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Who should be responsible for social media?

Is it wise to have the intern stand at a lectern and address your most valuable customers at a conference? No! Then why make them responsible for social media?

Who should be responsible for social media?

Leaving social media to a junior employee, or even an intern, is a common error that can cost organisations in terms of reputational damage, missed opportunities and even lawsuits.

There’s a vast difference between being familiar with social media as a casual consumer and using it as a professional tool.

As a quick online search will reveal, there are many case studies of social media #fails at the hands of interns or junior members of staff.

  • Prominent think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies had to backpedal after an intern tweeted that Amnesty International should “suck it”. The intern wrongly assumed that tweet was being sent from his personal account. Oops!
  • A junior employee unknowingly chose a photograph of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion – which occurred before they were born – to illustrate a post promoting a Fourth of July fireworks display.
  • An intern tweeting on behalf of Marc Jacobs embarked on a tirade against the CEO, describing him as a “tyrant” and “difficult”.
  • A social-media employee live-tweeted a round of redundancies at HMV, including her own, with superiors unable to turn off access because they hadn’t found the relevant passwords ahead of time.

Social media requires tools that need managing and ongoing maintenance – and investment.

Seriously? How many times have you gone to a website and looked at the news, only to find the latest article was published more than a year ago? Or that it still had awards up, the most recent being 10 years old? Or that the LinkedIn profile of the head of a division says he or she is still working at another company?

Like any other project, planning pays off.

Research shows 78% of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour and 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their tweet has been replied to.

A best-practice strategy for social media:

  • Aligns with the company’s business objectives, brand values and messaging
  • Articulates goals for all stakeholders, including employees
  • Is measurable – so you can understand whether it has worked
  • Promotes the use of the brand’s voice or personality
  • Is costed, and
  • Values engagement – interaction and shares – over follower numbers, which can be bought cheaply.

Broadly, social media usually comes under public relations or marketing, but it’s also important to involve customer-relations staff in dealing with complaints.

That’s because research shows 78% of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour and 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their tweet has been replied to.

However, it’s a common error to ignore complaints and only ever engage on social media regarding positive interactions.

Staff need training on how to respond to complaints and how, if necessary, to take difficult conversations offline.

It’s also important to realise that social media is a two-way conversation – your listening and responses are as important as the messages you initiate. You need to monitor your social media channels. For big organisations, there are some automated tools available. For smaller organisations, it’s a matter of assigning someone to keep an eye on the channels every single day. If you’re a big organisation, then ideally you’ll be monitoring 24/7.

The key take-out is that it’s consistent story-telling across all platforms and creating relevant and authentic conversations, whether digital or traditional, that communicates effectively and builds reputation.

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