Social media marketing has attracted a lot of public attention in the past two years, largely made up of success stories from major brands, niche companies, and successful internet celebrities who have used it to their advantage. However, despite the success for some, there has been a great deal of major commercial failures in social media.

From poor product promotions to absolute failures in online PR, the world of social media is not quite as rosy as the press often makes it look. Unfortunately, most of the time, potentially great campaigns are brought down by minor errors and slightly miscalculated strategies. These four errors on strategies are common amongst failed social media marketing plans. Absorb them, master their solutions, and incorporate them as an anti-example in your next social media marketing plan.

1. Letting bad press dominate through inaction.
There is only one way to fight bad press in a digital world: through explanation and response. In the 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama was faced with waves of inaccurate and occasionally malicious accusations. For a political candidate, having untrue information out there -- good or bad -- is potentially harmful, especially in a domain like social media where it can travel quickly.

Instead of letting untrue discussions grow, his campaign team fought them head on with their own social media profiles and websites dissecting and rebutting the claims. Your social media presence must do the same -- dissect, rebut, and acknowledge bad press, but turn it around to use to your advantage.

2. Losing potential conversation through inactivity.
A social media presence requires constant attention. The reason so many businesses fail on social media platforms is not because they put too much in, but that they fail to give enough to feed their audience. A social media presence is only as valuable as the amount of effort put into it -- a lazy profile is worth less than no profile at all.

Remember, your social media efforts are a branding exercise, and when they are inactive they quickly become a negative brand. If your social media presence becomes inactive, remove it, plan for the future, and re-release at a time when your business can accommodate it.

3. Affecting your relationship with current clients.
There is such a thing as having too much information, at least when you are running a business. While platforms like Twitter are great for running promotions, when used as a personal blog they can be devastating to your business' image. Think about it this way -- would you want every action of your day reflecting on your business?

There is a simple solution for this; tweet less and do more. Instead of tweeting about anything and everything, limit your social media output to things that can really help your business. When it comes to sustainable social media marketing, less is more.

4. Spending too much on social media, and too little on other marketing platforms.
Social media is not the ultimate form of marketing. Yes, it is free. Yes, it is effective in the right hands. No, it is not the only way to market your business. When you dedicate all your time to social media, it is easy to fall for the wrong metrics. Think about opportunity cost, and spend time effectively across multiple marketing methods, not just the most glamorous.