How to Hold The Social Media Brush

I have to credit my wife for something she tweeted out recently that made me stop and think:

"Social media in business is an art and not everyone is equipped to hold the brush."

I've been very fortunate in my roles in Social Media at both my previous firm and now at O'Connell and Goldberg Creative Public Relations, where I recently started as the firm's first-ever Director of Social Media.  Fortunate in that the clients I have done Social Media for feel the level of authenticity is there when I'm trying to provide news and information about them.

Social Media for business is NOT an area where someone can come in, do two to three tweets, and move on to the next day.  I have maintained during presentations I have given and among colleagues that is an art; however, it took my wife's tweet to make me want to write about the subject.

I subscribe to several basic principles when I think about Social Media and how to help a client's business:

1) Know your client thoroughly before sitting down at a keyboard; otherwise, you can do some serious damage.

It only takes one tweet, Facebook post or blog entry to destroy a brand's credibility.  Therefore, if you don't know everything about your client and the way they want to be portrayed, step away and learn everything you can.  I've always felt that when I was tweeting on behalf of Dunkin' Donuts' @DDSoFla account or posting as the Truly Nolen Mousecar on Facebook that I was an extension of their brand.  In other words, I knew to inject fun into both brands while staying away from polarizing issues (i.e. not tweeting about politics or religion, not posting about creepy crawly insects at 8:30 in the morning, not mentioning competitors directly by name or retweeting tweets that do).  If you don't brush up on your client, your language is stilted or your tweets may come across as too salesy. 

2) Engagement over Quantity.

Too often, people think a brand's success is based on how many people are following them.  What good is having 25,000 followers if you're sending out 2-3 tweets a day with open-ended questions and receiving no response? Likewise, I would rather have 250 followers with direct engagement via @replies while getting to know a client's followers.  One of the great feelings I had when working on @DDSoFla was because of the direct engagement I had with followers, when I would ask questions of the followers, at least 4-5 religiously would respond.  That won't come with just 2-3 tweets a day.

3) Tailoring the message

Having six Dunkin' Donuts accounts was a challenge.   It would be easy to have sent the same tweet to all six accounts at once and call it a day.  However, other than actual corporate @DunkinDonuts retweets that I did send out at once to these accounts, I believe one of the main reasons these accounts were successful from the start was because I was able to identify what was of interest in each key area.  For example, I could talk about the #Rays on @DDTampaBay or the #Noles on @DDNWFL_SEAL or the #Dolphins on @DDSoFla. If I sent generic tweets, people would see through them quickly and not believe I knew anything about their area.


4) Following Key Influencers

Every business on Twitter should identify the people in their areas or across the country and world who can help become brand ambassadors.  @DDNWFL_SEAL was a fun launch because I began following people in Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City Beach and Dothan, AL and began engaging them about their local Dunkin' Donuts.  I also provided some giveaways to people who twitpic'd their local restaurant or answered trivia.  In short, I built trust with them and they would in turn tweet about DD in a positive light.  If you don't know who your customers are, how are you ever going to be successful with a campaign?

5) Followers are looking for Quality Customer Service; Don't let them down.

No business is perfect, as much as we want to believe they are.  When complaints came in through Twitter about any of our clients, I worked very hard to get as much information as I could via DM or in Facebook email, offered a solution, and made sure to tell them we hoped it would not happen again.  As a result, social media is one of the great lines of defense in shaping customer opinion; however, the danger is because of its immediacy, it can backfire.  So if someone posts a complaint on a Facebook page and the business doesn't respond for 24 hours, or if someone says an event is two hours long but leaves an hour early with no warning, people will know quicker than you might imagine.

6) You don't have to be an expert to be successful. 

I've never liked the "Social Media Expert" term that so many throw around in cyberspace.  Bottom line - anyone who takes the time to learn the tools and develop relationships with followers can be successful.  The big difference between me and most people is that Social Media is the passion that drives me, and as a result, I've spent most of the past 2 1/2 years focused on Social Media for business.  As such, I try very hard to share the knowledge with others whenever possible, whether it's at tweetups or presentations.

If you have any questions about Social Media for business, feel free to leave a comment below.  Thanks for allowing me to paint a picture!