next steps.

• If you’re not motivated, set a schedule
• If you have a setback, move through it
• If you are consumed with your plan, set limits
• If you’re overwhelmed, slow down and reset

This is the point where fitness and social media marketing diverge. The only way to truly get into shape is to do the work. If you want to be strong and fit, you’ve got to lift and stretch and track your progress and set new goals for yourself (and don’t forget your macros!) But if you want to get your social media marketing into shape, you don’t have to do it all yourself. The biggest difference between the two is that you can easily hire an expert to manage your social media marketing.