2 Words To Improve Your Social Customer Service

A strange thing just happened……………….

That’s a good opening line, straight out of “50 Great Opening Lines For Your Blog”.

Anyway, a strange thing did just happen. I started to write this blog and came across one written by Ian Anderson Gray entitled:-

Stop Saying Thank You on Social Media & Say Something Meaningful!

He had based this on a similar blog by Mark Schaefer who is probably the Social and Marketing expert I respect more than any other. However, on this subject I have to disagree with the great man.

Saying “Thank You” is easy, just two little words that take but a second to say and type but to the recipient can make all the difference.

I always say it has never been easier to provide gold-standard customer service using Social communication. Conversely you could argue it has never been easier to get it wrong, and business and organisations do, time and time again.

Part of a successful customer service strategy is some appreciation when a customer or stakeholder does something which benefits you as the service provider. One of the great parts of Social Marketing is the ability to turn customers, clients and supporters into “Brand Ambassadors”. Those people who will fly the flag for you on the Social web, extol your qualities and if you’ve really built a solid relationship with them, defend you when you’ve received negativity.

Think of saying “thank you” as a deposit into your “Goodwill” account. Each time you are appreciative of an act of Social interaction and engagement the account grows richer. The benefit here is that when you need to deal with a troublesome situation you can withdraw from this “Goodwill” account and hopefully resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction.

According to a 2014 study published in the “Emotion” publication thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. Isn’t that the whole premise of Social communication? To develop strong and long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

When I was managing a team of people in the radio business I tried to pass some of the customer service practices I had developed. One of these was taking time at the end of the day to respond to anyone who had engaged with me during the day if I hadn’t the chance to already do so. It took a matter of minutes but it kept the “Goodwill” account topped up. In my case it helped me become the most listened to commercial radio presenter in Wales for the best part of a decade.

Of course “Thank You” can be just that, two little words said in appreciation of an act or comment. It can also be more than that:

A positive comment on a blog

A comment or a share on another Social platform

An endorsement of your expertise on LinkedIn

A testimonial for your website or YouTube channel

A review of a product or service

And so it goes………..

I thoroughly recommend an excellent on this subject. It’s “The Thank You Economy” by Gary Vaynerchuck. It describes how social media has changed the way we do business and how consumers want to be appreciated for their business. By expressing your gratitude towards them online publicly shows that you do care.

It’s well worth a read.

And er….by the way……thank you for reading.

Do You Use Social In Your Recruitment Process?

This time we’re talking about using Social Media in the recruitment process and there are a number of aspects in the search for new staff that your digital channels can help with.

Let’s start with the use of Social platforms as a way to research background information on applicants, in my opinion a perfectly legitimate tactic. I have spoken to young people about how their digital footprint may affect employment opportunities in the future and in some instances find they feel it an imposition and an unfair practice. I think this is a modern mindset of a generation who deem it normal to publish their life online without the thought for protecting their privacy yet feel somehow hard done by when told that some aspects of their content could be detrimental to future prospects.

Using digital platforms to garner extra info on applicants is no different to what used to happen when businesses I’ve worked for discovered that a member of staff knew or had worked with an applicant for a current vacancy. You would ask their opinion of the person in question and would take that assessment of their positives and negatives into account.

Why wouldn’t you?

It should be noted however that employers be aware of context and time when carrying out checks on a candidate’s Social channels as both are important aspects to take into account. There is also the responsibility to follow legal guidelines on discriminating unfairly against a candidate after discovering information about them online.

It is worth noting the success that international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has achieved using their Social channels, primarily LinkedIn, for recruitment. This is despite not setting up a LinkedIn channel until 2014. The company reported that their first recruitment ad on that platform saved them £10,000 in recruitment fees followed by a further £200,000 saving over the next 6 months.

They saw a 400% increase in followers over the same time and now use LinkedIn as their primary recruitment channel. This the reward for focussing on a site where they knew the talent of the future was looking to make contacts for future reference and employment.

