Business Social Media Policy (suggestions)

We’ve talked about social media business policy in the past, and how having a poorly written social media protocol can hinder your business. Today, we’ll be a little more specific on some of our recommendations. The main problem most company people have is a lack of understanding, which forces companies to rein in the creativity and sharing way too much, and it chokes out any chance of an organic feel to your social media channels.

Therefore, we’re going to list some simple do’s and don’ts for the business professional to follow when he or she is on the company Facebook page.

Do’s Don’ts

Post on your company Facebook wall positive comments about current promotions.	Claim any inside knowledge of promotions currently going on at your company.
Participate in community related posts (Did you see the Sox game last night?)”Yes, what a mess!”	Complain about work in any of your posts (Did you see the Sox game last night?)”No, I was stuck at work.....”
Represent yourself as a nice person.	Represent yourself as a mouthpiece for the company.
Like positive comments others make about your company.	Defend your company’s honor by conversing with negative comment makers.
Share your company’s pics, tag yourself in photos, etc. with your friends and family, if you feel the urge.	Post pictures on your company wall.  If you have something the company should share, give it to your social media team.

Test time!!

If your company posts, “We’re having a great sale on widgets tomorrow. Come on down and check it out!”, the appropriate thing to do is:

1. Like the post.
2. Comment: “Yeah, it’s going to be a blast! See you all tomorrow!”
3. Comment: “I can’t wait to buy the widget. What a deal!”
4. Like every single comment that follows the original post.

You are reading through your company’s Facebook page, and someone wrote on the wall, “What a horrible place to do business!” the appropriate thing to do is:

1. Comment: “I feel you buddy. That place sucks!”
2. Comment: “No it doesn’t. What’s wrong with you?”
3. Do absolutely nothing on Facebook. Email your social media team that the comment exists on the page.
4. Comment: “Sorry you feel that way. Can you tell me what they did to you? Maybe I can help.”

Your social media team posts: “Congratulations to John Smith for 25 years working with us.” You should:

1. Like the post.
2. Comment, “Great job John! That’s awesome!”
3. Comment, “You stayed there HOW LONG! Are you insane?”
4. Answers 1&2.

I hope I didn’t throw you any curve-balls. The answers should have been fairly straightforward. (1,3,4 for those that need everything spelled out...) Your social media policy should be easily summed in one or two sentences, “Represent your company’s values by being a polite, friendly person. Do not act on behalf of the company in any way while you are on the social media pages, but feel free to be an active fan of the company.”

Capitalizing On Your Niche

I was watching “Yo Gabba Gabba” yesterday with my 19 month old daughter yesterday. Thank you for your sympathy. It did remind me of something that I haven’t really thought of since I was an elementary teacher, many years ago. It brought up the concept of “Everyone has a talent”. As adults, we tend to think of this idea as simply a means of building up children’s self esteem, so that if they are lacking at one proficiency, we can point to another skill and say, “There’s your talent.” It goes hand in hand with the idea that “Everyone is special.” 

That concept is usually taught young, and then driven out of us, the older we get. Today, I ask that you look at your business through the five-year-old’s rose-colored glasses. Without trying to determine what makes your business special, you cannot accurately build an emotional connection with your customer base, and in turn cannot have an effective social media strategy. Without thinking about what makes you special, you cannot brand your business as filling a niche.

Sometimes, this means you’ve got to dig deep. As a teacher, it wasn’t always easy to figure out what character trait or skill I was going to emphasize with a student, in order to help that child feel special. It can be equally challenging for your business, too. For example, if you run a small retail establishment, similar to every other corner store, how can we define you as providing a niche?

If your business is so cookie cutter in actual goods and services, and you are unable to point out anything that we can market as a niche, perhaps you need to look at defining the personality of your business. Can your store be considered the most helpful, friendliest, personable? Think of all the establishments that have separated themselves based on a personality trait, rather than services rendered. There is even a restaurant in Boston called Dick’s Last Resort, who has created a niche by being rude to its customers! The expression, “To each his own” defines capitalizing on a niche market.

