Guest Blogger, Dana Van Den Heuvel, MarketingSavant

Social media. Very few two-word phrases conjure up so many expectations and misconceptions as these two words put together. For as much as social media can do, there is still plenty that it can’t. Here are the top 10 things that social media can’t do, along with a mind map on the things that you can do about the 10 things that social media can’t do…

1. Social Media Isn’t and Will Never Be Totally Free: If you want results, build deep experience within your own team to reduce cost
2. Be Your Marketing Strategy: Social media is not a strategy. In fact, in a few years, we won’t be talking about it with the reverence we now have for it, rather, it will be assumed that it’s part of everything you’re doing, if not the center of it all.
3. Guarantee Sales: Social media cannot and will not likely ever be a sales engine. It’s a marketing and communication engine. It supports sales and like most all other forms of marketing, it’s up to you to convert.
4. Succeed With a Half-Assed Effort: Social media requires dedication, and like anything else, you get out what you put in. Consistency is the first key to social media success. Get consistent, and you’ll see results. Build a plan to publish social content in the 1-7-30-4-2-1 rhythm and you’re more likely to succeed.
5. Change Your Company For You: Social media requires active change management and a corporate culture to support it. Get the right people involved to lead and support the effort – that will change your company.
6. Replace Advertising/Sales Team/etc.: You still need to meet people in their medium and social media is just ONE of the ways to build business for your brand.
7. Be Your Only Go-to-Market Method: Your best bet is to build an integrated approach where social media builds on your other channels. Budget across channels, and include social in that budget.
8. Deliver Quick Success: Social media is NOT (usually) quick. In fact, it’s really only done well as a long-term commitment. Focus on delivering genuine value to a devoted base of customers first and activate that base only after you’ve built trust and social capital.
9. Be a One-off Project: Ongoing conversation is what makes social so powerful. Get out of ‘campaign mode’ and into ‘conversation mode’.
10. Create Conversation from Nothing: You MUST create/re-imagine/curate great content to get great conversation.

Click here to download Dana’s mind map of the above.

Dana Van Den Heuvel is the founder of the marketing consulting firm, The MarketingSavant Group. An award-winning marketing blogger, Dana is also the author of the American Marketing Association’s “Marketech Guide to Marketing Technology” and their “Guide to Social Network Marketing” and the creator of the AMA’s TechnoMarketing training series, Advanced Social Media training series and B2B Social Media training series. Dana is also a member of Rock Your Network®.