As a new PR pro, one of the many roles you may play on your team is to manage the social media accounts for various clients. I already know what you’re thinking. How hard can it be to post on a client’s page once a day?
When you take on this responsibility, it’s important to keep in mind what you think might be common sense, isn’t after all. I was reminded of this after reading Dave Kerpen’s “Likeable Social Media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on Facebook and other social networks.”
A New York Times and USA Today bestseller, the book explores the basics and fundamentals of managing a Facebook page on behalf of a client while offering real-life examples from Kerpen’s own experience. Cofounder and CEO of Likeable Media, Kerpen uses his own experience with national brands such as 1-800-Flowers.com, Neutrogena, Uno’s Pizzeria and more to paint a picture of real-time case studies.
What was interesting about Kerpen’s approach and what I especially appreciated were the action items found at the end of each chapter. While I was highlighting ferociously every time I came upon something I found relevant or applicable to my client, I found it super helpful that there were three to five quick takeaways for how the reader could apply what was covered in the chapter on their own.
Here are my own three quick takeaways from Likeable Social Media that hopefully can serve as food for thought in your own social media strategies:
Be human.
When posting and engaging on behalf of your client, converse with your followers in the voice and tone that is appropriate for the client. But be careful to not come off as a robot. For example, a luxury eyewear brand wouldn’t respond to a customer’s compliment with “That’s totally awesome. Thanks for sharing!” Instead, their response would likely sound a bit more like “Thank you so much for your kind comment. We appreciate you taking the time to share your great experience with us.”
Respond to your positive comments, too.
This might be a no-brainer, and a bit of a “duh” moment. No matter how simple it might seem positive comments might get overlooked more than a negative comment would. Think about it – one negative comment from a customer complaining about customer service or a product on your website and the entire team can go up in arms, trying to respond to the customer in a timely and appropriate manner. A simple thank you from a customer, however, could go unacknowledged from the company for hours – even days.
Take the time to respond to your positive feedback. After all, these are the people who could possibly be brand ambassadors for your company down the road by sharing your company’s news with their friends.
Create a community.
Kerpen shared various examples such as Stride Rite that successfully created a community using their Facebook page. The shoe company achieved this not by posting about shoes every day, all day. Rather, the company decided to shift gears and take the approach of sharing content that would be interesting and relevant to their target audience: moms – and their kids who wore the shoes.
Now, this community of moms is consistently engaging on Stride Rite’s Facebook page on tips for new moms, pictures and videos of babies and milestone moments, and general questions for raising a child. And what’s key is that Stride Rite has embraced this and responds to comments, questions and shared items. As a result, Kerpen says the company online sales increased steadily week over week since the initiative launched.
Finally, my one criticism of the book was that I was searching and hungry for additional best practices on other social media platforms, specifically Instagram and Twitter. If Kerpen decided to come out with a book on best practices for Instagram, I’d read it.
If you’ve just started your first PR job and will be handling social media for a client, I’d highly suggest this book. It will take you from the newbie in the office to the rock star rookie with stellar social media strategy in no time.
If you have any questions or want to chat more about what I found interesting from this book, find me on Twitter at @shandihuber!
Shandi Huber is a senior account executive at Wordsworth Communications, a public relations agency in Cincinnati, Ohio. An enthusiast for all social media platforms, you can often find her pinning her dream closet on Pinterest or posting photos of her new puppy on Instagram. Connect with Shandi on LinkedIn and Twitter(@shandihuber).
