The good, the bad, the ugly–it all gets posted to social media. And we’ve all done it, that is, communicated with fast fingers behind a veil of safety in the form of a computer screen.
In my work at Block Club, I perform social media community management on a number of client accounts. And as the person on the other side of the computer, reviewing and responding to, at times, distressed consumers, it can be a challenge holding true to the brand voice of the client I’m serving. But I’ve found that just a little planning makes it easier. If you’re in charge of business’s social media accounts, here are a few steps you can take to help prepare you and your team to respond to followers’ messages and comments without losing your brand voice.
- Question gathering. Create a list of questions your audience is likely to ask and inquiries they are likely to make. Poll your colleagues for even more ideas. Some examples are donation requests, request for contact information, complaints about damaged product, slow service, hours of operation, etc.
- Develop responses. Start by identifying one characteristic from your brand voice to relay in a response (e.g., caring, funny, authentic). Use the voice characteristic as the response tone. Follow this process to develop responses for each of your questions. That way, you’re consistent across posts, replies, and direct messages. Keep in mind not all communication should follow the same tone.
- Create a community management matrix. Create a working document for teammates to quickly pull previously approved responses when in need. I’d suggest Google sheets because it allows all your community managers access to the same document at one time, and you always know you’re working from the most recent document version.
As you continue to monitor your social media community, the community management matrix should be added to on a regular basis. It can be a lifesaver whether you work in an agency setting or on an in-house marketing team.