Today, I’d like you to pretend be a captain of a ship. This ship represents your business and your deck mates represent your employees or team members helping you manage your brand. In order to sail a ship (or execute a social media strategy) you need a destination. Once you’ve determined where you want to go, you can determine your deck mates roles and get everyone on board with where you’re heading.
Without effective communication, defined responsibilities and clearly communicated goals, you’re going to be left out at sea. So let’s get your ship sailing in the right direction.
Determine your destination (identify goals).
What is your business trying to achieve by being present and active on social media? If your goal is to bring more awareness to your brand, or develop stronger relationships with your customers? Is it to educate, or convert interest into leads? Whatever your goal is, share it with your team. Which leads us to our next point.
Get everyone on your team on board.
So you’ve determined your “destination”. How are you going to get there? This is where you rely on the strength of your team. Each person has a role to play. Each role has specific responsibilities and there may even be an established “hierarchy”, depending on the size of team and structure of your organization. When it comes to social media management you could have someone:
- Develop the strategy and manage implementation
- Write a brand management plan for all parties to use, regardless of their role
- Create a content calendar and schedule posts
- Design beautifully branded images that coincide with your content strategy and overall goals
- Review analytics, reports successes, identifies areas for improvement and whether or not you should pivot or steer the course
Have a communication plan.
Having roles and responsibilities identified helps you best navigate your team and your ship. Knowing how each role works with and affects the others requires critical communication. This is where a brand management plan can really shine. A brand management plan should include:
- Your team members and their contact details (a MUST for remote workers, and partnering with an agency)
- A synopsis of the goal
- Your brand mission
- Key words associated with your brand
- Words and resources to avoid
- A list of your competition (you don’t want to do the same thing they are doing, do you?)
- A negative response protocol
- A positive response protocol
Your brand management plan should also include how and when feedback is given when communication is started by your audience online concerning your brand. Your customers keep you in business, you want to ensure you’re protecting your relationship with them and constantly improving it.
Happy travels, but don’t be afraid to adjust your sails.
You will have highs and possibly some lows when it comes to managing your social media. Don’t be afraid to check in frequently (at least quarterly) with your team to see how your efforts are performing. You may find that you need to adjust your sails to change directions or drop your anchor and stay.
Would you like to learn more about brand management plans, or do you have social media questions? Reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.
