Social media marketers: The good, the bad and the successful
- Tina Beveridge
- Apr 5, 2015
- 4 min read
Social media marketing is not an easy field to play in, but if you manage to master the field, there’s nothing stopping you from achieving exponential growth and success. Not all of us can reach the mastery of our desired craft, just as not all aspiring professional athletes make it to the big leagues.
But what is the difference between a good social media marketer and a bad one? And can you become successful as a social media marketer without necessarily being categorized as either a good one or a bad one?
The definition of a good social media marketer is basically identical to a regular good employee or a manager when it comes to the first things first part of the job description. Take responsibility for your actions, keep up with your area of expertize or you will not be an expert for long, treat others respectfully and give it your all.
Bad social media marketers don’t really give a toss about their jobs, they just do it because “it’s easy.” And that is by definition what marketing never is.
Good social media marketers understand their audience, what they want and what they don’t want to see, read and interact with. They know the different mediums of social media like their own pockets and also when to utilize them and how.
They are also up to date on the latest case studies about social media and its perception by the mass crowds.
Bad social media marketers usually think that if they post a lot, something is bound to happen, and then they might get a raise. You don’t do social media marketing for the money, because you really need to understand social media, how people behave and stay on top of everything happening in your company’s social media profile across multiple social platforms.
A bad social media marketer also has a plethora of excuses available when nothing works out the way it was supposed to, and the chief marketing officer is pissed.
Good social media marketers understand what their audience wants, yes, but that is not all they know. They breathe in the knowledge and comments as to why people enjoy something, what makes them tick. Understanding your audiences’ why factor is of immeasurable value to anyone wanting to grow a brand into an extremely successful one.
Good social media marketers think five steps ahead of others, they plan how things will play out before they open their mouth or type any posts. Understanding how something will play out before playing your first hand allows you to coordinate your efforts more effectively, possibly even schedule the posts beforehand and not having to return daily to check up on the likes and follows.
You know it works because you planned ahead. It also enables you to overcome your competitors by building a stronger brand, not just following others.
Bad social media marketers try to fix their previous mistakes and put out the fires they have caused on social media. They have to try to explain things they said that weren’t too clear, or words that were offensive to some people. Controlling the damage and having to put out fires on multiple fronts all the time is not productive, quite the opposite really.
Good social media marketers understand the need to be calculative. Avoid the pitfalls of racism, foul language, misspelling, sexism and anything else that can, and will, cause a stir. Make sure your jokes go through as jokes since the people cannot interpret your facial expression that usually gives up the fact that you’re joking.
Jokes gone wrong have been known to take down many promising brands, get employees fired or set the social media efforts back by months. As said, calculation and planning allow you to be more productive by not having to put out fires you caused.
You simply don’t cause that many fires when you’re being thorough and professional when it comes to your job.
Bad social media marketers think only in terms of themselves and their company. They don’t think of the value they can deliver to the clients, or the satisfaction they could bring to the table by taking a more personal approach to social media.
Instead, they focus on crunching the numbers in a way to find what benefits them most, either by making the brand more successful and going for a raise, or making themselves have the easiest possible work days.
This plan will nearly always backfire though since people don’t always react the way you expect them to, and that is why you need to have a personal touch on everything you do. Be ready to answer questions people might have, or face the consequences in the form of bad reviews and negative growth of clientele.
Good social media marketers consider how other social media marketers react to what they do, not just how the people see it. If you want to make something go viral you need to consider whether or not others embrace the content you are sharing as something worth re-tweeting or posting about.
But can you be successful without being a good or a bad social media marketer? Sure! If you happen to be Gladstone Gander or you have employees who carry your weight. It is also possible that the people who created your brand were so good at their job that you need to only say something, absolutely anything, and people will come running and screaming to buy from you.
If that is the way it works, please give me the contact details to your branding people. But honestly, of course, you can become successful even though you’re not necessarily a combination of all the factors listed here under the good social media marketer title. If you are motivated and enthusiastic about what you do, you can succeed.
In conclusion, we can see that the more actively engaged social media marketers make for the good ones and that the bad ones usually blame their tools and people for it. In addition to that, you in fact can become a successful by having the right motivation and working hard ford it. If you want it, go get it.
