A new era..
Well, it certainly has been a while....
My apologies that I didn't follow through on the promise of a dissertation through the platform of blog, but by the time I would have written the first chapters, it would have been out of date already.
In two years...there have been new social networks (Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ to name the biggies), controversy (Instagram, Google+, Facebook, Twitter), fallings out, the expansion of mobile, MySpace regeneration, and about a hundred Facebook layouts.
Brands are adopting social media a lot differently too - it is no longer the thing they should be on to say they are 'hip' and 'with it', letting they unpaid intern who 'knows about this stuff' manage their pages; they have dedicated Community Managers who are passionate about the brands, who is in the know of the company and the brand to address any conversation that is happening on any social media platform.
Since entering the world of social media on a professional level - let me say one thing: Musicians have it easy - they only need to represent themselves, they are rarely going to get complaints about the quality of their product, or that customer service is terrible.
When managing the social media of a brand, it is imperative to have the right answer, the right knowledge, the right strategy and the right perspective.
The rise of love and hate....and virality
There is is a disturbing rise of normal people, average Joes who think they are invincible because they are using a computer to speak, and not their vocal chords - this invincibility often leads to rudeness and aggression. Celebrities are subject of trolling, normal, innocent folk are subjects, and so are brands - to an extent.There have been lessons with the extreme 'trolls', where they have been caught out; they have learned that you are not invincible just because you are behind a keyboard, screen, and various web servers and data centres.
With your brand brain in, you must rise above the rudeness, look deeper into the problem - are they being rude for a reason? Did they have a poor experience with your brand? Or are they just pr**s? If it is the former - acknowledge it and let the world see that you are great at dealing with all kinds of issues (provided your response does not reflect the tone the complaint was made in, no matter how tempting it is).
Two years ago, we all had our rose-tinted glasses in when we thought about managing social networks - brands would post self-promotional images and links and folks would like them and share them with their friends and we would all live happily ever after in social media heaven. Community management is not just about posting about the brand, it is interacting with the customers - and not just the nice ones.
Time for the theoretical part...
Erik Qualman talks about everyone's digital footprint. This is what every person, brand, thing leaves behind in the complicated trail of their life on the internet. Make your way through your posts on Facebook, your random ponderings on Twitter, the constant use of the Willow filter on Instagram, that meme of a cat you repinned on Pinterest, the comment you left on that forum that one time;all this forms your digital footprint. And this footprint can get dirty - that picture of you throwing up after your birthday party? yup, that's there.
As a brand it is so important to keep the digital footprint as clean as possible - it's not easy, but the best way to do this is to show folk you are human too. If you make a mistake - acknowledge it, if you get bitched about that happens to go viral - acknowledge it.
Take a well known cinema chain- they had a post from a disgruntled patron who hadn't had a good time seeing a film - they ranted about their specific experience, the prices they paid, the seats they sat on, the usual, not out of the blue complaint. It. Went. Viral. On a Friday evening. When their community managers had gone home. Ah. Over the two days that noone was overlooking this, the post gained hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and comments. What could the brand do? They did the only thing they could do - they acknowledged it and moved on.
Right now, I'm contributing to my digital footprint with this rambling - will it have a negative or positive impact? who knows? But should this go viral and trigger hundreds of complaints, I'll be sure to acknowledge it and move on.
My apologies that I didn't follow through on the promise of a dissertation through the platform of blog, but by the time I would have written the first chapters, it would have been out of date already.
In two years...there have been new social networks (Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ to name the biggies), controversy (Instagram, Google+, Facebook, Twitter), fallings out, the expansion of mobile, MySpace regeneration, and about a hundred Facebook layouts.
Brands are adopting social media a lot differently too - it is no longer the thing they should be on to say they are 'hip' and 'with it', letting they unpaid intern who 'knows about this stuff' manage their pages; they have dedicated Community Managers who are passionate about the brands, who is in the know of the company and the brand to address any conversation that is happening on any social media platform.
Since entering the world of social media on a professional level - let me say one thing: Musicians have it easy - they only need to represent themselves, they are rarely going to get complaints about the quality of their product, or that customer service is terrible.
When managing the social media of a brand, it is imperative to have the right answer, the right knowledge, the right strategy and the right perspective.
The rise of love and hate....and virality
There is is a disturbing rise of normal people, average Joes who think they are invincible because they are using a computer to speak, and not their vocal chords - this invincibility often leads to rudeness and aggression. Celebrities are subject of trolling, normal, innocent folk are subjects, and so are brands - to an extent.There have been lessons with the extreme 'trolls', where they have been caught out; they have learned that you are not invincible just because you are behind a keyboard, screen, and various web servers and data centres.
With your brand brain in, you must rise above the rudeness, look deeper into the problem - are they being rude for a reason? Did they have a poor experience with your brand? Or are they just pr**s? If it is the former - acknowledge it and let the world see that you are great at dealing with all kinds of issues (provided your response does not reflect the tone the complaint was made in, no matter how tempting it is).
Two years ago, we all had our rose-tinted glasses in when we thought about managing social networks - brands would post self-promotional images and links and folks would like them and share them with their friends and we would all live happily ever after in social media heaven. Community management is not just about posting about the brand, it is interacting with the customers - and not just the nice ones.
Time for the theoretical part...
Erik Qualman talks about everyone's digital footprint. This is what every person, brand, thing leaves behind in the complicated trail of their life on the internet. Make your way through your posts on Facebook, your random ponderings on Twitter, the constant use of the Willow filter on Instagram, that meme of a cat you repinned on Pinterest, the comment you left on that forum that one time;all this forms your digital footprint. And this footprint can get dirty - that picture of you throwing up after your birthday party? yup, that's there.
As a brand it is so important to keep the digital footprint as clean as possible - it's not easy, but the best way to do this is to show folk you are human too. If you make a mistake - acknowledge it, if you get bitched about that happens to go viral - acknowledge it.
Take a well known cinema chain- they had a post from a disgruntled patron who hadn't had a good time seeing a film - they ranted about their specific experience, the prices they paid, the seats they sat on, the usual, not out of the blue complaint. It. Went. Viral. On a Friday evening. When their community managers had gone home. Ah. Over the two days that noone was overlooking this, the post gained hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and comments. What could the brand do? They did the only thing they could do - they acknowledged it and moved on.
Right now, I'm contributing to my digital footprint with this rambling - will it have a negative or positive impact? who knows? But should this go viral and trigger hundreds of complaints, I'll be sure to acknowledge it and move on.
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