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There is a famous saying in movies that goes thus: “You can run but you can’t hide!’ This saying seems to resonate with social media. It becomes even more apt when you consider the social media bloopers or gaffes that people make while trying to manage their social media engagements with customers. One of the main reasons why social media errors occur is the lack of understanding of the psyche of the consumer or customer who is online. Some of the common perception errors that marketers make are these:

Social media is a marketing tool
Sorry. It may come as a rude shock to some, but social media is a conversation/interaction tool that consumers use for conversing/interacting with each other, games or with content. It was never meant to be for marketing only, just like the phone (telephone) was not made just to do marketing calls. It was made for two people to connect and converse. Think how we all start to come up with excuses to disconnect a call on the phone when the person on the other side is not giving us value. Do telecallers come to mind?

In the same vein, think how you would feel if a link is pushed into your Twitter stream or a video is pushed into your Facebook page by a marketer or a brand that you don’t even like (Facebook like) or follow (Twitter follow). Obviously, the reaction will be one of either ignorance or of rebuttal with effect of “please don’t spam me.”

Marketers need to look at social media not as a tool to sell but as a conversation starter with current and prospective consumers. During the course of such a conversation, sales might become a part but that shouldn’t be the primary agenda or mandate for marketers.

Social media can help me manipulate feedback
Marketers still believe that social media can provide them a platform where they can twist and turn facts. Using anonymous IDs, one can create a perception of a good brand—this is what marketers tend to believe with social media.

This is where they get it wrong. Right approach to social media isn’t about creating 1,000 positive comments for all the negative ones but it’s about finding your best customers or your most happy customers and then amplifying their voices.

It is also about addressing negative issues transparently as a brand rather than a fake profile or person. Customers see through fake responses more often than not and it creates a worse perception (think liar and cheat) of your brand than it did even before he was irate or had an issue with you. Fake feedbacks are a temporary and weak solution to your brand issues. It may make sense to take ownership and fix things rather than beautify them with a temporary cover in the interim. Half measures seldom work, after all.

Social media is covered when I have Facebook and Twitter pages
Social media isn’t over with Facebook and Twitter. Yes, they may be the largest platforms but consumers form groups and communities across the web. They are found on forums discussing topic, on YouTube watching videos, on Slideshare watching presentations, on LinkedIn searching for professional connections and on blogs reading and commenting.

Then again, this is just a partial list. Consumers are where they find value. If you can build assets i.e. your own communities to engage consumers, then there can’t be a better use of social media.

Examples in this case range from Dell’s ideastorm to Tata Tea’s Jaago re, all of which are social platforms with a purpose and connect well with consumers.

Content is king in social media
Again, excuse me for the rude shock but content isn’t king. Creative execution and definite brand identity should come first. Then flows the content.
Many brands look at content aggregation and dissemination as the key way to engage users. While there may be some value in that, users are looking for more than just content. They are looking for solutions.

Brands need to transcend their brand identity on social media to be able to provide the value that consumers are looking for from them. Also, as more and more brands start attracting consumer attention, ‘breaking the clutter’ would become more important and necessary.

Only content won’t get you far and what will matter is creative execution and a strategic approach of disseminating that content and its timing. Take for example the recent global success of the Old Spice campaign where their real time response strategy was posted on YouTube in reply to all queries. No doubt the content was good but what took the campaign to the next level was the creative execution and smart timing and, finally, the dissemination of that content.

We need to hire interns to manage social media
While the power of youth is much needed in social media, it’s not the best way to handle your brand. For social media, you should think from all angles i.e. what is my message and how do I amplify it via users. While a 19-year-old can be quick in the amplification process, he or she may not be the best person to decide “what to say.”

You may want to spend sometime delving on your perception on social media and come up with the key aspects of your brand identity that you want to project.

All in all, social media isn’t a one-night wonder or a magic wand that will transform your presence. It doesn’t change the dynamics of business or business functions like marketing or customer service. What it does do, though, is provides cost-effective and long-term opportunity to engage and interact with customers.

Mistakes will happen; just ensure that you are upfront about them and communicate the next steps to your consumers on how you shall fix issues.

RAJIV DINGRA is the Founder and CEO of WATConsult, a social media agency. He also founded WATBlog.com, a leading digital media blog.

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Rajiv Dingra, social media