5 Quick And Easy Tips To Be A Social #FAIL

There have been a few things on my mind for the last few months that I just can’t ignore any longer. I’m not writing this to point out any one person or company. It’s more of just a general observation from working in this industry day in and day out.

We’ve worked with all kinds of businesses across Kansas City. Some of them have had real success being “social”, getting the word out about their business and expertise, blogging, building their business networks, and continuing to work hard to get through this recession and slow recovery.

But we’ve heard about many other businesses that aren’t doing what it takes to be successful in this modern economy. And a lot of the behaviors are consistent across industries.

With that in mind, I want to share with you their 5 Quick And Easy Tips To Be A Social #FAIL:

1. Go To Every Social Seminar You Can Find
Every time you see a seminar on social, sign up for it! Go, be inspired, get motivated, take notes, and then go back to your office, get busy, and DO NOTHING! That’s the #FAIL spirit!

2. Keep Ignoring Your Competition
Have you looked at the web site of your competition lately? Good thing you haven’t because they likely are, or will be, updating it with a modern look and feel, a blog that they update at least once a week with helpful content, and all kinds of cool pieces of information that help customers and prospects who visit their site.

Better yet, because they are blogging regularly, Google is likely ranking their web site higher than your blog-less web site! Keep that 10 year old web site of yours out there and #FAIL like the best of them!

3. Keep Selling During Every Social Interaction
Any time you post something on your company Facebook page, on your LinkedIn account, or on Twitter, make sure all you do is talk about your product or service and try to sell people. Because who likes sales messages shoved in their face over and over again by a business? Everybody! Right? YAY #FAIL!!

4. Keep Ignoring Your Personal And Professional Brand
You know that company Facebook page you never update? How about that Twitter account that you signed up for but haven’t used in months? How about that blog on your web site that you posted an article on 5 months ago? How about that LinkedIn profile of yours that is 20% complete, has no Summary, has a photo that is 5 years old, has no recommendations, and has an incomplete work history? How about your 28 LinkedIn connections?

Awesome, right? Keep telling the world how much you don’t care about your own personal and professional brand!! Go get ’em you Social #FAIL, you!!

5. Keep Doing Things The Way You’ve Always Done Them
Hey, you started your business 15 years ago. You were successful in the 90’s like every business that hung a shingle when people and companies were spending money they didn’t have! No doubt this recession has left a lasting impression and the market is changing.

But why should you? Why should you look strategically at your business and see if what you did 15 years ago still makes sense today? Why should you talk to your employees and get their ideas? Why should you bother worrying that your future customer and employee base is going to be mostly Gen X and Gen Y in the not-so-distant future?

Keep ignoring them! I’m sure the more they feel ignored, the more employees will want to work for you (and tell their friends!) and the more that customers will want to buy from you! So forget change! Forget being strategic! Forget asking for help! Keep doing what you’ve always done! It’s the perfect #FAIL recipe!

I’m Mic Johnson and I approve this message.