Social Media Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Being Impatient

With SMM efforts, it can be difficult to know when it may break out (in other words, when your SMM effort may suddenly gain immense traction). Many a marketer has canceled an SMM effort too quickly, only to see a competitor launch something six months later that turned out to be widely successful. Be patient with your SMM effort; it may not be a runaway success on day one or day one hundred. It could take longer.

With these efforts, recognize that SMM isn’t a campaign; rather, it’s a commitment. Because you’re working on the social web, you’re marketing to customers one at a time in a personal, engaging, and conversational manner, and that doesn’t always happen quickly. Your goal, always, is to get the customers to do the marketing for you. But it may take longer than you’d like. That’s something to always recognize. And to do this right, when you start your SMM effort, convince your bosses that it needs to be a 6–12-month commitment at least. If they get cold feet after the second week or the second month, you mustn’t let them pull the plug on the effort.