8 Reasons Your Social Media Campaign Failed

There are plenty of successful social media campaigns out there, but alas there are just as many (more actually) that are not successful.

I used to cringe when I saw them but it is becoming too common. Odd to see that even the big guys (CPGs, and the like) are still making rookie mistakes.   

There are lots reasons social media campaigns fail, here are eight:

1. Confusing "tools" with strategy. We see this one all the time. Creating a Twitter, or even a Google Plus account, is not a strategy.
2. Blindly replicating other campaigns. "I saw it on Mashable."
3. Lack of internal buy-in. You like it but the boss - not so much.
4. Lack of, or inconsistent, calls-to-action. Nuff said.
5. Wrong person at the wheel. Don't throw the intern at it because he/she is on Facebook.
6. Not understanding your audience. This comes back to strategic planning.
7. Unrealistic expectations. "We've been on Twitter for a month now and haven't made a single sale"
8. Letting the Agency talk you into something that they themselves know little about. 

So I ask myself, why is this happening? There are probably as many reasons for 'why' are there are for 'how'. Here's my shot at a few:

1. Lack of knowledge or education. This is the main one and comes in different forms.
2. Laziness - taking short cuts.
3. Over excited. Too eager to get started prior to proper planning.
4. Don't take it seriously - which leads to thinking you can throw and intern at it to see if it works, not realizing that social media failure can do your brand/business harm.
5. See everything as a sales channel. Some auto dealers & Realtors still doing this. 

Why do you think some brands, companies and organizations are finding it difficult to succeed with social media?