Not so long ago the idea of a digital marketing manager within a company was unnecessary. However, with the growth of the population on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the need to have a person fully dedicated to the management of campaigns and efforts in the digital framework has become evident.
After more than five years advising several companies on these issues, I have been able to identify the most important mistakes that these figures make in the management of web developments and social networks.
The 10 most common ones are listed below:
I am convinced that this is the origin of all evils. Starting a project without having clear objectives to achieve does not allow you to measure the success of a digital campaign or project.
Solution: Define the guidelines that will govern the entire work team. Delineate the metrics on which you will want to deliver results. Meet with the agency or vendors involved and leave no doubt as to what you expect to receive in return.
I think it's great to have hundreds of followers and it's important to focus efforts on getting more and more likes on the page, however, obsessing about growth is a mistake.
Solution: Focus on keeping your users engaged. Provide them with relevant information. The more you respond to their interests, the more naturally they will recommend the page to their contacts (through likes and shares) and growth will happen organically.
Each channel works differently and agencies specialize in some or many of them. Let each one do its best and showcase its talent by developing in what it does best.
Solution: To have a planning in timing and integration with the whole company and the traditional agency is fundamental to achieve consistent and innovative campaigns in all the media where the brand is present.
Being first on social networks is a key issue in the success of brands in this ecosystem. The immediacy factor is very strong and it is preferable to overlook an approval than to lose an important opportunity for the brand.
Solution: Learn to trust your digital team. Empower them, transmit to them the general spirit of the company, so that it is reflected in every decision they make when, proactively, they want to be timely in social networks.
Once in the web, always in the web.
If you took the step of having a digital presence, it is a big mistake to abandon it after a specific promotion or campaign. It is a great effort on the part of the company to recruit followers, if abandoned the result would be a graveyard of content and wasted potential consumers.
Solution: Create a long-term strategy. Ensure traffic to your social networks through constant efforts that show your audience that the company thinks of them as people and not just as consumers. This will create a much more sincere connection with the brand and a genuine "social word of mouth".
It's okay not to know everything in digital, we face an industry that changes daily. Your digital agency's job is to keep track of the latest trends and find the best way to develop them for your brand. However, the common scenario is to occupy the team executing an idea that comes from the client without leaving much room for the proposal.
Solution: Shoe to your shoe. Give your digital agency the pleasure of educating you with new ideas and helping you reach your goals with resources that differentiate you from the competition.
Although creating accounts on social platforms is free, developing strategies around a brand and above all, keeping it consistent, involves expenses and time. Often, the budget for web and social media is the smallest in the marketing plan and it is difficult for the digital team to bring results with big numbers to the boardroom.
Solution: Understand the scope of a project. Trust that your digital agency will make responsible use of your budget and avoid asking for much more than your investment allows. Set goals proportional to the money allocated to the development of the project.
I have been surprised by how common the phrases "I don't have Facebook" or "I don't understand Twitter" have become among those in charge of a company's digital department. This seems to me perhaps the most important cardinal sin and this year it must be overcome.
Solution: Using social platforms is the best way to understand and believe in the project. Have personal accounts in each of the social platforms where the brand is and understand very well the language and dynamics used in each one. Ask for trainings to the digital natives with whom you converse daily. In addition to getting the most out of the team, you will understand much better the implications that digital developments entail.
It's a fact that most of us check our accounts from our own phones, so this is a new opportunity to place brands in that environment. However, often the biggest efforts are directed to web portals visible on computers and mobile technology is neglected.
Solution: Make "mobile" one of your priorities for 2014. Remember this every time you need a digital solution for your brand. It may need to be accompanied by additional media to promote its propagation, but it will be worth it. Two years ago people expected your brand to be on Facebook. This year it will seem inconceivable to them that it's not available on mobile.
Working on differentiated content for our company's website puts us a step ahead. Doing it for social networks is reaching consumers directly. Not investing in traffic to the sites is a mistake.
Solution: There is an ideal medium for your campaign or promotion. Ask your digital agency to propose 360 strategies for each of them. With the use of advanced targeting, the right materials and a powerful reason why, users will have no way to ignore your ads. Every click turns into a visit to your page and the possibility of converting a user into a consumer of your brand online.
