Get the right people together for the social media dream team. Here’s how...
An analogy I often give to businesses who’re reluctant to include social into their marketing mix is one of stepping onto a running treadmill – if you’re not up to speed and just want to stand still, you’re likely going to fall further behind. Yet, getting onto the social bus with the bare minimum investment – maybe you have an intern or an already overworked marketing executive monitoring your Facebook and twitter presence – is fraught with danger, and brands often burn their fingers, not to mention their relationships with their digital audiences, simply because they’ve got the wrong folks on the job. If you’re going to be taking social seriously, you’re going to have to be picky about who the digital face of your company is and what the mix of skills you need for your social media dream team. So where does one start?
Social Media Goals and Policies: Before you go looking for the right people, take two steps back and think. Your social media team isn’t a disconnected entity – its goals need to reflect the needs of your business. You need to set down goals for the social media team – do you foresee the team driving sales via offers and promotions on your Facebook page, or will the team be responsible for handling customer service as well? Is feedback to build a better product primary, or do you want the audience to advocate your brand by sharing your content or engaging in Facebook group discussions? In any case, the goals and metrics for what you hope to achieve should be in place even before you make the first hire.
Another aspect that needs to be closely considered is a policy governing social media activities within the organisation, for reasons beyond the worst case scenarios, such as the PR disasters that can happen when rogue employees vent against the company on the social channels. A clear social media policy outlines what is and isn’t appropriate behavior for employees on the official social media channels – such as expressing views on industry trends, competition or the political climate. Sadly, asking employees to use common sense is simply not good enough as a thumb rule to prescribe in all scenarios! The social media policy could also include a style guide – your company’s voice, in some senses - to describe what tone or language the team will adopt on the social channels to ensure consistency. Of course, factor what business you’re in into the equation as well – a B2B company may want a more professional tone, while a business that deals with web developers and programmers (or smaller businesses for that matter) can afford a more casual tone that allows for more personal and individual styles of writing – the point is to know your audience and create content with them in mind. Bear in mind, your social media policy should be a living document, ready to be updated with changing business scenarios and technologies.
also in touch with strong social media strategies. A specialized social media firm may be a good alternative if you have a strong marketing function but need the extra guidance on how to traverse the social landscape, while independent consultants may represent the most affordable choice for external sourcing. also in touch with strong social media strategies. A specialized social media firm may be a good alternative if you have a strong marketing function but need the extra guidance on how to traverse the social landscape, while independent consultants may represent the most affordable choice for external sourcing.
The flipside is that no one knows your business as intimately as your own employees, and carving out key roles for your social media team from within may be a viable, long-term alternative. But where do you look for this team, you may ask? To begin with, you could look at the marketing team, folks who are knowledgeable about your product and are trained in communicating key brand messages… as long as they have the spare cycles to take on an additional function. As a business owner, you could do it all by yourself, but the social media function requires a time commitment which you may not be able to fulfill if you wear other hats within the company. Hiring from outside for a specialized social media role may just be the best bet if you’re unsure how to proceed.
Building the Dream Team: Irrespective of what approach you decide to follow, here are some of the key roles to staff up the team:
Social Media Manager: The cornerstone for your team, this is a person who knows how the social media function fits within the company’s big picture and can measure the team's overall results against the social media strategy. This is a person who can quickly forward queries, conversations, sales leads and issues to the right departments, hence impeccable organization skills and knowledge are a must. In addition, keen writing skills and a finely developed sense of diplomacy are essential to managing the show.
Community Managers: These are the conversationalists, the folks who’re interacting directly with the customers and the audience and know exactly what the company wants to say, when it should be said and how best to phrase it, whether it is in the form of compelling blog posts or responding to customer questions or comments. Community managers are also looked upon to craft immensely shareable content, so a flair for written communication and a calm temperament are vital.
Content Engineers: These are the folks in the trenches, the creative team that helps make your presence come alive. These are folks who’re always hunting for the perfect photograph or infographic to add to your social posts or digging up those great customer quotes to use in your next campaign. Working closely with the community managers, these are the folks who fashion the cohesive story about the brand.
Digital Natives: You probably already know these folks within the company, possibly in the marketing, PR, tech or online teams. They participate in many different social networks, probably have a blog with a sizeable following and know what it takes to find and gain followers and engage with them… and by extension, what could possibly tick off your audience. Constantly plugged into the latest trends, themes and memes online, they revel in being online and connected, and will see the social media function as a natural extension to what they do on a personal level. These are the folks you tap into as a feeder to the creative team to leverage the latest trends on social media.
Analysts: Folks with a head for numbers, the analysts should be less interested in what is pretty and creative and instead focus on tracking, analytics and statistics – essentially, measureable stuff that points to the social team’s ROI. These are folks who’re clued into social measurement tools that measure the conversations about the brand and can guide the team, based on the metrics, about where to go next.