Research carried out last year by Recruitment Box found that in 2010, 78% of recruiters were using LinkedIn to find candidates. 5 years later that percentage had risen to 95%. Similarly, 2010 saw just 14% of recruiters posting jobs on Twitter, it has also climbed to 95%. The potential for employee referrals on Twitter has also risen from 16% in 2010, to 93% in 2015.

This is an area that recruiters clearly see as very beneficial to finding the right candidate for their vacancies with 70% of them saying that they plan to increase their investment in social recruiting.

As with every aspect of Social interaction the base of it all is communication, a two way process. While you may be using your Social channels to advertise for and vet future employees, those people are also looking at your business and how your digital platforms represent you.

A company’s “talent brand” is being spoken of more and more of late. This is how their mission statement, vision and corporate culture are perceived on the social web. This plays a significant part in reducing a business’ hire costs and its ability to attract quality candidates. You can keep on top of this by ensuring that your Social channels portray a consistent business message in words, pictures or both.

You should make an effort to foster a workforce of “Brand Ambassadors”. Encourage your staff to talk about their positive experience of life at work on their own social channels, while also sharing the business’ content and success stories. According to a 2014 survey from Monster, 65% of respondents would consider an opportunity for a new job if they learned about it from a personal connection.

It has never been easier for businesses and organisations to build an exciting, vibrant image for themselves in the digital world and the more ways you can find to keep your Social platforms full of interesting, positive content the better when you are searching for new talent.

SOCIAL LISTENING – Sometimes it’s good to stop talking and start listening

Communication is as much about listening as it is talking and Social is no exception. The amount of content being created and published on a daily basis is huge, take a look a snapshot of daily life on the Social web.

Each minute there are:-

600,000 logins on Facebook

67,000 photos uploaded to Instagram

433,000 tweets posted

And that’s just a large tip of an enormous iceberg.

In 2015 the Content Marketing Institute reported that B2B marketers were publishing 70% more content than in the previous year and this is a trend that is only going in one direction.

US Marketing expert Mark Schaefer calls this phenomenon “Content Shock” and it can be overwhelming when you’re trying to be a part of the Social conversation.

This is why I say that:-

SOMETIMES IT’S GOOD TO STOP TALKING AND START LISTENING.

Social listening can be hugely beneficial when you take a step back and focus on making sense of the content that is relevant to your business rather than constantly creating more content to throw into the pot. It is about searching the web and the social space to see what’s being said about your company, your competitors and other topics relevant and important to you and your business.

GENERATE NEW LEADS

Social listening enables you to monitor keywords associated with your business to find users who having problems and asking questions or perhaps experiencing difficulties with a competitor. You can make contact with them and ask how you can help. This also gives you the chance to pitch your business’ benefits and expertise.

FIND NEW CUSTOMERS

You can do this by setting up keyword searches that will constantly track across any Social channels or forums you are part of. Be careful to select the keywords that will give you the most beneficial search returns. You can then join the discussion and find out more information.

Hootsuite’s excellent geo-searching gives you the option to track not only on keywords but on location. If you only do business within a 25 mile radius of your base then you can use these parameters so there is no wastage in your results.

FIND WHERE YOUR COMMUNITY SPENDS THEIR SOCIAL TIME

Social listening enables you to find out where your potential and current customers and influencers are on the Social web. The number of businesses I talk to who don’t have the first idea where to find these people is very high indeed. Follow the conversation and join in when relevant and necessary.  It is also worth highlighting the need for being personal and genuine in the interactions and not see them as purely business pitches.

IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE

This is one area in which Social listening is essential, enabling you to identify feedback of all descriptions. You can monitor your brand in a variety of different ways to get a complete picture of where you stand.

For example, monitor Twitter with and without the @ symbol, also track mis-spelling of your company or organisation’s name. This gives you the opportunity to show appreciation for positive comments or to find and respond to disappointed customers, turning potentially negative experiences into positive ones.

