What is most likely to kill a social media program? A client who wants to control every move of a social media consultant. Like to the point where the consultant has to run every comment by the client.
Things start feeling sluggish and the social media consultant feels uninspired. And very quickly, it trickles down to the fans who start being sluggish with their engagements. Eventually, no one is proud of what is going on and no one knows how to turn it around.
If this sounds like your social media presence, then it’s time to start letting go. You’ve gone way too far over to the control side and need to give your social media consultant some freedom back.
Not sure what that looks like? I have some thoughts, but of course it’s unique to every situation.
Let your social media consultant reply to comments
I have had this situation once, and the client didn’t realize why this was problematic. For those of you who fall in that camp, it mainly comes down to speed. If it’s information I have, I can get it to the fan within a matter of minutes. If a client wants to see what I will say first and go over every single word choice, it could be hours or even the next day. This client in particular could be really hard to get a hold of, so it wasn’t unusual for there to be an overly long time between comment and response. Not good.
Here is how I personally like to handle comments and I think it’s pretty representative of any social media manager’s feelings: Just let me respond. If I don’t know the answer and need my client’s help, I will ask. But most of the questions have answers I know off the top of my head. Is that because the answer is in the link I just posted? Absolutely, but I digress.
If I don’t know the answer, I will usually give the fan a heads up that I’m getting them an answer as soon as possible. And then I will ask. I don’t make things up and I don’t use inappropriate language.
My honest opinion is that if you can’t get your social media consultant this level of freedom, then it’s likely something you’re holding onto that has nothing to do with them. Work that out in therapy and start trusting your social media consultant more.
Give a mix of freedom when it comes to content
I’m going to give the mix that I feel comfortable with, but know that this is all unique to each relationship. Some of my clients need more while others need less. I do ultimately what they’d like to see. But if I had my choice…
Unplanned ephemeral content
When I say “ephemeral content,” I mean stories or any other content that will last less than twenty-four hours. It’s here and then gone.
If you have a good community, you will regularly get content from fans that absolutely is relevant. Sharing it to your stories should be a no-brainer. It’s easy and doesn’t require much more than a click of a button.
This shouldn’t require any permissions. You can’t edit anything. It is what it is. And if you have to go through an approval process, the content may be gone by the time you get that approval. This should be done on the fly as needed.
Planned ephemeral content
When there’s no time constraint like there is with unplanned ephemeral content, I’m a big fan of having another set of eyes on it. This is just to catch any mistakes that one set of eyes might not catch.
This is with the caveat that the client is regularly not holding up the approval process. If it’s something that is taking advantage of a trend, then it needs to go as soon as possible. If the client doesn’t have the capability to approve it, they can either trust the social media consultant or offer another set of eyes. But that other set of eyes needs to be able to look at it immediately. When it’s a trend, every second gone is another second that the trend is getting staler. The more on the forefront of it you are, the better.
On-the-grid content
For me, this the content that always needs another set of eyes. It’s got more staying power and therefore can cause more consequences for the brand if there is a mistake.
But this comes with the caveat that the other set of eyes has to be able to look at the content in a timely manner. I once had a client who demanded to look at everything I posted. Fine. I’m more than able to do that. The problem was that it didn’t matter how much lead time I gave them, I would never get approvals in time to enact my plan. I was always last on their list and it meant that their social media content was all over the place. And I had to throw away a lot of timely content.
So if you are the person in charge of approving content, make sure you have a backup person and get yourself comfortable enough with your social media consultant that if something takes both you and your backup away from social media, you know they can handle it.
Event content
Event content is when all rules go out the window. For me, I do as much event content as I can before the event happens, so I can go over it with the client. But we both know that content could end up being thrown out the window or whatever reason. It just will make life easier for everyone to have it done in the case we do need it.
I also create templates, so it’s easy to just drop in pictures or quotes as needed. This also gets in front of clients for approval. Basically anything I can get done prior to the event is seen by the client so they have a good idea of what is about to happen.
Once the even starts, all hands have to come off. To make sure that the event is fully covered in a timely manner, I have to go go go. In fact, it’s my least favorite kind of posting because you literally have to break every social media rule there is. There’s too much content to do otherwise. And that’s why it’s near impossible to get approvals while on the ground. So this requires a lot of trust between the client and social media consultant. That’s why I really discourage putting a new person on the ground early in the relationship and/or giving an influencer of sorts control of social media during the event. Something good could happen, but it’s more likely something bad will.
In the end, you have to figure out your own balance when it comes to a social media consultant. But I can assure you, the more you let go, the more you leave room for something wonderful to happen. Definitely get your eyes on some things, but build enough trust so that when you don’t, it’s going to be okay.
How are you balancing control and freedom with your social media consultant?