41 Signs You Are NOT a Social Business

We've all seen the begging pleas of the wanna be social business:

• like me on Facebook
• I need likes, come visit my page
• I'll like you if you like me
• let's take the conversation to Facebook

Many of us have at one time done them. The smart ones eventually stop such behavior.

What these people are not getting is that I must have a reason to “like you.” WHY should I like you? There are a million other pages also asking for my time and for me to like them. And take what conversation to Facebook? I am not having a conversation with you to begin with? Give me a reason to want to talk with you, please.

Yes, we all need likes. However, begging for them is not the answer. Inspiring and connecting with your audiences in a way that helps bring your audiences, clients and partners closer to your brand is the route to success.  You must have more than a set of random acts of social media and marketing.

It's the difference between being social and doing social. Being social requires more than a Facebook or Twitter badge plastered on your traditional marketing medium telling me to come “like you.”  Being social requires commitment, focus on people, eliminating the random acts of social media and marketing. Much of this I covered in the first post on this series “Are You Ready to Be a Social Business? 10 Tips for a Zoom Start!”

This is the second post in a series I am writing on social business. The focus of this series is to simplify it for the common business leader, not the social media consultant or self proclaimed guru.

For purposes of this post I thought it would be fun to take a light hearted approach to understanding signs of NOT being social. Often times doing something or being something seems unreachable. However, sometimes if you can look at certain behaviors and understand that they in themselves may be stopping you from being social, it's a good step forward.

41 Signs You are Not a Social Business:

1. You are reading this post wondering how many are going to ring true for you. Your blood pressure may have even soared a bit given your defensiveness or acknowledgement.

2. You are already planning how and when you can share this post with your boss, CEO, co-founder or partner.

3. You wish this post had more on how to “be social” instead of telling you what you already know to be true.

4. Your social media plan was implemented with a template you found online, borrowed from a sister-in-law or competitors website. You didn't change it, didn't analyze against your business objectives. You figured they knew better than you did so you trust them.

5. Your CEO or Owner of the company does not know you are doing social media. If he did he would likely kill the project this week.

6. You do not have a social media plan.

7. You are thinking, “why on earth would I have a social media plan, I don't even have a business or marketing plan.”

8. Very few people to nobody within your organization has been properly trained on how to use social media and what it means to your business.

9. You have been executing social media for a year but couldn't articulate your objectives and results even if you could win one million dollars today doing such.

10. Random acts of social media and marketing is your way of life.

11. The depth of your social media expertise consists of your intern and what he or she has taught you.

12. There is no integration between your social media team and the rest of the marketing department. You treat them as two separate entities.

13. There is also no integration between the social media team and the rest of the business.

14. Your clients do not know you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. If they do, they don't care.

15. You don't know if your clients are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+.

16. You know more about what your competitors are doing on Facebook and other social media platforms than you do about your own customers.

17. You don't know how many people are subscribed to your email opt-in list that is now integrated with your Facebook landing page / tab.

18. You can't remember the last time you emailed your subscribers with something of value.

19. You find yourself spending less and less time on your Facebook business page as you really don't know what to talk about.

20. You feel you are losing touch with your audiences including clients, colleagues, partners and associations.

21. You wish you didn't have to beg for Facebook likes. You know it's wrong but are forced to do such to make the boss happy.

22. Your social media priorities are driven by your CEO or Chairman and whatever class they most recently attended. If it was a LinkedIn class then LinkedIn becomes the priority of the week or month.

23. You are the only one who executes social media at your organization even though it is on the job description of five other people as well. Primary reason is you have no plan and it's easier just to do yourself.

24. Your CEO really does believe social media is going to save his broken business by just shifting some resources to Facebook.

25. Your social media consists of a Facebook page that looks and feels like a desert.

26. Half of the people that have liked your Facebook page are friends and family of the people who work for your company.

27. Your CEO told you to stop wasting time on investing in the people who are in your communities. He/she said “it's all about the bottom line, get out there and get some likes.”

28. Your top priority of the year as defined by your CEO is to launch a viral video that gets you on the map with millions of views.  Only problem is he wants the entire video to be about promoting your business and can't be too funny or off topic.

29. Your management team decided to put social media on hold until the end of the year.  They think it's okay to just quit posting to Facebook for a few months and that you can always come back to it later when you have some good coupon offers in December.

30. You have no content plan and basically post to your social profiles whatever you personally feel like posting that day.

31. You don't know who you are following on Twitter.

32. Integrating social media into your customer service would not be a possibility given your management team thinks social media is a waste of time & they don't think anybody is on social media anyway.

33. Your CEO cancelled the first social media project because you couldn't prove a result within thirty days.

34. You are afraid of losing your job within the next six months due to being responsible for social media but feeling you have no control, budget or resources to enable success.

35. You spent a year learning the social media tools and technology yet have no clue how to have a relevant conversation with your audiences.

36. Your social media efforts are not funded. You have resorted to a bake sale on Fridays and an employee kitty to obtain enough funds for a new intern.

37. Your web guy or gal is not invited to the social media meetings. They don't believe in or understand social and would only mess things up.

38. You are having to create a separate social media enabled blog to get around the web guy or girl issues. The hope is they get up to speed soon or else get the hint.

39. The employees faces turn bright red when they find out they are asked to engage with real clients and partners on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

40. You receive several employee resignations the day the social media policies are distributed for signatures.

41. You are not dealing with any of these issues head on. You are ignoring them and wishing they would go away.

So how did you do? How many of these rang true for you? What do you find most frustrating in your business? Do you feel like you are at a loss for how to move your business forward?

It is important to remember that many businesses struggle with these issues. You are not alone. Social media is a game changer. It challenges our thinking, our communication and way of life. It removes walls of privacy, increases transparency. It's more than business, it's personal. So when we think of a social business we have to take the people into consideration. We can't ignore the people.

If you are facing challenges within your organization I encourage you to deal with each issue head on. Be the social media zoom agent in your business. Learn as much as you can about how to be a social business. Dig into the head and heart of your audiences. Figure out how you can connect with them, inspire them and bring them value.  Once you understand your audience you can then start mapping your business objectives and goals. The social media plan should be in support of your business goals and marketing. It's not a random set of actions and tactics.

Most importantly, don't expect results overnight. Stay the course, gather your evangelists and supporters. “Plan yer' work and work yer' plan”  as Granny would say.