There are number of tools available to help you to carry out your Social listening. Click on the names to go their sites:-

HOOTSUITE – As a UK Ambassador for Hootsuite I can recommend their business dashboard highly.

HOWSOCIABLE – HowSociable is a handy tool for measuring yours and your competitors’ social media presence. It breaks down scores for different social media platforms, allowing you to see which social media platforms work best for you and which ones need further development.

SIMPLY MEASURED – Simply Measured makes it easy to analyse your paid, owned and earned activity. They provide insights such as Facebook content, competitor and fan page analysis, key customer service metrics measurement on Twitter, Instagram engagement, content and trends analysis and many others.

GOOGLE ALERTS – A little forgotten these days in my opinion and underused. You can monitor the web for interesting new content, mentions of your brand or even yourself, your competitors, industry leaders and so on. As they’re extremely easy to set up, this is probably a good place to start for beginners.

 

 

 

 

Facebook’s new “Reactions” are out but “Yay” doesn’t make it.

They have been released into the wild after a few months of testing and pre-promotion and have been commented about extensively on a plethora of Social platforms.

Yes of course it’s Facebook’s new set of “Reactions”.

There has been talk for quite a while that the simple Facebook “thumbs up” Like button wasn’t sufficient to convey a variety of emotions and feelings so after much brainstorming, strategizing and focus groups (I expect) at the Facebook factory in Cupertino the cast of the Social giant’s “Usual Suspects” was revealed.

The keen of eye will have noticed that when these first appeared a few months there were seven new options. Sadly “Yay” didn’t make the cut and has been axed from the new selection. It turns out that we thought “Yay” was too vague and didn’t really mean anything. “Yay”’s people say that it took the news well and is planning a solo career.

While it gives a handful of new variants it would be impossible to create a series of graphics that would cover all bases but this new initiative has seen Facebook at the forefront of Social discussion again.

Mark Zuckerberg recently wrote in a Facebook post :-

“Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don’t like their posts. People want to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions.”

Of course the new emoticons don’t give any more ammunition to those who merely want to abuse or troll other users. The nearest you get to negativity is Mr Angry who just looks like he’s been out in the sun for too long. You’d be angry too if you had a case of the raving sunburn.

The quest for more ways for users to express themselves was prompted by an argument to provide a “Dislike” button as a counter to the “Like”.

Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner Research says “the demand for a “dislike” button reflected frustration in not having more choices beyond “Like”. What these emojis do is give greater granularity in expressing what you are thinking and feeling about something that was posted on Facebook”.

And let’s face it, more “granularity” is what we all strive for.

Facebook say that there is data to be gained from measuring how we use these new reactions and one must assume that their introduction must have a tangible purpose. Once you call up your Facebook page the sole purpose from the provider’s point of view is to keep you there. They constantly update their algorithms to ensure that everything you see on your screen is relevant to you. Of course there will be a way of using the data from how we use the “Reactions” icons to tie in with Facebook’s advertising algorithms. Advertisers are always keen to know how people react to their ads; here is a way of giving the more information in that area.

As far as their series of “Reactions” is concerned whether this half dozen of options is the sum total of Facebook’s intentions in that regard is a question that only time will answer.

Time For A New Year Social Media Audit

At the start of a new year when we think about what we want to achieve in the coming months it is also the perfect time to take a look at your Social Media function to make sure it’s in good shape for 2016.

We all have the very best of intentions in early January as the number of new gym memberships that have been set up in the last few days will testify. Of course, a lot of them will remain as a monthly direct debit for a few months without a drop of sweat being spilt. Making resolutions, creating life-plans and planning changes are all very easy to do. It’s putting those ideas into practice that’s the difficult part.

So with all the determination we can muster to ensure all our plans are monitored and executed here are some handy tips for a New Year brush-up.

