17.9: Social media strategy risks and challenges

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Any social media strategy should account for the risks and challenges of interacting in this environment, and should incorporate a protocol for dealing with these risks. Mistakes on the web can take a long time to recover from.

Some of the common risks and challenges are listed below.

No one cares. Especially when building a community from scratch, it can be difficult in the beginning to get the traction you want. This is why understanding the landscape in the context of your organisation’s market is so important. Make sure you are interacting in the spaces where your customers are, and where they are happy to hear from you.

The social media space is used by unhappy customers (who are free to post detractive comments). Even if the only feedback you are getting is negative, this is good feedback! Now you have an opportunity to do something about it.

It requires ongoing attention and monitoring. Social media channels may be free, but there is still a time and resource investment required to make your strategy a success. Understand what your objectives are for using social media, and budget the time required to meet those.

It can be difficult to measure the impact of the campaign. Social media can be difficult to measure, but that does not mean your campaigns are not successful. Don’t expect to find a solution (or success) overnight. Start with measuring things that can be measured easily, and watch for case studies in this space that will help you to turn your social media investment into revenue for your organisation.