STICK TO YOUR STORY
Remember in social media that what you say and how you say it are equally important. Good content alone isn’t enough – it must be delivered in a manner that reveals your brand’s unique personality.
STAY FOCUSED
Your brand represents the character and values of your organization, regardless of which type of media you are using to communicate. Social media provides an opportunity to share your story in a very personal way across time and distance. When developing content, be consistent in your tone and choice of topics. The more focused you can be in telling your story, the better.
STAY TRUEBest
snippet of social media could be the first contact somebody has with your brand. Your content needs to make the right impression. For those who interact with your brand regularly, every piece of content should reinforce who you are and what you offer in a relationship. Every piece of content must be true to your brand.
Best Practices for Writing Part 1
"THINK LIKE A PUBLISHER, NOT A MARKETER"
- DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT
CONTENT IS KING
Just because you want to write something doesn’t mean others will want to read it. Especially if you happen to write dense blocks of text.
Get in their heads. Create social media content that is both relevant to your brand and interesting to readers. How? Provide information that is either useful or entertaining to your desired target audience. Put the wants and needs of your reader first, within the context of topics that support your brand identity.
Keep content concise and on point. Present information in a way that is easy to read or interpret through imagery. Providing too much or too little content can be a turn-off for readers. If you have a lot to say, break it up into multiple pieces. Not only is this more readable, it also keeps your audience coming back for more.
Add a cherry on top. Chances are, others are sharing similar content. After all, there’s a lot of content floating around out there. What makes your target audience turn to you as their chosen source is the value you add to the content.
Do's and Don'ts of Social Branding
DO’S AND DON’TS OF SOCIAL BRANDING
Do: Recruit your front-line workers. They already know your products and services, and they’re trained in customer relations. After all that, learning how to tweet is easy.
Do: Share ownership. Teamwork, people! Don’t waste time figuring out who has authority over which bit of social media. The whole team needs to partner on equal ground to be successful.
Do: Include social media in your employee guidelines. Even if an employee is not part of your social media team, they’re still engaged in social media. You might even go the extra mile and create a whole playbook for every employee, focusing on appropriate behavior for each social media channel.
Do: Be nimble. Social media moves fast–you can’t afford to spend too much time making decisions or creating elaborate processes of approval, or you could miss out on a fleeting opportunity.
Do: Trust your internal staff. They know the subject and can provide the best strategy and direction on short-term social media decisions.
Do: Hire, if you can. Once you’ve found the most social savvy members of your own team, hiring one person with a specialty in social media can save your organization a lot of time.
Do: Share knowledge. Create space and time for colleagues to discuss best practices and learn from other organizations. Groups like the Social Media Business Council or Word of Mouth Marketing Association can be good resources for case studies and real-world experience.
Don’t: Impose too many restrictions. It’s scary opening up your brand to social media, so your impulse may be to list in detail what can and cannot be said. For your social media team, offer suggestions, examples and recommendations. For your employees as a whole, remind them that they are representing your organization in all media.
Don’t: Sound schizophrenic. When more than one group responds to customers, it can get confusing fast. A unified voice is reassuring and efficient.
Don’t: Give it all to the intern. Social media takes a lot of time, so you may be tempted to offload the day-to-day duties to an unpaid staffer. This is the work of seasoned community managers – experienced people who can manage relationships on behalf of a brand.
Do: Recruit your front-line workers. They already know your products and services, and they’re trained in customer relations. After all that, learning how to tweet is easy.
Do: Share ownership. Teamwork, people! Don’t waste time figuring out who has authority over which bit of social media. The whole team needs to partner on equal ground to be successful.
Do: Include social media in your employee guidelines. Even if an employee is not part of your social media team, they’re still engaged in social media. You might even go the extra mile and create a whole playbook for every employee, focusing on appropriate behavior for each social media channel.
Do: Be nimble. Social media moves fast–you can’t afford to spend too much time making decisions or creating elaborate processes of approval, or you could miss out on a fleeting opportunity.
Do: Trust your internal staff. They know the subject and can provide the best strategy and direction on short-term social media decisions.
Do: Hire, if you can. Once you’ve found the most social savvy members of your own team, hiring one person with a specialty in social media can save your organization a lot of time.
Do: Share knowledge. Create space and time for colleagues to discuss best practices and learn from other organizations. Groups like the Social Media Business Council or Word of Mouth Marketing Association can be good resources for case studies and real-world experience.
Don’t: Impose too many restrictions. It’s scary opening up your brand to social media, so your impulse may be to list in detail what can and cannot be said. For your social media team, offer suggestions, examples and recommendations. For your employees as a whole, remind them that they are representing your organization in all media.
Don’t: Sound schizophrenic. When more than one group responds to customers, it can get confusing fast. A unified voice is reassuring and efficient.
Don’t: Give it all to the intern. Social media takes a lot of time, so you may be tempted to offload the day-to-day duties to an unpaid staffer. This is the work of seasoned community managers – experienced people who can manage relationships on behalf of a brand.
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