E-MAIL TIDY UP

Not Social but a job that can be quite cathartic and helpful. I have just done mine and it feels like the first step in a process which sets you up for the year. We all have way too many mail in our inbox so a bout of organising (using folders is a good way of sorting out important mails) and deleting is a must. I tend to have an e-mail audit quarterly and it always feel like a job well done.

SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Some questions to ask yourself and your team (if you’re lucky enough to have one)

• How many platforms are we using?
• Are they all working for us?
• Which ones are our primary channels?
• What are our analytics telling us?
• Are there any other platforms that may be suitable for our content?
• Are we managing our platforms as efficiently as we can?
• Do our Social profiles need updating?

All excellent discussion points to consider, and here’s another useful exercise. Take a look at your sites as if you were visiting for the first time. What is your content saying about your business and the services you offer? When I was programming music on radio stations I would use a 20 minute audio snapshot technique as a way of ensuring that that any 20 minute segment of our output would provide a new listener with an audio picture of that station.

CONTENT

Have a look at the content which worked best for you last year. Is there a connection between the posts? Can you create visual content to take advantage in the increased visibility and engagement that visual content is receiving?

My belief is that all businesses and organisations have more content at their disposal than they realise so it’s worth examining every part of what you do for ways to leverage it into your Social communication.

Are you engaging with others enough? Is your customer service the best it can be and do you monitor your channels often enough to be able to respond to comments and questions in a timely manner? Do you share content from your clients, customers, fans, influencers (call them what you will). It’s nice to share.

LISTENING

I think this is one of the major failings when it comes to Social communication because there is a habit of constantly creating and posting and sometimes it good to

STOP……………………………AND………………………….LISTEN

What is competition saying? How much content are they creating? Are you using search functions to monitor questions that are being asked about areas in which you could help?

The search function on Hootsuite is an excellent way to carry out your social listening and by creating streams of saved searches this could and indeed should, be a part of your Social strategy for 2016.

CONTENT CALENDAR

They are an excellent way to forward plan and make sure you don’t miss dates, anniversaries and promotions that apply to your business. I won’t go into too much detail here as there’s a blog on this very subject coming in the next few days.

This is the perfect time for some analysis and debate on your Social platforms, content and strategy and the time you spend asking and answering those questions will stand you in good stead for the year ahead.

Social Communication On The Air – It’s A Perfect Match

I came across a really good blog last week titled “Why Aren’t More Radio Stations Being Social?” by Justin Kings who is an International media consultant, trainer and broadcaster. He is also, like me, a radio professional who bemoans the way in which broadcast organisations and broadcasters themselves use Social platforms. It reminded me of a blog I wrote last year called “Why Is Radio Still Underusing Twitter?”

It was interesting to read the comments that accompanied Justin’s blog on the Radio Today website because they spoke of the “lack of visible replies” and that they only get “regular contributors”. This implies it’s the fault of the platform when in fact, as always, it’s the quality and creativity of the content and the way it’s sold on the air.

Listeners to a radio station are there to be enticed and teased, to listen a little longer when they really should be doing something else, to force them to visit that web page, to give that video one more view, to send that text to add a few pence to the coffers. Good presenters along with entertaining and creative content can do all of that.

Does that seems familiar in any way?

That’s exactly what Social communication does too.

When I’m talking to businesses and organisations about how they use Social platforms I use strategies and principles from three decades as a successful radio presenter because the parallels are obvious and valid. After all we are talking about “live broadcasting” in the most part. Social communication like traditional radio broadcasts is sent out to an audience (community) but at the point of contact is 1-2-1 so it becomes a very personal medium.

This where Justin and I speak with one voice when we talk about how poorly radio in general uses these digital channels to accompany and enhance their output. You would think that if any business would understand 1-2-1 communication it would be radio.

