Tag Archives: community

Social Responsibility

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While putting your brand on Facebook as a the Social Media representative for your organization is popular, another strategy is gaining ground. Using Facebook as a corporate social responsibility platform. That is, identifying a need (whether it be in the local community or on a global scale), and using Facebook as the platform to address that need.

How ethical is this?
You are using other peoples misfortunes to sell your product. Is that justifiable? As long as you are actually addressing the need earnestly and honestly, then yes. I have been involved in several campaigns that left a bad taste in my mouth. They were nothing but PR exercises where the community in need gained nothing. This was several years ago and it may have worked then, but society has grown savvy rather quickly and attempting this today will either fail or turn into a PR nightmare. Make sure that the spotlight is on the needs of the community and that the brand takes second place. This may not guarantee a successful campaign, but at least needs will have been addressed in the process, and people will remember that.

Longevity
How long can a campaign like this last? Indefinitely. There are many people in need. If you’ve successfully managed to address a need (eg. a blanket drive), there is nothing wrong with shifting focus to another need.

How do I know if I should be doing this?
This really depends on your goals and budget. If you just want to create brand awareness and you’re on a limited budget, then this might not be for you. If you have a budget (in other words, enough money to actually make a difference), and you want to create more talkability, then approach may be for you. I think this approach should work for all brands, but I personally would like to see this play out in the finance space. I believe that brands that are perceived as dull could get far more mileage out of this.

If you’re ready to change the world, you will find a community of people, both online and off, ready to stand behind you.

Be kind to your Facebook fans

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I was doing some general Facebook surfing the other day and I came across the Facebook page for one of America’s premiere coffee creamers. The content was really well thought out. There was a good mix of links and anecdotal updates. A little bit of product info here and there to keep the consumer up to date and a lot of UGC (user generated content).

But then my heart froze. As I went more carefully through the page, I noticed that the community manager had not responded to ANY of the fans posts. None whatsoever. There really is no excuse for this. The reason that fans comment on a page is so that they will be acknowledged and engaged with. They want to feel that the brand they love, loves them back. If you don’t have a response, simply clicking the ‘like’ button on their contribution is enough.

I realize that at the end of the day, a Facebook page is about moving products off of shelves. So if you don’t respond to a consumer here and there, who really cares? Well, that person does. If you’re too lazy to respond to a consumer that’s posted on your page, you’re probably also too lazy to research your community. You may never discover that the people you’re ignoring are your brand ambassadors, consumers who are vocal and are willing to spread the word. But sure, go ahead, ignore them.

The other argument is simply one of manners. If somebody speaks to you, be polite and acknowledge them.

To summarize, social media is about conversation. So make sure you’re having those conversations, otherwise, save your money and splash out on a few banner ads instead.

Two Terrible Approaches To Social Media

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I’ve seen some pretty interesting approaches to social media over the last few years. Today I want to look at two of the most common errors and why they don’t going to work. People have a tendency to take workflows out of the industry they come from and try to apply them to social media. It’s a little scary how little thought is put into this medium.

1. Publishing
Treating SM platforms like publishing platforms is a common mistake. After all, you’re producing content for the masses right? They’re reading and consuming the written word, albeit in smaller doses. So that means that all the standards of the magazine industry apply. Content pillars and themes, tons of preparation, research for every article and rigid guidelines to help the team through their daily writing chores.

This doesn’t work for one very important reason : control. Unfortunately (for the ex magazine editor), social media is not just about producing top notch content. It’s about conversations. It’s about providing content that suits the community at that very moment. That means it’s incredibly contextual and relevant. It also means that while you can have loose guidelines, you will want to try and keep your content as agile as possible. You must be able to change your theme for the day with a moments notice. The benefit of using live web platforms is that your feedback is immediate, which means your content strategies can be dynamic. They can grow and change with your community. This boils down to letting go of control. For the most part, your community will dictate.

2. Web
The other side of the coin is the web developer. The web developer sees the platform as just another web site. So the concentration is on unique page views, likes, followers and interactions. It’s all a numbers game. Media will be a huge driving force to growing the community, content will be secondary.

The issue here is obvious. Once again we are ignoring the human factor. While likes and follows are great metrics to show the client, they have very little to do with the overall health of a community. It’s like growing the population of a small country. Is it sustainable? Is the community happy? Are you bolstering your community drop offs with more media to fill the gaps? Numbers are not enough. You need to be checking your communities sentiment with regular polls. Are they keen to participate? What’s the interaction like? What are the concerns? Do you have any influencers?

The best approach is of course a happy medium between the two. Yes, content is king, but keep it dynamic. Yes, numbers are important, but you’re dealing with human beings. Just because you’re in marketing, doesn’t mean you don’t have to care.