Running a small business means you are constantly busy dealing with suppliers, clients, accountants, lawyers, transport agencies, you name it. And now, with the advent of social media, you need to be a great communicator, a writer, an inspirer, a curator, and whatnot. Impossible? Nearly. So, it makes sense to either hire someone with the ideal skills set to run this key ingredient of your marketing mix or to train one or various (ideally) members of your current team to take on the responsibility.
But before you start your selection process and you appoint the right person/s to expose your business socially online, there are a number of key elements you need to have in place – deciding on the platform/s you want to participate on, define the metrics that matter to you, and find the right tone of voice and style to create content that attracts your customers.
Once you have put together a strategic plan, give it a go on your own. Remember, social media isn’t right for every business, but it certainly is worth a test to determine whether it helps you motivate and engage your community. And if your business attracts some healthy attention from the go and you quickly develop an active fan base, it’s time to find the right resources to continue spreading the good vibes . Think about the type of attributes your social media master should have and start the search. You might not have to go too far – the right person is probably part of your customer service or marketing teams.
Your social media master’s DNA
1. Social media savviness
The core element of your social media master’s DNA is a love for everything social media. A sound knowledge of your brand is also important but not as crucial as the right level of “social zest”. You can easily teach anyone the ins and outs of your brand but it’s very difficult to instill the ability to transmit that knowledge to your clients with the right amount of keenness. It takes a special kind of person to be able to deliver that specific level of interaction you are looking for. Someone passionate and savvy about the social media universe will help you deliver your brand’s message more efficiently.
So, preferably, your social media master should have social media imprinted all over him or her. They should live and breathe social media by already actively participating in various social networks, writing blogs, contributing in forums, chats, etc. They should know how to find, engage and gain followers and should have the interest to research new avenues.
2. Passion for customer service
In the very same way your customer service manager wants to make a positive difference in your customers’ live by providing them with a seamless, positive experience, your social media master’s main objective should be to deliver a positive brand message that compounds on your company’s excellent customer service experience.
3. Excellent communication skills
Your social media master’s role is to interact directly with customers and the general public about what the company wants to say, the way it wants to say it. But things will not always go smoothly, so make sure this person knows how to retain his or her coolness and professionalism. Also, ensure they are able to communicate with all other departments and integrate completely with your current processes so that the right department can address issues – whether positive or negative – immediately.
4. Passion for metrics
Yes, there is such thing and you need to take advantage of this passion to be able to get the deepest, darkest metrics out of your social media master in order to understand your customers’ behavior. They should be someone who understands tracking, analytics and statistics and ROI on your social media efforts. A social media master that knows his/her analytics help keep programs focused on the goals at hand as well as proving value of the team’s efforts.
5. Management skills
Not everyone enjoys this facet of the job. Your social media master will not only need to deal with the members of an expanding social media team, but they also need to know how social media activities fit within the company as a whole.
One of the characteristics of social media is its immediacy, and if there is an issue that needs resolving, it needs resolving yesterday. Your social media master needs to be able to forward the right queries, conversations, leads and issues to the appropriate departments as quickly as possible in order to get the appropriate answer as soon as possible. So, this person should have faultless organizational skills and ensure every single issue is successfully resolved whilst also doing their daily work responsibilities.
6. Passion and knowledge of your product and brand
Your social media master needs to go beyond understanding what you manufacture or what you trade; they need to be able to convert that knowledge into full-fledged passion and show it by replying any product-related queries or complaints immediately or knowing who to forward the enquiry to obtain an immediate answer.
