What? You Should PLAN Your Social Media?

By Kristen Paquet, Sr. Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

I know. In a time where everything posted and shared on social media seems to be so random, having an actual plan seems to be a bit out of the ordinary. But if you are a business and you want to leverage everything social media has to offer, having a plan in place will be the key to success.

Where do you begin? Start with the end in mind. What goals do you want to be able to measure and see if all of your efforts have paid off? Keep in mind that your goals may be different from one social platform to another. Once your goals are in place, you can then start tackling a plan of how you will meet them.

One way to develop a plan is to create a spreadsheet that organizes each month. For each month, include a focus area so your team knows what type of posts need to be developed. Each month should also include the dates you will post, if there is a link to include, what image or video should be included, what platform(s) the update should be posted to and who is responsible.

Other things to consider as you develop your plan:

• Determine who will be involved in seeing the plan through. Not only will this share the responsibility of executing the plan, it brings variety when creating content, keeping things fresh.
• Be specific. The more specific you can be with posts during the planning stage, the easier it will be to execute the plan during the year.
• Be sure your measurement tools are in place. How will you measure your success? Most social platforms offer statistics, but what about your website? Be sure you have monitoring set and ready to go so when it comes time to evaluate you’ll have all the information you need.

Developing a social media strategy starts with a strong plan. It can take some trial and error to hone in on getting the right message to the right audience, but with a good team, solid content and a plan to provide direction, success will come sooner rather than later.

What to do with the problem poster

By: Kristen Paquet, Sr. Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

If you aren’t new to social media, then there is a chance that you have run into the problem poster. You know the one – someone who has posted a negative comment or sent in a bad review of services they have received. Maybe it’s someone that is upset with a decision your business has made. No matter the reason, there are a few things to keep in mind when responding to this type of poster (and yes, you do need to respond).

Take a beat before responding. Suppress the urge to reply right away and be sure that you are being smart about how you respond. If it is a complaint or negative comment, consider consulting with others in your office on the best way to approach the situation.

Be professional and courteous. The poster may not have selected the best words to use when making their comment, but that doesn’t mean you get to do the same. Your online community is watching how you will respond to the situation, so be sure you are acting with a professional voice. If possible, end the conversation by suggesting you take the conversation off-line and supply your email or phone number.

Admit your mistakes. If you’re in the wrong, admit it (without placing blame somewhere else). Apologize for the error. Share how you will fix the situation. Move on.

Not all negative comments should be deleted. You are human, after all. You are bound to get a negative post at some point. But don’t feel like you have to get rid of them all (you do need to show some transparency). If you get negative feedback, do your best to rectify the situation. If the outcome ends on a somewhat positive note, keep the post on your feed. It will show your online community how you handle these types of situations.

If the poster keeps coming back. Sometimes, you just aren’t going to make someone happy, no matter how hard you try. If the comments begin to contain swear words or inappropriate language, feel free to block them.

Be diligent with monitoring. Keep up with daily monitoring of your platforms and check out online reviews to learn what people are saying about you. Social listening is quickly becoming just as important, if not more, as the content you develop.

Negative comments are part online communication. Having a plan to deal with them when the problem poster appears will help your company respond in a productive way.

STILL Be Careful What You Say…

By: Kristen Paquet, Sr. Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations

Back in November, I posted how people really need to be careful about what they say in public. Nowadays, you just never know when it will come back to haunt you, most likely on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or…

It’s about using common sense both in what you say out loud and online. Recent news stories have shown us that one, simple 140 word comment can get you fired (PR exec Justine Sacco), cause a huge backlash (The Alabama quarterback mom who made inappropriate statements about the Florida State QB) or become a story in and of itself.

What I mean by that last comment is that I have recently started to notice how some news stories have been based on information found only on social media accounts (and are considered to be in the public domain). In a majority of these cases, not one interview took place. Most of these come in the form of what celebrity did what, when and to whom, but what’s to say that can’t happen to anyone? We all post, don’t we?

One of the first rules we teach young people new to social media is to be aware that anyone can read what they post online. It can be shared, retweeted and reposted, no matter how secure or protected an account might be. Seems to me that this is a life-long rule for kids and adults to remember.

So the moral of the story… again… think before you post. Although the urge to post something in the moment seems like a harmless idea, consider who will be able to see it. Is it good for your reputation, your job, your future? Don’t let the good things - the fun, connections and conversations - social media provides be over shadowed by a regrettable comment or photo.

What are your thoughts on this? How careful do you think you should be on social media?