There is no doubt that resources are hard to come by today as brands look to cut costs to make numbers. Probably the biggest surprise I hear from clients, when presenting the “under the hood” of social media implementation, is “I had no idea that many resources were needed to do it”.
When it comes to implementing social media companies make a lot of mistakes including;
1. Using tactics instead of strategy
2. Using it exclusively to put out fires
3. Using it to brag
4. Not listening to your audience
5. Having an agency as the ‘voice” of your brand
6. Using it to push product
7. Expecting immediate results
8. Using interns to be the voice of the brand
9. Not having processes in place to solve customers problems or issues.
10. Thinking it’s going to be easy and that one person can do it
Social media marketing is NOT easy and it’s not something to be taken lightly because once you expose your brand to consumers and customers you’re out there and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression from skeptical consumers. So why wouldn’t you therefore ensure that you have the necessary resources to get it right ? If you don’t have the resources than please don’t do it because you feel you need to do it. It’s better to pass on it than leave a bad taste with prospects and customers.
How can you get more resources for social media marketing ? You need to continually demonstrate to your senior management just how important social media is the purchase decision for your brand. You need to show them what is best in class and what are some of the worse brand experiences on Facebook & Twitter. But most of all you need to value every customer and treat them like you really value and need their business. It has to come from the heart and you need to spend the money to make sure that your customers understand that you DO care about them.
There is no doubt that resources are hard to come by today as brands look to cut costs to make numbers. Probably the biggest surprise I hear from clients, when presenting the “under the hood” of social media implementation, is “I had no idea that many resources were needed to do it”. 
