Who should respond to brand mentions?

You know social media is not a passing fad. The question facing your organization is not why we should listen and engage in social media, but how do we do this? Social media affects all areas of your business and different skill sets are necessary. The enterprise must socialize internally, but how do you determine who represents the organization externally?

Determine Capacity

To succeed, social media must be owned by the enterprise and not stashed in a silo or with a Gen Y intern. An organization may not have dedicated resources to communicating online (aka community response team). In this case, internal research may yield who in your organization is already using social media for business and personal efforts. Tap into their existing passion and voice. These folks may already feel comfortable in participating in social media and communicating on behalf of the company. Ensure all facets of your organization are represented on the social media frontlines or in the behind-the-scenes response workflow.

It is important to note, when a person becomes a voice for the organization, they are always on. Earlier this year, a customer service issue was elevated in Twitter to the Best Buy CMO, bringing to light that formal elevation of customer response does not necessarily exist in social media. Those who are representing your organization online must be prepared for this new reality and be able to field issues or know who to delegate issues to depending on the delicacy of the customer interaction.

Find your Voice(s)

The formal voice and legalese you may use in offline communications is not received well in social media. A more informal and approachable voice is better for response and relationship building. Remember, you are having a conversation. Would you rather have a conversation with a dry, faceless human or a person with identifiable characteristics and personality? No matter who is responding, don’t pretend to be anyone other than who you are. The human element can never be underestimated!

Develop Processes

The uncontrollability factor of social media gives the impression that the space is messy. Your action or response does not have to reflect the disorganized zig-zag of conversations across multiple channels. How can you ensure your organizational voice(s) convey the right information and messages, regardless of channel? Developing a listening grid is a step in the right direction, but to avoid visible disconnect, a comprehensive communication (to include social media) strategy is required. Mike Manuel outlines a six step plan to help develop engagement processes.

Avoid limiting yourself to a social media only strategy because you further a silo response. If social media requires enterprise wide support, an integrated strategy of on and offline engagement should be created and executed. Developing social media processes does not have to be like reinventing the wheel. Take a page from customer service and marketing communications…how are they already addressing customer response? What can you learn from their interactions? How can you incorporate social media response into an already existing CRM program so the customer profile reflects a true holistic experience?

Do you already have a team, voice and processes established? Please share how you implemented these listening and engagement necessities and the pros and cons upon execution.

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