Background: The work of social marketers and the environment in which they work is complex, which inevitably results in mistakes being made and sometimes, the failure of a social marketing program. Unfortunately, social marketers do not often report their own mistakes. Even when failures or mistakes are reported, it is usually for the purpose of one study, as opposed to a wider understanding of mistakes made by social marketers in the field. This is a significant gap in the development of social marketing practice since understanding the nature of the most common mistakes made by social marketers could assist them in assessing their own shortcomings and potentially lead to more effective programs. Focus: This article is related to research and evaluation of the social marketing field. Research Question: What are the perceptions of social marketing experts regarding the most common mistakes made by social marketers? Importance to the Field: A greater understanding of the common mistakes made by social marketers will allow practitioners to assess their own shortcomings, improve program outcomes, and raise the status of the social marketing field. Methods: This research is qualitative and exploratory, with a constructivist, grounded theory methodology. In-depth interviews with 17 social marketing experts were conducted. Experts were purposefully chosen based on a set of criteria including the number of years of experience they had in the field. Results: The interviews revealed nine mistake categories: inadequate research, poor strategy development, ad hoc approaches to programs, mismanagement of stakeholders, poorly designed program objectives, weak evaluation and monitoring, poor execution of pilots, inadequate segmentation and targeting, and poor documentation. Additionally, the interviews revealed two other emergent, crosscutting themes that affect the mistakes being made: external influences that the social marketer may not have direct control over and the social marketer’s own preconceptions that they bring to the program. Recommendations for Research or Practice: Future research may explore (1) the extent to which external influences lead to social marketing program success or failure, particularly in comparison to mistakes made by social marketers and (2) perspectives from the social marketing community as to the most common mistakes made by social marketers. Social marketers may consider being more reflexive in their work, including reporting their own mistakes and failed programs, as well as challenging the biases they may bring to the work that they do. Limitations: The sample size is small and therefore not generalizable to all social marketing experts or the social marketing community. Also, there are many parts of the world in which social marketers practice, but which are not represented by the social marketing experts. Additionally, the “mistakes” listed are based on opinion as opposed to direct observation, which may make them more susceptible to bias.

中文翻译：

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检查盲点：社交营销人员最常见的错误

背景：社交营销人员的工作及其工作环境是复杂的，不可避免地会导致犯下错误，有时还会导致社交营销计划的失败。不幸的是，社交营销者并不经常报告自己的错误。即使报告了失败或错误，也通常只是出于一项研究的目的，而不是更广泛地了解该领域的社会营销人员所犯的错误。这是社会营销实践发展中的一个重大空白，因为了解社会营销人员最常见错误的性质可以帮助他们评估自己的缺点，并有可能导致更有效的计划。重点：本文与社会营销领域的研究和评估有关。研究问题：社会营销专家对社会营销人员最常见的错误有何看法？对该领域的重要性：对社交营销人员的常见错误有更深入的了解，将使从业人员能够评估自己的缺点，改善计划成果并提高社交营销领域的地位。方法：本研究是定性和探索性的，采用了建构主义的扎根理论方法。对17位社会营销专家进行了深入采访。根据一系列标准（包括他们在该领域的经验年限）有目的地选择了专家。结果：访谈揭示了九个错误类别：研究不足，战略制定不力，计划的临时方法，利益相关者管理不当，计划目标设计不当，评估和监控薄弱，飞行员执行不力，细分和目标不充分以及文件不完善。另外，访谈还揭示了另外两个贯穿各领域的主题，这些主题会影响正在犯的错误：社交营销人员可能无法直接控制的外部影响以及社交营销人员对计划的自身偏见。研究或实践建议：未来的研究可能会探索（1）外部影响在多大程度上导致社会营销计划的成功或失败，特别是与社会营销人员的错误相比；以及（2）社会营销界对社会营销计划的看法。社会营销人员最常见的错误。社交营销人员可能会考虑在工作中更加自省，包括报告自己的错误和失败的计划，以及挑战他们可能给工作带来的偏见。局限性：样本量很小，因此无法推广到所有社交营销专家或社交营销社区。同样，世界上有很多地方有社会营销人员在从事业务，但没有社会营销专家代表。此外，列出的“错误”是基于观点的，而不是直接观察的，这可能会使它们更容易产生偏见。但没有社交营销专家代表。此外，列出的“错误”是基于观点的，而不是直接观察的，这可能会使它们更容易产生偏见。但没有社交营销专家代表。此外，列出的“错误”是基于观点的，而不是直接观察的，这可能会使它们更容易产生偏见。