Tag: Content Marketing

Please stop doing these.  Asap.  Below I break down my three greatest social media pet peeves for February 2017.

1. Ignoring Scheduled Post Comments
So here lies one problem with automation.: automation.  While the idea of scheduling posts or tweets all hours of the day may be tempting, failure to respond to engagements with those posts is really, really bad news.  It fails to validate your user’s interest in your brand, harms your reputation, and makes you look just plain disinterested.  You don’t want to be the person at the cocktail party who walks up to a group and announces your new business opportunity and then walks away before people can ask questions, right?  So don’t do it on social, either.

Best practice alternative: Always remember to have a member of your social team on hand, monitoring your channels, whenever scheduled content is posted.

2.  Deleting Negative Comments and Reviews
A common mistake made by brands, particularly those in a service industry is the deleting of negative comments and reviews.  Nip this practice in the bud, immediately.  Feedback is feedback, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it’s all comparably beneficial as any business moves to continually improve.  Deleting negative feedback on your brand doesn’t mean you’ve magically erased that feedback from the universe, it means you’re simply ignoring it.

Best practice alternative: Respond to it appropriately.  Use tact, grace, and and sincere appreciation for the feedback.  Watch for an upcoming blog post here detailing in depth advice on responding to negative feedback, but in the meantime, kindly smile, thank users for their feedback, posts, etc. and then use that feedback to better yourself as a brand.

3.  Using Inappropriate Humor
Humor is critical to any successful social presence.  Humor makes people laugh and laughter makes the world a better place.  However inappropriate humor can backfire, causing a wave of negative feelings that ultimately hurt your reputation.

Best practice alternative:  Know your voice, know your tone and stick to it.  Keep it simple and light.  Use tact and common sense and above all, if you question whether something is or is not funny, go with your gut and assume that it most likely will not be read the way you intended.

As a consultant working independently, I have the privilege of offering hands on services to my clients.  I work solo, acting as the account team, the creative backbone, the business support, and ultimately the executor pressing the “go” buttons on over 40 social media channels across 7 platforms for clients ranging from small rural sole proprietorships, to the largest hotelier in the world.

That being said, my responsibilities are at times, unintentionally minimized with questions like, “So basically you post on Facebook all day?”

Hmmm.  Insert laugh emoji.

The short answer: No.  That isn’t what I do all day.  I also watch panda videos on YouTube, silly.

The long answer: No, the role of a social team/consultant is complex.  The responsibilities, objectives, and processes are constantly changing.  Assuming that posting content is the end game, is a common mistake made not only by personal users, but also by businesses choosing to go DIY with their social presence.

Look for an additional blog post January 31 when I’ll be prioritizing the most important components of a successful social presence.  But in the meantime, let me offer this teaser: posting content is at the bottom of my list.

Items on a social team’s ever growing list of responsibilities often include, but are not limited to:

• Researching industry trends.
• Researching client industry news.
• Reviewing competition presence.
• Managing brand assets used in social posts (i.e. photos, video, testimonials).
• Constantly reviewing social strategy and assuring its success.
• Assuring brand consistency in tone and voice across channels.
• Cross promoting of channels.
• Managing a successful paid campaign targeting specific clients/customers.
• Managing user engagements, offering prompt and consistent responses to all user communications, i.e. FB and IG messaging, Twitter DMs, mentions, comments, and reviews.
• Collecting and reviewing social analytics and ROI.
• Creating and curating applicable content.
• Cultivating influencer relationships.
• Preparing for crisis management situations.
• Managing the client’s online reputation.
• Communicating withe various stakeholders and departments on their needs.
• Promoting specials/packages/promotions.
• Assuring consistent link-back scenarios.
• Researching critical dates.
• Creating social promotions and contests.

In summary, the role of your social team, whether it be a large agency or a single consultant is massive and the end result of specific posts on various channels, are a tiny slice of a very large pie.  Hopefully this  break-down offers a small bit of insight into the back side of any great social presence.  There’s essential work being performed behind the scenes, contributing to your overall success nearly every hour of every day.

Thanks for reading my 60 Second Social post.

People often ask me what I believe to be the most critical element of social media. That isn’t a tough question for me. While several integral elements combine to form a successful social media launch, at the absolute top of my list is the response – your response. How quickly, accurately, and consistently you respond to user engagement.

Why? Because at the end of the day, SM is really about relationships. It’s you building a relationship with those who are interested in your brand.

You throw out a post, a special, a promotion, an announcement, whatever. Great. Look at you, your team is getting your information out to your followers! But here’s the thing, when Susie McCustomer in Clientsville Arkansas reads your post and comments on it, your response to her is exceptionally critical! It’s actually more critical than the original post on which she commented.

Let’s use an analogy because I tend to love analogies. Consider social media the new telephone.

Would you ignore a call from a customer or client? No. You’d answer or call back. SM is your new telephone and the only difference is that now, when you “answer the phone”, it’s public for the entire world to see, hear, and critique your response. So be on track, be concise, be genuine, be consistent, and most of all be timely with your responses to user comments, reviews, posts, etc.

After all, it’s called social media. Not one way media. Or even push media. It’s social, so be social and be responsive.

Thanks for reading my 60 Second Social post.