4 Things NOT To Do With Social Media Marketing

January 7, 2010 by Loma Gregg
Filed under Free Things To Do Today

Social Media. Its the Buzz. Its easy, its free and it gets results. But don’t let it fool you. Just like any other form of advertising, you can’t just shoot arrows into the wind and expect them to stick! Here are just a few things NOT to do when using social media as a marketing tool.

1. Do not offer your data base a percentage off. Consumers are lazy. (Sorry, but they are) They don’t want to calculate savings. And 20% off just isn’t that much of an incentive to get them to come in if they weren’t coming in already. Make it good, make it crazy, and you’ll see the results.

Look at it this way…. Assuming you’re a restaurant, bar or lounge, you could spend $700 to $7000 on print ads. That means part your advertising cost is print, part of it is the discount you’ll give on the food. With social media – its FREE. Well, aside from your time, which should be limited to about 30 minutes a day. That means you can put the same amount into your food cost – at 30%. $700 gets $2100 free in meals. That’s a lot of “meat in the seats”. People in your door, actually tasting your food. Isn’t that the idea?!?!

2. Do not post personal information about your day, your kids or your mood on any social networking site. It discredits you and your venue. And no one really cares. Keep it professional and related. Give away information (we do that really well!!) Post recipes, videos of recipes, helpful hints, meal planning – anything to keep their attention. Will they try to make it themselves? Maybe. Will it turn out the same? Absolutely not. Will they come back for more? You bet!

3. Don’t make them buy something! If you’re getting point #1, then you understand. “Here’s a birthday present from us. But you have to buy something to get it”. Pretty silly.

4. Don’t be long winded! You’ll notice that the majority of our posts are short, sweet and to the point. Who has time to read through fluff?! Oh, sorry mom.