Companies often fail to capitalize on a personality niche because they try to define their own personality, instead of looking at how others view them. As a teacher, if a child wanted to claim a talent trait and state he was the next Andrea Bocelli, when in reality, the child sounded more like Biz Markie, it was the responsibility of the teacher to steer the child in a different way. Steer them not to demolish the student’s self image, but to point them in a direction that was realistic, and help them develop. The last thing you want to do is advertise based on a niche you do not possess. Just because you want to think of your business as “The most fun Store ever” doesn’t make it reality. Do some market research. See how customers see your business.

If you can figure out what makes you special, you can better advertise it. If enough people do business with you, because of what makes you special, then you have effectively created a niche that needed to be filled in the market. Doing this creates a loyal customer base, with lots of return business.

And you’ve made your kindergarten teacher so proud.

Written by Chris Gregoire

Is this a good idea?

We built this image, color coded it to match our background, and incorporated our logo into the center of the QR. It works, and brings you to a non-mobilized contact page. We feel that branding a QR should happen around the code, not inside of it, and are using this as a “Not to do”. Instead, we feel you should keep the QR black and white, and add your brand messaging around the code. How do you feel? Comment below, or on Our Facebook page.


We'll update this blog on Monday, with our reasons why we feel the way we do.

Are social media jobs dead?

This does not make you a social media strategist

Before answering the title question, take a moment and ask a second question: Is there a print ad specialist?  Someone that knows everything about print ads? The question sounds silly, right? Because we know that print ads need first a creative influence, and then a good copywriter, and a great artist, to be effective.  Next, you need a media buyer to put the newly created print ad in the correct publications or locations for it to reach the target audience.  Not to mention, if you want the print to tie into other parts of an effective marketing campaign, you need the print to sync up with radio or television, as part of a full spectrum campaign.

Which one of these people, listed above, would you list as a “Print Ad Ninja?”

Social media strategists have been looked at the wrong way by the industry for a long time.  This is mostly because of the technical requirements that differ from other types of advertising.  In the past, it could be claimed as a completely different form of media because the skills required to make the advertisement come to life were found in the technical departments.  Therefore, the ability to claim Social Media Guru, Ninja, Master, etc. were left to people that may not have the marketing skill, but who had the technical skill to make it happen.

Creating a marketing strategy, no matter what the medium, is more than simply the medium’s technical requirements.  The ability to code in HTML, CSS, PHP, etc does not necessarily mean that the person can market.  Just because I can string sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into pages, does not make me the next Stephen King.

A social media strategist has a lot more to do with the strategy, and a lot less to do with the use of technical tools.  A true social media strategist is concerned with how to blend a marketing campaign into a medium that listens instead of speaking.  Simply put, a social media strategist should be a part of your creative process, not a part of your IT department.

The influx of a younger generation that knows the ins and outs of the tools of social media does not worry the true social media strategist, the same way that the creation of blogs did not scare the professional writer.  An architect is not afraid of a carpenter, is he?  The fact that there is a plethora of new users in business that can help to build effective campaigns is a dream come true to a social media strategist, as this means he or she can spend less time doing the day to day process and can focus more on building strategies.

In answer of the question, “Are social media jobs dead?” the answer is a resounding “NO”.  However, the ability to hide behind simple coding processes, the ability to claim Ninja skills based on technical computer literacy, is dying.  To the true social media strategist, it couldn’t have happened soon enough.

Using YouTube for Increased Customer Service

This weekend, weather permitting, I am installing a floodlight on the top of my garage. It’s going to be one of the motion sensor type that will probably get set off 5 times a night by the stray cats in the neighborhood, but it’s what the wife wants, and she typically gets what she wants. This may come as a surprise, but I am not an electrician. Marketing, yes. Wiring, not so much. I managed to electrocute myself this past weekend while painting around a light switch, so there’s a good reason for some concern.

For this purchase, I simply picked the closest box off of the shelf at Home Depot. The light I bought came with written instructions. I guess someone could try to read those over and over until it sinks in. I’m not big on reading instructions, so I turned to YouTube, to see what was there. I simply typed, “How to wire a light,” into YouTube’s search bar, and I was on my way.

