The following questions were sent via email to a range of digital media consultants, Stefan included, for an article about social media marketing in NETT magazine. The answers were combined and edited to create the article, which took the form of a round-table discussion. Here are Stefan's un-edited responses, as sent via email:
1. Across different companies, there’s a wide range of people responsible for social media marketing, such as PR firms, marketing departments, IT departments, executives, HR departments, ad agencies or even the receptionist who has a lot of friends on Facebook. Who do you think should be in charge of social media marketing, and why?
Social media marketing must originate at the executive level, with the formulation of policy and guidelines founded on a deep understanding of the medium. The traditional boundaries between personal and corporate communications do not exist and you will never control every single posting on every Website by every staff member, customer and potential customer. Accepting this as the fundamental ‘Rule #1’ might force you to rethink your policies and guidelines considerably.
In a way, no-one is in charge of social media marketing – it’s a bit like the mechanical bull at the local pub that everyone is taking turns having a ride on. The complaints department should go first, then customer support. If customer complaints and issues are dealt with swiftly and comprehensively and a company posts as much helpful information as possible on-line, your ride will probably last a lot longer than the company spruiker.
In the end it will be a complex mix of players that will affect your social media marketing, from opinion leaders you’ve never heard of (who might already be working for you without you knowing) to the professional PR firm whose role it is to find out what is going on out there, make recommendations and orchestrate a diverse range of strategies, to be undertaken by whoever suits the role. This is a world of networks, Google searches, videos, blog posts and comments. You have to be active across all of it, with as much honesty and integrity that you can muster.
2. Should managers try to control what their staff say on social networks? Should they allow them to access social networks during work hours?
You can’t control it, and you can’t ever expect to – the more you try, the more it will probably backfire. However, employees need to realise that their own behaviour can easily backfire, too. What is a potential employer going to think if she/he reads what you are writing about your current boss? What managers can do is encourage good communication skills, positive attitudes and lead by example. What you give is what you get. The more enlightened and constructive your social media contributions, regardless of what people say back, the better off you and your business will be. You can build a successful business and a big following online, simply by blogging helpful, educational, informative material.
Access during work hours is controversial. I allow it in my office, but I remind my staff how easily distracting and time-consuming it can be – and I also make sure I keep them so busy that they don’t have much time! Chat is a nice relief in between work tasks and some of my team use it to source instant professional advice from their learned friends. However, blogging, FaceBook and YouTube can become full-time occupations on their own. There is a never-ending stream of material to view, read and respond to, so it is generally best left to after hours.
3. Do you think it’s acceptable to use the following techniques – and why?
a) ‘Trusted avatars’ – pretending to be a real person not affiliated with a company to spruik that company’s products/services
This can work, but is quite risky, since it is difficult to do well. I would rather be up front, make connections with integrity and hope for positive responses than get caught out and end up the victim of a humiliating public ‘outing’ campaign in a popular forum.
In small business, I think it is quite reasonable to participate in any conversation and admit that you own a business – it’s usually the first question anyone asks me – “What do you do?” That is if they don’t already know, because they can read my profile. So long as I can maintain a conversation that doesn’t always revert to me offering special discounts on selected products if they buy before the end of the month, most people will accept that I am a business person and be okay with that. If they want to do business with me, they will ask. There is no need to pretend.
b) ‘Seeding conversations’ – posing questions about a product and then answering the question using trusted avatars or sock puppets
This depends on the context, but this can work. Kevin Rudd does this very well – he loves posing questions and answering them himself! There would only be certain situations on-line where it would not appear contrived. You can always point people to your Website's FAQ page. Better to engage real people to ask real questions and provide genuine answers. This can also backfire, if it looks and sounds like you have brought a ‘plant’ into the audience with you. You might both get outed. Larger companies can get away with this more, because it is more believable that many people would be out there asking and answering questions about their products. Still, the answer should come from a genuine employee, like someone from customer support who identifies themselves and has a genuine reason for being in the conversation. Seek out relevant existing conversations and blogs and participate as a genuine contributor.
c) Buying lists of ‘friends’ on social networks
We have done this in the past for clients with mixed results. If the ’friends’ are sourced with a high likelihood of actually being interested in your products or services, it can work well, as you may get a proportion of them remaining friends and responding positively. Chances are, however, that most of these kinds of ’friends’ are scammers and spammers anyway, looking for overnight Internet stardom by collecting thousands of random followers. You might just end up wasting a lot of time trawling through all their spammy posts when you could be concentrating on your own valuable communications with a genuine audience. Collect friends by all means, but be careful which circles you mix in – just like in the real world.
4. If you’re marketing a product, how do you introduce yourself into someone else’s conversation? How should you declare your interest when you do?
I see two ways of achieving this. The first is to ensure your profile/avatar information is honestly and accurately filled out. That way, anyone can immediately click on it and discover what you are all about. The second way is to bring it up at whatever time is appropriate, either by mentioning it in your post, or by answering truthfully when asked. Be prepared, however, that the other person may then go off and Google you. Also make sure that whatever you said prior to your self-interest being declared will not harm your reputation or credibility, once your identity is revealed.
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