followers
Does your business or nonprofit organization monitor the Internet for social media mentions? Good and bad references affect its brand reputation, so knowing what people say - and replying - are very important.
Besides, if your goals are to increase leads and sales (or donations), build brand reputation, and improve search rankings, every response you make contributes.
Since, I’ve blogged on social media complaints (Are You Responding to Social Media Complaints? and How Do You Handle Social Media Complaints?), I’d like to focus on the lowest hanging fruit - positive comments and references, as these are the easiest to manage.
Why you should say thanks… Continue reading
Every time I use Manage Flitter to see which of my Twitter followers do not follow me back, I am always amazed. Some are clients, friends, colleagues, and even nonprofit organizations I have supported.
It made me wonder how frequently these people are checking to see who follows them. They may be missing out on some valuable connections. Or, they be ticking off the people who are already in their circles - and I don’t mean Google+ circles!
Here are just a few examples of my non-followers:
1. A recent best-selling author I connected with on LinkedIn. He sent me a personal e-mail (along with everyone else he knows, I assume) about the launch of his new book, asking if I could help him promote it. When I replied asking him if I could interview him for a MarketingProfs post, he never replied. Isn’t social media about giving as well as taking? I unfollowed him back.
2. At least three bloggers who do similar work to me. Delete.
3. Some of the blogs to which I contribute!!! Geez. Give me a break.
4. Several nonprofit organizations to which I have made donations. Are they nuts? Do they want my money or not? Social media = engagement! How can they engage with me if they don’t follow my tweets? Mind boggling.
5. Several nonprofit publications. I wondered why they wouldn’t follow someone like me since I post a lot about nonprofit marketing topics. Plus, I may retweet their posts. Oh well.
When was the last time you checked your Twitter followers to see who’s there? Maybe you’re missing people you should be following and with whom you should be engaging?
With social media being a relatively new marketing communications channel, how many social media managers working today have a background in the marketing or communications field? Many probably do and yet, I'll bet there are loads of them who don't.
Social media managers are at the forefront of their employers' brands. Every comment, discussion, and interaction is a reflection of the brand. How they write, their word choices, their tone, and yes, even their spelling and punctuation, all contribute to the brand impressions that followers will have.
Whether your organization assigned the job to the youngest, most social-savvy employee, or it hired someone with communications or related experience, it's important that the social media manager has a solid understanding of the brand and can convey the brand personality with every social media post and conversation.
