Despite the numerous benefits that social media can bring to a business or individual, there are many misconceptions about what it can and can’t accomplish. Far too often, unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment. Knowing what social media can’t do will make it easier to harness the power of what it can accomplish.

Social media can’t:

Replace A Marketing Strategy

Social media is powerful, but it isn’t a stand-alone substitute for a marketing strategy. Effective marketing strategies can and should incorporate social media elements. However, simply launching a StumbleUpon account or Facebook Page isn’t going to cut it.

Deliver Instantaneous Success

Creating a Twitter account and expecting a few tweets to have followers flocking to you is unrealistic and highly improbable. Social media is a marathon, not a race and it takes time to cultivate a presence and following. Be patient with social media and you’ll be generously rewarded in return.

Guarantee Influence

Just because you believe that your business, product or service may be heads above the rest, doesn’t mean that others will. Social media is a jungle and it takes an expert guide to navigate the landscape. But even the most seasoned social media consultants can’t generate an interest if the masses don’t care.

Can’t Save A Sinking Ship

If a brand or business is going down, implementing a social media campaign isn’t going to make much of a dent in repairing the damage. Remember, transparency is critical with social media. Neglecting to be open an honest with your audience can permanently tarnish your reputation.

Be One Person’s Responsibility

When a business becomes involved with social media, each employee becomes that company’s social media ambassador. It’s up to everyone to promote the brand, not just the social media consultant. Social networking can greatly enhance social media efforts and it’s important to bolster initiatives by getting involved in positive and meaningful ways.

Social media isn’t a miracle worker, but it’s a definite must-have component for any good marketing strategy.

It may sound like a tedious task, but taking the time to write out a social media policy for your company can be beneficial. A good social media policy is a roadmap that protects your business and your employees. Some businesses choose to be proactive with their social media policies and layout the groundwork up front and all at once. Others choose to develop a working document that evolves as the company grows. One approach isn’t necessarily better than the other, however, it’s a good idea to apply a few key elements to ensure that your social media policy is well-structured.

1. Keep It Short & Sweet

Social media policies should be clear and succinct so that people will read and remember them. Save the fodder and get right to the point.

2. Set Expectations for Behavior

Millions of people utilize some form of social media each and every day. Chances are that your clients, customers and even potential clients are watching what you do and your employees. This doesn’t mean that a strangle-hold should be put on your employees, but you should make sure that common sense is exercised. Information on the web travels quickly and once it’s out there – it’s out there. Think twice before hitting the send button.

3.  Educate Your Team

Make sure that everyone is aware of what social media campaigns are underway, where you have a presence and what communication you’re sharing with the public. For example, designating specific internal correspondence as ‘must-read’ can alert your staff to press releases about new product launches, promotions and terminations and other company-related data.

4. Protect Your Assets

Set-up guidelines that share what employees can and can’t mention in social media contexts. This could be anything from trade secrets, proprietary technology or even sensitive documents. Provide examples if needed.

If you’re looking for inspiration, take a peek at what some recognizable companies have implemented into their social media policies.

Currently, there are more than three million active Facebook Pages on the top ranked site, with the typical Page boasting an average of less than 1,000 fans – oops, I mean ‘likes‘ (seriously, that just doesn’t roll off your tongue quite the same way). Standing out from the static requires you to dress up your Page and make it more interesting and fun for your ‘likers’. That’s where Facebook applications come in. They’re basically like plugins for your Page and there are tens of thousands of them available. Deciding what apps you’d like to incorporate depends on how you’d like to engage with your peeps (that’s an even better word than ‘likers’).

Here’s a compilation of some must have applications for any Page. They’re great additions to the the basic layout that Facebook provides and they can be used in interesting ways to move your ‘likes‘ into action.

Static FBML

Yes, mentioning this application seems totally redundant because it seem to make it on every single must-have Facebook application list. However, it’s really that great. This application is what lets you customize tabs and content on your Page and transform it into part of your brand. The only downside with Static FBML is that you need to have some knowledge of HTML, CSS and Facebook Markup Language (FBML) so that you can create the code needed for content display. Examples of Static FBML in action are the Victoria’s Secret Page, MontBlanc Page and Gary Vaynerchuk Page.

