Welcome to the 21st century and congratulations on wanting to expand your company or organization’s digital footprint via social media; but now that you’ve made the decision, what do you do?
1. If you don’t have a designated social media manager, start small.
There are dozens of social media sites out there, and new ones are launching every day. Since Facebook is the mainstay with the most users, that may be a good place to begin. Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and other platforms like Pinterest are worth looking into as well. It al depends on your audience and your message. Decide which two platforms are the best and focus on those. Use that time and energy to enhance content on the social media sites that you do have.
2. Create a social media policy.
Chances are that more than one employee will be in charge of controlling your social media site(s). You must have a standard guideline of the “dos and don’ts” to keep employees and your audience on the same page of what’s allowed. Research some company social media guidelines online. On-Brand Impressions can help you create one as well.
3. Be careful with automated social media software.
The reason people have decided to stay in touch with your company or organization is because they want to informally stay informed—preferably with a human! Programs that automatically post updates from your website using an RSS feed may seem like a time saver, but it can also be perceived as spam. Take time to customize and write your content, even if you’re using a scheduler system. It takes a little more time to write the extra information, but your audience will be happy to know that a person (not a robot) is actually behind the scenes controlling the content.
4. Respond, even to negative comments.
This is where social media isn’t so fun any more. There may be a time or two when you get unpleasant comments on your social media page. In those situations, always refer to your social media guide. Remember, though, there’s a difference between negative feedback and an outright malicious comment. If the comment is completely against your company’s or organization’s adopted policy, it can be deleted. However, someone expressing frustration about a product or service could turn into an opportunity to improve customer service.
Social media is a great way to personify your organization, so have fun with it; but make sure you have these foundations in place before you launch!