I discovered Twitter in 2009 and grasped the opportunity to use it straight away. It was the first time I could talk to my audience outside of show times. I was able to strengthen the relationship I already had with them, share extra content with them, take them behind-the-scenes (listeners love that) and give them stuff they couldn’t get just by listening to my show. I could also make someone who wasn’t already listening tune in, that’s as powerful as it gets.

Former BBC 5 Live presenter Richard Bacon’s once described Twitter as being like “the DVD Extras of a radio programme”. That’s a perfect analogy.

Of course radio shouldn’t only use Social channels to get material for use on air, the marketing possibilities are many and varied. You can talk about today’s show, tease ahead for tomorrow, highlight news items, showcase station contests and promotions, take people behind-the-scenes, post links to the station website and other Social channels, give the listener those “DVD Extras” and importantly…..have fun.

There is another positive to be gained from regular monitoring and engagement with Social Media platforms and that is the ability to provide gold standard customer service. There is also one thing you can do which doesn’t take long but will strengthen your customer service reputation. Justin mentions it in his blog, an American marketer called Gary Vaynerchuck has written a book about it and I talk about regularly in my sessions.

Just say “Thank You”.

Two words that acknowledge you appreciate that tweet or post or picture and will validate the time and effort the listener has taken to create and send it.

Having said all of that there has to be the urge and motivation to do it. The radio stations who are gaining most from their Social Media platforms are the ones who have developed a strategy for content creation and monitoring. They are the ones who have recognised that Social communication is no longer something to do if someone has time to knock up a Facebook post or two. It’s now firmly part of any communications business portfolio.

Social Media platforms are perfect tools for building and maintaining relationships and trust with a community. The fact that the experts in 1-2-1 communication are, in many circumstances, using those tools in a very unimaginative, ad-hoc manner is baffling.

Taking A Chance With Your Content

One of the terrific things about Social communication is that, by and large, it’s live and in-the-moment. It’s a shared experience but 1-2-1 at the point of delivery which makes it personal and exciting. I love the immediacy of it and the ability to become part of a conversation or a debate within seconds, leading you to…..who knows where.

We sometimes get so wrapped up in making sure we’re on the most effective platforms, that our content is as creative and relevant as it can be, it’s planned and scheduled according to our content calendar that it’s easy to forget how interesting and rewarding in can be just to “try something”.

I know why this is, or at least I think I do.

When you read about, or listen to someone talk about Social communication and interaction it’s a reasonable assumption that they have come from a marketing background. It’s been a very natural progression for marketers to move into Social as it’s a perfect fit into any marketing strategy.

However, marketers, I would dare to suggest come with a different mindset to someone, oh I don’t know, like me. It’s simply down to where our communication experience has come from.

My three decades in broadcasting have enabled me to create enormous amounts of content, I like to think most of it worked for me, but the law of averages suggests that some of it didn’t. It sounded like a good idea in my head, seemed okay in rehearsal, but when the red light came on and it was released to the world something happened and it didn’t live up to expectations.

What did I think when this happened?

IT DOESN’T MATTER

Simple as that. That is not to say I didn’t care about what I was doing, of course I did. It was simply that in a “live” situation I knew that in a few moments time I could create another piece of content which might fly. That’s the mindset I don’t think those who have a traditional marketing background  have.

This is why Social is so great, you are in that situation. It’s live broadcasting and you get the chance to just “try stuff”. If it doesn’t work then you just create another piece of content and fire that out.

As a business or organisation you will have a Social plan or strategy, you will know which platforms represent what you do best and which ones fit the content you have to offer. You will have looked at your analytics to see when and where you content gets most traction and engagement. I should say at this point if none of the above apply to you, you need to contact me we can put it right.

Having a cohesive Social plan is vital but there is no reason why from time to time you can experiment with your content. You will obviously know the style risks you can take but just having the freedom to have an idea and put it out there in seconds is very exciting.

When you think “I’d love to try that”………..TRY IT.

