Social Media Marketing Is Fleeting
In the early days of social marketing, there was little competition for the dollar—not so today. For example, you can spend thousands of dollars on a Facebook ad campaign and, sometimes, get no return on your investment. By its very nature, social media is a short attention span media—it is much harder to get someone's attention with a Tweet then it was to get someone's attention with a newspaper ad. That's because ad headlines and copy are harder to write on Twitter or Instagram.
You Must Be Active on Social Media
One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is to open up accounts on every social media platform they think is relevant and then leave them alone with no activity. Having an account with any of the social media platforms does not mean your business is into social media any more than owning golf clubs makes you ready for the PGA. In fact, social media users are turned off by the retailer who opens accounts and does not engage with clients and the public and consequently become labeled a pretender. The reality is, it is better to not have a social media icon on your website if you are not going to actively engage with it—and actively means on a daily basis.