Twitter for Pages

There are actually quite a few Twitter applications for Facebook, but either not all of them work very well or they are meant for a basic profile and not an actual Page. With that being said, Involver’s Twitter for Pages is a quick and easy way to bring your Twitter stream into a tab of its own so that people can catch up with your tweets from Facebook. Just add and you’re done.

Fan Appz

For serious social media marketing, you’ll want to install Fan Appz on your Page. The Fan Appz application is comprised of a suite of sub-apps. It contains polls, sweepstakes, promotions and coupons and more. There’s even a gift store that you can set-up to monetize your Page with brand merchandise that people can purchase. The advantage of Fan Appz is that instead of having to install individual applications for each one of these functions, you get them all in one central location. Convenient and powerful.

Welcome Tab For Pages

This very simple application lets page owners showcase just about anything. From profiles and businesses to products and upcoming events, the Welcome Tab for Pages is an ideal way to communicate with ‘likers‘ (still hate that word, sigh). This application has a fantastic bonus feature – it comes with its own analytics and metrics so that you can track and measure how your Welcome tab is being received and make adjustments if necessary. Uber cool!

Page Maps

Give your business more visibility by adding a custom map your Page. Highlight your location and include surrounding points of interest too. The Page Maps application displays a mini-map with links to a larger map or directions. In a virtual world, having a map that features your business lets people know that you’re not just an electronic profile, but an actual person and/or company.

Eventbrite

If you have special events, upcoming activities or group gatherings that you need to promote then consider adding Eventbrite to your Page. Created by the online event management and ticketing services company of the same name, Eventbrite publishes an event page directly on Facebook with your event details and a link to buy tickets. Your event is promoted through your newsfeed for all to see (and hopefully attend). Do you have to sell tickets to your event? Not a problem. For a small fee, Eventbrite can help you coordinate ticket sales too.

My Top Fans

Just like it says, this application shows you who your top fans are for your Page (wonder if they’ll rename this to My Top Likes - sorry, I just can’t seem to let it go). The application analyzes interactions and calculates who is sharing and engaging the most with you. Once you find out who’s at the top, why not profile them as a ‘Fan of the Month’ or thank them with branded merchandise, like a t-shirt and post a photo of them wearing it on your Page. Stretch your creative muscles and put this app to work.

SlideShare

Import your existing SlideShare.net presentations from your account directly into Facebook. This application is integrated with the SlideShare application on LinkedIn. That means if you upload a presentation to LinkedIn, it will also show up on your SlideShare application on Facebook  and on your  main SlideShare.net account and vice versa. A major timesaver, but also a nice social media aggregation feature with SlideShare.

LinkedIn

Since your Page is already promoting your business, services and products, kick it up a notch and make it easy for fans to socially network with you on LinkedIn. Installation of this application is super simple and it gives you the option of featuring a LinkedIn button in a tab or box on your sidebar.

Web Profiles

Show off your other social media profiles with Web Profiles. There are more than 180 different social media platforms to choose from so chances are no matter what site you’re a member of you’ll find it on the Web Profiles list. If your site is more obscure than common you can instantly add it and feature it in your customized complilation. Much nicer than having to email the developer with a request to add and then having to sit back and play the waiting game.

My Countdown

Build up excitement around new product launches, grand openings, give-aways or just about anything that you have going on with your company. My Countdown can be added to any Page to countdown to the big hoo-rah that you’ve got cooking. And, you can customize its appearance and add icons to make it your own.

DivShare

With DivShare you can expand the types of content that you’re sharing with your fans. Instead of being limited to sharing just links, DivShare allows you to attach MP3s, images, videos, documents and just about any other type of file that you can think of. You have the option of posting shared files to your Page, adding them to your news feed or choosing to share among groups of people or individuals. Max files size is 200 MB, which is a more than ample file sharing size.

Social media has completely revolutionized how we communicate and the way that information is shared. And when it comes to businesses, social media has become a powerful tool that can increase your profitability, grow your customer base and establish you as a reputable and solid company. Curious about how social media can do all that and then some? Read on and get the scoop on how it can benefit your enterprise.

1. Brand awareness.

Word spreads quickly through social media. If you promote your brand identity, chances are that you’ll create awareness among your target audience, which will make them more likely to support or purchase your brand.