In a perfect world, I would watch a video on the installation of the exact light that I am about to install. Unfortunately, the light I bought did not have a video online. Instead of watching a video made by the maker of the light I purchased, I watched one of its competitor’s videos. Who do you think will earn my future business?

In order to keep your customers away from your competitors, a part of your marketing strategy (Now we get to the part I’m good at..) should use some video. Overall, your entire strategy should be based on two things:

1. Showing your devotion to positive customer service and experience.
2. Showing your product and company as the best choice, and the expert in your field.

Video can add to your customer satisfaction by increasing the level of usability of your product, and your website. Does your site have a frequently asked questions section? Each question can be asked and answered in individual short videos. Does your product require an instruction manual? Create videos showing proper assembly, usage, etc. Do you have a trouble-shooting section? Create a walkthrough video of the most common errors customers have with your product.

Not only does video help by educating your customers, it also lends credibility to your company and product. Walk into a cell phone store and ask the employee working there how to access email on one of the smartphones. Can that employee answer your question? Then chances are, you would be willing to buy the phone from him. Videos are proof to your customers that you know how to use your own product, and that you can answer all of their questions in the future if there are issues.

A couple of quick suggestions:

• Tutorial videos should be clear and concise, but do not need to be professionally shot. They can be done on a handheld camera.
• Your videos should live on YouTube, and play from your website. You don’t want to send your customers to YouTube, as they may wander to someone else’s video. However, you want people looking on YouTube to be able to wander onto yours.
• Always show your video to someone who has no knowledge of what you do with the featured product or process before uploading. If they don’t understand what they watched, assume your customer won’t. Remember, you’re the expert. You aren’t the best judge whether your video can teach someone foreign to the subject on how to use your product.

Remember, these are videos for customer service, created to help your customers. They are not a direct sales tool. Although they may help to sell a customer that knows you have them, that customer is being sold on your higher level of service. If you are building a video to sell your product or company outright, you need a professional quality video. Do not think the two are interchangeable.

Increasing Your Word of Mouth Advertising

When was the last time you needed something, and turned to Google Maps to get the answer? I had to visit my in-laws last week, and knew that afterwards, I was going to want to go someplace nice to eat. I’m not real familiar with the restaurants around them, so I figured I would take a peek at what was in the area.

I loaded up the town, and saw several restaurants in their immediate area. Now, rather than just basing where I went by the name of the establishment, I looked at the reviews showing on Google. I’m sure I’m not the only person that has done this...

What we’re talking about is virtual word of mouth. Every business nowadays has reviews online. It’s not limited to restaurants. If you show up on a map, chances are, you have at least one review. How often do you go and look at your reviews? And how often do you encourage people to add new ones?

As I read through many of the reviews, it was obvious that some restaurants weren’t encouraging people to review. There were only extremely good reviews, or extremely bad. It was the “Everything was perfect, come here - oops, I mean, go there - often!” style review, which was obviously written by an employee of the establishment. There were also the “If the restaurant burned to the ground, they would finally be able to say they cooked the food.” type of review from someone whose only goal is to hurt the business.

When I was at my in-laws, I asked them where they would go, and got a real review. They told me that the place was quick, good food, and that the staff was nice. They told me that the parking was a little rough, since it was only on the street parking, but it wasn’t that hard to find a spot. Lastly, they told me it was kid friendly, and that they were used to having an 18 month old throw the occasional fit. Now, that’s a review!

How many customers would actually give you a real, useful review, if your business made it easy for them? The problem is, unless your service is either extremely good, or extremely bad, most people won’t bother.

My free suggestion for businesses today is to create a QR code that links to your Google Places Page. Simply find your business on Google maps, and click on it. Once it opens into the Google Places page, use the “Link” button to get the direct URL to go to this page, and create a QR code for it. Post it in your business. On this QR code, tell people that you want their feedback. And then check it often! Watch for trends, and take the advice that people offer.

Chances are, you will get flamed more than once, but understand that these people probably would have given a poor review without your encouragement. By showing you care about their review, you are automatically going to increase the positive vibe from the average customer. Now, go get some virtual word of mouth!