Do Communicate the Strategy, Don’t Allow for Confusion—While you may have created a strategy and identified the spokespeople who will participate in online conversations, if you do not share that strategy with the rest of the organisation it will lead to confusion. Social media turns everyone associated with your brand into a potential company representative. Whether you are a large or small company, the nature of social media requires specific guidelines for conduct.
Make sure employees know their role in the discussion. Just as you communicate guidelines for media calls or other media activities, share guidelines on what is and is not appropriate for social media. While many employees are tempted to participate in conversations, giving clear directives on company policy will help you control the message. While 99% of the participation is likely harmless, in some cases, it may impact company brand and reputation.
Do Set Priorities and Goals, Don’t Try To Do It All—Not all online conversations carry the same weight. Many will have no impact on your company and not every mention of your company or brand will require the same amount of attention. The trick is to understand what does and does not matter. While a discussion on the latest product release or customer feedback may be worth engaging in, other discussions may be trivial and will not require your participation.
In a recent example, Domino’s Pizza’s decision to not to react to a YouTube video showing two employees tampering with a customer’s food order backfired and negatively affected the company’s brand. Within a day, the clips had been viewed about 200,000 times, while anti-Domino’s comments began to spread on Twitter and other social media sources. Two days after the initial release of the video, Domino’s Pizza USA President Patrick Doyle did respond to the video in an attempt to restore consumer confidence.
While knowing what conversations are taking place and using the valuable insight gained from them is important, understanding impact will help you define the priority to the company. Just remember, you may not be able to do it all. The world of social media is rapidly growing and changing, focus on what will help you meet your goals.
Do Provide Consistent Content, Don’t Simply Dabble—Now that you’ve got spokespeople, guidelines and an understanding of the landscape, you are ready to engage in social media. Social media is about contributing to the conversation, not just selling your product or service.
It is acceptable to tout company announcements and activities, but participation means going beyond promotions. Share third party resources with your followers, fans and social media network. Offer them interesting articles and opportunities that will help them better understand the industry and see the value you can provide. If you have a blog, tweet links to interesting articles that may provide valuable information on emerging trends or other educational materials within it and drive people back to your content. The more valuable your content, the more your audience will grow.
Commit to your social media network. Be consistent with your updates, while you may not be able to post your own content on every occasion, regularly offer general thoughts and opinions on other content. Staying involved with your network is the only way to really leverage the platform. Anyone can create noise in social media; it is up to you to provide valuable insight. Staying on top of trends in your industry and having the ability to deliver well thought out analysis positions you as a thought leader, builds your organisation’s credibility and can positively influence your organisation’s online reputation.
Do Find Quality Followers to Engage, Don’t Worry About Numbers—We all want thousands of followers on Twitter, but the number is not as important as the quality of your network. If half of your Twitter followers are there simply to boost your number, you will not be reaching the right people with your message.
Promotion is key to building your social media network. Make sure you share your Twitter handle, Facebook page or Linkedin profile with your business contacts to help build your network. Add it to company promotions, include it in your email signature, and list it on your website so the audience you want to attract knows where to find you.
Many social media platforms have created their own methods to promote valuable contributors. Twitter has #followfriday, a designated day to recommend influential or interesting people to follow on Twitter, is a great way to get quality followers and establish your network.
Once you begin using Twitter, Facebook and other platforms regularly you will build a network that will help you meet your goals. As people recognise the value you are providing, they will want to listen to you.
