I just had a nice unexpected phone call this morning from someone asking advice (yes at 6:30 in the morning we are at work -- actually we start between 5-6am). They currently have 9 social media sites (I was glad I was sitting). They are spending over five hours per day on social media for all 9 social media sites seven days a week (yes 7 days!). They have one person dedicated to social media alone and also have a social media manager helping them.
After getting the initial details I found that they wanted to know if they were doing the right thing as they are not getting the results they want and are about ready to "quit". They wanted a second opinion. They have no digital marketing plan, no goals and no content calendar. All major mistakes; especially since they have a manager helping them which also makes gauging "success" virtually impossible.
They are doing great as they have embraced digital marketing. They are missing the boat from doing the shotgun approach and having no plan for gauging success. We talked about each one of the social network on what was and wasn't working from her perspective. Out of the 9 social media accounts they have only had interactions with customers on 2 of them in the last year.
Although they are sticking with their current social media company as they are friends (bummer for us but we totally understand the friend thing. Knowing they will be better off with their digital marketing going forward we feel great in knowing that). They are going to focus on the two that are working for them and redirect traffic from the other 7. This will allow them to keep doing digital marketing while focusing on what is working and expanding as their customers change. This small shift is also going to allow her one person who has been stressed out to working on other projects as well. The owner will also being getting involved which is also key as they are the brand of their company.