Many companies like to lump in social media marketing with other job descriptions. Administrative assistants could have social media for their company put on their shoulders. Companies may also hire inexperienced college or high school students. The thinking behind these decisions? “Young people understand social media, so they can run my professional accounts better than I can!” It’s also a way to try to save money.
This is, in many cases, a huge mistake that can ruin the reputation of a proud company. Shouldering social media responsibilities on someone who doesn’t have the proper training and lead to disastrous mistakes that could cost your company business. Don’t be cheap and negligent with who manages your entire online reputation.
One reason why inexperienced people fail at social media marketing is they make one huge mistake: They lump personal accounts with professional accounts. This can lead to a tweet or posting that was meant for a personal account is posted instead on a professional account. Any political, gender or sarcastic comments that one might be comfortable saying on a personal account can all of a sudden speak for your entire company.
People who aren’t trained properly in social media don’t know how to separate the accounts. For example, I use one web browser on my laptop just for my social media clients, one browser for my professional company, and one browser for my personal use. With so many web browsers available to download, it makes sense.
Personal and professional social media accounts should never interact. It’s easy to set up different browsers on a laptop or desktop but what about mobile? Twitter and Facebook both make it very easy to add multiple accounts on one app. Sounds convenient right? You can do some posting for the company while you hang on the couch during a commercial! Unfortunately you’re even more prone for error on a phone. You’re more relaxed and less likely to be professional, meaning you’re more likely to mess up.
Instead of integrating all my clients accounts on my social media apps, I downloaded Hootsuite onto my phone and only use that app when posting on professional accounts.
It’s these simple steps that can help you avoid a major problem. Sending out a social media post that can offend has led to a lot of backlash against companies. Don’t let that happen to you because you want to try to save a few bucks! Hire a professional marketing person to ensure your business doesn’t make a statement that will offend.