2. Current news.

Although people may not visit your website each day, that’s certainly not the case with their their social media accounts. Most people routinely login into Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms and that provides you with an opportunity to share product updates, breaking news, upcoming events and other important company information.

3. Exponential promotion.

One of the most fantastic aspects of social media is that whatever you share with your fans, followers and connections has the potential to be passed on to their fans, followers and connections, and so on, and so on.

4. Increase traffic.

Social media profiles are like mini-advertisements for you and your business. Even though the ad may not get noticed by everyone, it still makes a psychological impact. Plus, having a social media presence is significantly better than not having one. Link your business website into your social profiles and show off what you’re all about.

5. Using feedback.

Pay attention to what’s being said about your business through social media outlets. If people are telling you that they ‘love your product’ or ‘think you’re a fantastic company’ then thank them and build on it. Take the positives and develop content that will continue to support and promote the things that your audience loves most.

6. Negative comments.

Look, we’re all human beings and because of that, as a business, you’ll never be able to satisfy everyone 100 percent of the time. It’s impossible. When negative statements or comments surface, don’t ignore them. Respond quickly and find out what you can do to remedy the situation or problem. You’ll be surprised by how well people respond to quick and heartfelt efforts.

7. Join in.

Social media isn’t something that you put together and then sit back and rest on your laurels. It requires participation in the conversations around you. Contribute to dialogues and engage yourself with others. The more you talk to others, the more you’ll learn about what they want and need. This will make it easier for your business to provide services and products for them and become a resource too.

How is social media working for your business? Share comments and tidbits with us.

A little over two months ago, the social network platform Ning made social media headlines when it announced that its longtime CEO would be stepping down and that its free service model was being nixed (don’t forget that 40 percent of Ning’s staff was laid off too). The company has officially announced its new tiered pay models to the public. Well, what if you’re someone who really enjoyed what the free version of Ning had? Maybe you’re a little disappointed that payment is required and you want to explore other options.

Luckily you can. There are actually quite a few alternative platforms to Ning, but rather than bombarding you with all of them (save that one for a future post), let’s just take a quick peek at one of them. Today’s spotlight is on BigTent.

The account interface to set-up BigTent looks fresh and clean. Plenty of support available online to help newbies get up and running in no time. The best part is that BigTent is free. No fees, just a place for folks to gather together which is why it’s worth reviewing.

BigTent’s positioning itself against Yahoo! Groups as a competitor and the contrasts are visually and verbally communicated throughout BigTent’s site. If you’re well-versed in Yahoo! Groups the transition to BigTent should be fairly simple.

Here’s the skinny on some of its features:

• Buzz page – this is the main page that can be customized to explain what your group is about. You can include photos, videos, calendars and just about anything else to make it your own.
• Forum – organized by threads, members have the option of participating directly to a thread or by email.
• Polling – create a poll and get your members to weigh-in.
• Photos – post and exchange with group members. Always a nice feature to have.
• Filesharing – being able to exchange data through the site turns it into a communication tool that can be used in a variety of other ways.
• Group news – admins can publish announcements, send photos and share links through this feature and they can also send out updates to members directly to their emails.
• Events – complete event coordination can be handled from this location including, payment collection, volunteer assignments, sign-up members for the event and more.
• Shop – more than 30 retail affiliates are linked through this tab and members can purchase from iTunes, Benefit Cosmetics and Chico’s, just to name a few.
• Members – click on other member profiles to learn more about each other and connect with people who share common interests.
• Reviews & Classifieds – this is a place where members can share their opinions on products and services, as well as post items that they have for sale. Might not be a feature that every group needs, but it’s available if you want it.
• Subgroups – this helps organize and nurture the interest of group members. It’s a separate place to discuss and exchange ideas with the same functionalities as the Buzz page.

Some of the other features of BigTent let you collect group dues and manage the membership process, as well as increase membership by sending email invites and setting up a sign-up box widget on your blog or website for people to sign-in and join.

So far, BigTent seems to be a good solution for Ning users who are wondering where to go. Again, there are quite a few alternative sites available and each has its pros and cons. The nice thing about so many options is that there’s something out there for everyone.

Let us know about your experiences with BigTent or other social networking platforms. We’re always interested in learning more.