A Look Back at Digital 2015

I spent the first two days of last week at the excellent Digital 2015 conference held at the magnificent Celtic Manor Resort. It was a well organised, attractively staged event with a plethora of speakers and sessions on a variety of digital topics. The good thing about events like these is that you can spend some of the time seeking out content that is not directly connected with one’s own speciality.

The main areas of discussion were Digital Skills, Digital Entrepreneurs, Digital Innovation and Digital Showcase. I had the great pleasure of delivering a morning of Master Classes on the use of Twitter for Business under the Digital Skills banner.

A couple of the stand-out moments for me were both days’ keynote speakers. On the first day Ian Livingstone, co-founder of the Games Workshop spoke with huge passion about the need for youngsters to be equipped with the skills to operate in the digital age. He talked about the value of “play in learning” and the fact that “collaborating is not cheating”, if only my Geography teacher had appreciated that in 1976. It was an eye-opener to realise that the modern education system is lagging a long way behind digital trends and innovations and that the curriculum as it stands needs to be changed urgently if the digital skills shortage is to be addressed.

On the second day, Anthony Vanky from MIT showcased some of the work his “senseable” Lab at the University is doing to understand how the proliferation of digital devices and telecommunication networks are impacting urban living and how we manage our cities accordingly. It was fascinating looking at studies showing real-time examples of how digital innovation is being used to study the relationship between cities, people and technologies.

The Cyber Security sessions I attended showed how it’s possible for Governmental websites to be taken down from an android mobile device and how many websites at any given time are being “defaced” by web activists. It’s extraordinary to realise that any site at any time can be damaged beyond repair or recognition with a few lines of code from a device as small as a mobile phone.

There were terrific sessions too by the people from Google, Nudjed, S4C and BBC Wales.

I thoroughly enjoyed my part of the event as well and should thank everyone who came along to my Master Classes. I covered “Twitter for Business”, why it’s a good platform to use, the benefits of using it, how to craft an effective profile, in fact I wrote a blog on that very subject “It’s All In The Profile” just a few weeks ago, and a few examples of when it’s all gone a bit wrong. Everyone went away with some “Top Twitter Take-Aways” (that’s the radio person in me, we love alliteration).

It was good to talk to a few who had come along afterwards and I truly appreciate the kind comments at the event and on Twitter afterwards.

Those which especially pleased me were the ones which noted a “common sense” approach to using the platform. I like to think that I talk about Social Media communication is a straight-forward way without resorting to some of the unnecessary buzzwords and “science” that others purvey.

As I wrote in another blog “They Blinded Me With Science”, in the first instance it’s about communication, through effective communication you can inform, entertain, showcase, impress and yes of course, market.

A thoroughly enjoyable two days full of terrific content and interesting people. Let’s hope Digital 2016 is an even bigger and better event.

They Blinded Me With Science

Last week I came across a piece written by a Social Media coach which talked about the “Psychology of Connections” and a “Scientific Approach to Marketing”. It was a very well written piece, made some excellent common sense points and I thought it worth sharing with my own social community.

It also made me think, not about the content which spoke for itself, but the way in which some elements of Social engagement are dressed up in flowery vocabulary to give them a sense of being something special.

The key points this article made were that in order to build successful and effective business relationships you should –

• Smile
• Be trustworthy.
• Be grateful.
• Be positive.
• Be generous

What I get from that perfectly valid list is that there is nothing scientific about it whatsoever, they are all elements of basic communication skills.

As someone who, as a broadcaster, has been creating content and building communities for nearly three decades these are tenets that I followed and which, by doing so, rewarded me with audiences in the hundreds of thousands for many years.

Any form of media whether it be visual, print or social excels when it communicates successfully with its audience, and not just that, it works when those basics mentioned above are used effectively.

One of the reasons I found Social Media platforms to be valuable tools in my radio days was the huge crossover between the two forms of communication. When I’m advising businesses and organisations it’s those basics I learned while becoming a successful communicator that I use in the way I train and coach in Social engagement.

