Social media secrets…

Three years of thinking in one word document: my mini guide to managing social media

You can download it here

Let me know what you think…

27 crazy realities of social media management

Ever read an article and found yourself nodding vigorously along to pretty much every word? Then at the end of the article you smile and think if only I’d thought of putting it that way…

That’s exactly how I felt when reading Liz Strauss’s post on 27 things to know before you work in Social Media

She doesn’t mince her words; the list is comprehensive and a little bit sobering. She also points out it’s “simply a set of observations which are quite similar to the challenges of any communication-based, people-centered endeavor.”

In other words, these are challenges communicators face which are enhanced by the speed, nature and culture of social media.

Under the post you can see several great comments. And I thought I’d pop a few words in too.

I said: “Social media sometimes feels like you’re in a partially lit tunnel going at lightspeed with things coming at you to catch, handle and pass on whilst also battling against a strange crosswind of resistance and misunderstanding. All the while, you’re commentating on yourself for the benefit of others…“

That said, I love every minute of what I do. The benefits far outweigh the challenges and as long as you’re prepared to do the job properly, you can achieve good things.

27 Things to Know Before You Work in Social Media

Poor choice of words = understatement

If we’re all on social media nowadays do brands really need to employ trained writers to do it?

Er, might be a good idea…

Source: Jon Silk’s excellent blog

Wow, your strategy is TOTALLY showing…

Sometimes, just sometimes it can seem like marketing professionals and ‘Real People’ speak different languages. True?

One of the many Things Real People Do Not Say About Advertising which incidentally is the name of a hilarious blog

Check it out, it’s very funny.

When we’re done laughing, let’s all promise not to forget how real people behave. I will if you will.

(hat tip Ed Lee whose name I remember from my blogger.com blogging days. Good times.)

Nothing is new under the sun…

Whatever you call it; digital liaison, community management or online engagement – it seems the role of community manager is not necessarily a new one.

This interesting post by Find Your Search fleshes out this argument further, listing the many hats a community manager should wear during their day to day activities.

Here’s my take on those ‘hats’:

• the advocate – it’s clear you believe in the organisation/product
• a promoter – able to ‘sell’ the story, mission or event
• liaison/devil’s advocate – seeing the customers point of view (similar to receiver orientation in PR theory)
• moderator/diplomat – able to handle conflict and show compassion
• active (and thinking) participant – knowing when to interact in the online community and when it isn’t appropriate
• communicator – whatever the channel; it’s people talking to people about things and you need to be clear and your tone needs to be right for the context and the community
• in the know – i hate the word ‘guru’ but you should know your stuff. understand the lingo, keep up with the industry news, talk to leading practitioners and try out those new tools early to see how they work for your community
• a good host – ask questions, be friendly and encouraging. then your community ‘feels at home’ and will post content and share stories. you know you’ve really made it when they talk to each other without any prompting from you
• analyser – sure it’s important to keep an eye on the quantitative figures (the ones that are worth monitoring) but also archive content, keep copies of good practice, analyse what worked and what didn’t. look at what responses you have and this will help you to know WHO you are talking to and what WORKS.
• evangelist – bang on and on about how important community building is. demonstrate it. share success.

However…

Although the digital/online comms arena is still pretty new, the role (and the ‘hats’) are not. In Public Relations there are many roles for the PR practitioner something a chap called Broom (ie Cutlip, Center and Broom) defines as:

• the expert prescriber
• communication facilitator
• problem-solving process facilitator
• communication technician

If you look at the summary above, you’ll spot many similarities.

Communication is people talking to people about things. The channels might be different and that may impact the way you communicate but the message still needs to sound like you and it needs to be relevant to your audience.

Seems the hats come with the job; whether in the press briefing, selling in releases, writing copy or managing online communities…

On watching people…

Just read a really interesting article (from the BBC) about why it’s so important for organisations to ‘watch’ their customers, critics and competition.

The article includes the United Breaks Guitars video – an excellent example of how one creative customer can use their bad experience to attract a lot of attention (+5 million views)

Yes, it’s important to monitor what people are saying about you. There’s no need to go overboard and spend loads, you can use free tools (social mention, twitter search) and set up search columns in Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to monitor throughout the day.

And it’s worth considering that some of those tweets or messages will be from people who the marketing textbooks call ‘influencers’ – which is just a posh name for someone who knows a lot of people who actually listen to what they say.

But it’s also important not to lose sight the content AND context of the comment. The person with an over the top complaint who writes in an abusive manner? You can reply politely and try to be helpful. If they continue to be abusive and unreasonable, it’s perfectly acceptable to consider if you want to continue to reply to them.  Do they have a legitimate, genuine point?

Also, social networks only represent one part of an organisation’s supporters. Not everyone tweets, so thorough research will be needed to determine what ‘most’ people are saying about you.

It is great that companies are taking social media seriously and I genuinely think charities are ahead of the pack in this. Long may it continue

Sorry…

I know I said “the next post will be up in a couple of days”…

To tell you the truth, a couple of massive things happened. I got offered a new job.

At the same charity. They’ve offered me a post where I will spend most of my time planning, developing, writing and managing the social media meeting-spaces we have. Soooo exciting!

Since April 2008 I’ve helped to manage Facebook and in 2009 took on some twitter work. I’d used Facebook on a personal level so was familiar with it (still a bit to learn about using it professionally). Hadn’t the foggiest about twitter, but i set up a personal account and threw myself into the deep end, learning about the mystical world of hashtags, RTs DMs and the dreaded failwhale.

In the Summer of 2008, we got to 400 on Facebook we thought ‘cool, this is good’ and then heard a few people saying ‘what’s the point of Facebook’ and our hearts sank. But, serendipidity smiled upon us as the meedja and big business started to fall in love with all things online. And our famous chairman of fundraising whipped up an online frenzy too.

Recently, everyone at the charity has been really on fire for social media and I’m so grateful for that. The fab senior managers trusted me (and the awesome king of web) to develop our presence.

The idea was, and still is, to reach out where people were but still keep the organisation’s voice. Tricky

This weekend, it’s likely we’ll go over 10,000 on Facebook. That’s great but what’s much more impressive than the number is the depth and warmth of connection we are forging with supporters. That’s what it’s all about.

So now my job is to connect, engage and extend what the charity does. And dust off the old strategies and textbooks and put the PR training to use. It’s going to be good.