Keeping in tradition, I will continue to address mistakes being made by well-run organizations in relation to their brands’ social media presence.
Another common mistake I see is that some business leaders and marketing teams have the tendency to come off as phony or insincere when trying to engage consumers via social media. Without forethought and strategic planning, your organization’s social media efforts can come off as counterfeit, or even worse—spam-like.
If you draw just one thing from this post, please consider this: in the grand spectrum of traditional marketing and consumer relations, social media is simply a different way to communicate with your customers. Social media is about engagement and relationship building. There’s no need to “disguise” yourself on the web—you’re representing your brand, and thanks to the transparency associated with the social web, you have the unique ability to say exactly what you want.
For example, Ford Motor Company has a Twitter account run by Scott Monty and Gwen Peake of Digital Communications (via their listed bio). After each @ reply, retweet, and general comment, one of the two Ford employees signs off using their initials: either “^SM” or “^GP.” In addition, Scott and Gwen’s personal Twitter handles are listed on the corporate page. Now you tell me, which would you feel more comfortable interacting with, Scott Monty or “Ford?” Would you feel better about directing your questions to Gwen Peake or “Ford?” Odds are, you would prefer the human-to-human relationship over trying to question the Ford Empire as a whole.
Social media is meant to be transparent. You would be doing a great disservice to your organization to treat it otherwise.
Don’t be phony with your fans, but also don’t stress over how to develop an authentic voice. Our experienced team of analysts develop listening and communicative strategies every day, so give us a call or shoot us an email—we’re here to help.
[Photo from Mykl Roventine on Flickr / CC BY 2.0]