As consultants and coaches offering services to others based on our own knowledge and experience it is very tempting to over-egg the basic principles of social interaction in order to somehow reflect our own expertise.

I should say in closing that there is a psychological aspect to Social communication, it is endlessly fascinating and I have written about it previously.

However, at the forefront of it all are the starting points for any human relationship and the reasons we trust people and then engage with them, in life and in business, and among them are the ones mentioned above.

They are simple and straightforward and not in the least scientific.

Are You Content With Your Content?

You may have a number of social channels on the go, they may be picking up some decent traction but are you satisfied with how they are performing for your business?

Are you content with your content?

It’s a question worth asking yourself, maybe as part of your main Social Media strategy sessions or perhaps as a regular housekeeping function.

Whatever you are publishing, whether it’s mostly text based, photos, videos, other visuals, a mixture of everything, it is all content. Every single thing you create and send out into the social arena.

I’ve put together a small checklist that may help you to assess your current content.

1) IS YOUR CONTENT SUITABLE FOR THE PLATFORM IT’S ON

You may have a handful of social outlets for your business, each one will require a different approach. Twitter gives you the chance to create short to the point tweets which grab attention or point your follower to another location (your website, other social channel or link to content you want to share). Facebook helps you to go into more depth with the opportunity to add a visual to your status and to start conversation threads with your fans and customers. Pinterest is an excellent way of curating quality visuals as well as being able to provide links to other sites and content. Instagram is more “in the moment” and may suit your business perfectly.

2) DON’T BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW

You may have settled on a few platforms which you are happy with but something new will come along all the time. If you think a new platform that one of your staff or your Consultant suggests might work, try it. You have nothing to lose. If it takes off add it to your social portfolio to strengthen your digital toolkit. If it doesn’t, delete the account and move on.

3) THINK FOR A MINUTE

When you’ve created some content, stop for a moment and listen for the voice in your head. Sometimes it will ask you a question.

“Do you think that’s suitable content?”

In my experience if you have to stop and think about publishing content you probably shouldn’t. That little voice in your head is nearly always right.

4) BE HUMAN

It’s okay to use your social platforms to give your business a human face and personality; in fact that’s what they’re great for. Of course you have to strike the right tone but you should know what that is. It may take a little practice at first but it will pay dividends. People expect their social interaction to personable and human; the businesses who are using social most effectively understand this.

5) KNOW WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

If you are on top of your social analysis and metrics then you will know the types of content which give you the best engagement. You will be able to discover the times and days when your content ignites and this information will help you plan your content creation and publication each week. Of    course the beauty of social is being spontaneous but having a catalogue of detailed analysis will be the backbone to your function.

6) IS YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE GOLD STANDARD?

Your social platforms will now be the first port of call for many of your customers or clients if they have a problem. It is so much easier to call into a Facebook page and post a comment than searching out a website for a contact number or e-mail address.

I’ve always maintained that “Gold Standard” customer service shouldn’t be a target, it should be the norm. It is so easy to use your Social Media outlets to provide excellent customer service and that doesn’t mean waiting for something to go wrong before you engage and interact.

Just saying “thank you” when you get a positive comment will mean more to your customer than you think.

7) IS YOUR AUDIENCE CONTENT WITH YOUR CONTENT?

If your followers, fans and customers are not getting enough from your content to engage with it then that’s all you need to know that your content strategy is not working.  Social is sometimes hit and miss and it takes time to find your voice. The big advantage about social broadcasting is that if a piece of content doesn’t work for you, take note, understand the reasons why and try something else.

8) BE TOPICAL

If your Social strategy includes a content calendar then you won’t miss opportunities to tie in topical issues or events to your business. I feel that businesses and organisations whose social content shows their followers that they are tapping into relevant issues and stories stand out from the crowd. Of course that same approach also increases the amount of content you can create for your platforms.

Oh finally, if your Social strategy doesn’t include content calendar, it really should.